Hamilton opens up on ‘overwhelming’ support since passing of his dog Roscoe

Lewis Hamilton has spoken of the “overwhelming” amount of support he has received since the passing of his beloved dog Roscoe, with the seven-time World Champion admitting he has been moved to see “how much Roscoe touched people and meant to people”.

Hamilton took to social media on Monday to share the news that Roscoe had passed away on Sunday evening, having told fans a few days earlier that the bulldog had been admitted to hospital and placed in a coma after being treated for pneumonia.

Messages of support flooded in for Hamilton following the announcement and, speaking during Thursday’s media day ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, the Ferrari driver opened up about how much he appreciated the response.

“It's been amazing to see the support from so many people around the world, and overwhelming just to see how much Roscoe touched people and meant to people,” said Hamilton.

“The kind messages that I've received have been really uplifting, so I'm really grateful for that. Anyone out there that knows what it's like to lose a pet, you know how painful it is. I read somewhere that grief is the last act of love, and I'm definitely feeling that.”

When asked how he approaches continuing to do his job and staying positive in the wake of a tragic event, Hamilton explained: “I think choosing not to be negative in the difficulty.

“I've personally received a huge amount of support and that's been overwhelming, and so allowing yourself to receive that, allowing yourself space to grieve, and also just remind yourself every day is going to get a bit better.

“It’s just trying to cultivate a positive attitude through the tough phase, but also I have spoken to loads of people who have been through that experience. My mum just lost her dog three months ago, I've got a friend that lost her dog three weeks ago.

“Everyone in the world is experiencing stuff like this, but I think it's been really beautiful just to see at a time in the world which is relatively dark outside of this paddock.

“There's a lot of negativity, wars everywhere, conflicts going on everywhere, issues in all these governments and people are struggling. There's a bigger disparity between poor and rich, there's so many problems.

“But through this little experience, seeing that there's a lot of empathy, there are empathetic people out there, there's a lot of love, a lot of caring people out there in the world which gives me a lot of hope for mankind, if I'm really honest.”

In terms of how he feels about his prospects on the track in Singapore – and whether he can be racing for Roscoe this weekend – Hamilton sounded an optimistic note about the event.

“I feel positive coming into this weekend,” the 40-year-old said. “It's a track I've generally gone well at, and I've started to feel a lot better in the car since the summer break.

“However, the results haven't shown that just yet but it's going to happen, and I'm hoping it's going to be this weekend.

“This is my first time driving a Ferrari at this track but, having known places like Baku, how the car reacts, hopefully I can start a couple of steps further ahead than I was in the last race, for example.”