SAO PAULO (AP) — British driver Lewis Hamilton has won seven Formula One titles, holds multiple records and has clocked some of the fastest laps in history. But the greatest honor of his career, according to the 39-year-old, came on Sunday as he drove the late Ayrton Senna’s title-winning car around Interlagos ahead of this afternoon’s Brazilian Grand Prix.
Some fans in the stands had tears in their eyes as Hamilton knelt in front of the car in reverence.
Wearing an all white racing suit, Hamilton took some laps under falling rain in the historic McLaren MP4/5B that Senna drove during his 1990 title campaign, in which he beat Ferrari's Alain Prost. The Mercedes driver was shown the checkered flag by Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Rebeca Andrade as he carried a Brazilian flag with his right hand, mimicking what the legendary three-time champion did after many of his victories.
Senna died after the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994. His legacy is ever present at Interlagos, where he won in 1991 and 1993.
“It is very emotional, naturally,” said Hamilton as he held the Brazilian flag on his back. “I was revisiting my childhood as I watched Ayrton racing here. I can't believe I am having this opportunity.
“It is the greatest honor of my career to do it in front of this amazing crowd in Brazil,” said Hamilton, who in 2022 became an honorary Brazilian citizen by a motion of the country's congress.
During his time at McLaren, Hamilton drove Senna’s MP4/4 car around Silverstone in 2009 for a British TV program.
On his social media channels, the British driver added that the weekend is not going his way so far, but he could still enjoy the moment with Senna's car.
“I won my first championship here, had my best ever drive here, and now to be in this country as an honorary citizen driving my hero’s car is almost too much to comprehend. It doesn’t feel real,” he said. “It’s a massive honour and one that I’ll look back on as one of the highlights of my life.”
Struggling with Mercedes this season, the British driver jokingly said he had “the best drive in the whole weekend.” He will start Sunday's race 14th. Heavy rain in Sao Paulo delayed much of Saturday's action to Sunday morning, including the tribute to Senna.
“I would race with that car today if I could,” Hamilton said. The British driver, who will move to Ferrari next season, is sixth in the drivers' championship.
Luciane D'Angelo, 45, was one of the tearful fans watching Hamilton drive at Interlagos. As a child, she used to watch F1 races with her father, who currently suffers from a serious disease she did not disclose.
“I cry because Ayrton's tragic death still leaves us with this massive void. He made children of that time enjoy their Sundays with their families even more. He wasn't only one of the greatest F1 drivers in history, but also a person that every Brazilian learned to admire,” she said.
Earlier this year, four-time F1 champion Sebastian Vettel drove Senna's 1993 McLaren at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix as part of tributes to the Brazilian driver on the 30th anniversary of his death.
Former Brazilian drivers were split about handing the tribute to Senna to his hardcore fan Hamilton. Rubens Barrichello said a Brazilian driver who shared some time in F1 with the three-time champion would have been a better choice.
Two-time champion Emerson Fittipaldi said in an interview that it was “unethical” for organizers to pick the British driver. But Felipe Massa, who lost the 2008 title to Hamilton near the end of that year's race at Interlagos, agreed with the move.
“Of course I wanted to drive it myself. But I respect the decision of the Senna family, fans will love to watch a big fan of Ayrton's like Hamilton driving his car here,” Massa said on Saturday. “At the end, every driver would love to have that honor.”
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Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain, waves to fans after driving the car of legendary driver Ayrton Senna prior the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix at the Interlagos race track, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain, center, waves to fans after driving the car of legendary driver Ayrton Senna prior the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix at the Interlagos race track, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain, drives the car of legendary driver Ayrton Senna prior the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix at the Interlagos race track, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ettore Chiereguini)
Five Palestinian journalists have been killed by an Israeli strike in the Gaza Strip, the Health Ministry said Thursday. Israel's military said it targeted a group of militants allied with Hamas, which ignited the war with its Oct. 7, 2023, attack in southern Israel.
The strike hit a vehicle outside the Al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp. Associated Press video showed the burned shell of a van with press markings. The journalists were working for the local news outlet Al-Quds Today, a television channel affiliated with the Islamic Jihad militant group.
More than 130 Palestinian reporters have been killed since the start of the war, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Israel has not allowed foreign reporters to enter Gaza except on military embeds.
Israel's bombardment and ground invasion in Gaza has killed over 45,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its count.
Hamas’s attack on southern Israel in October 2023 resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 people, while 250 others were taken hostage by Palestinian militants. Around 100 hostages are still being held in Gaza, although only two-thirds are believed to still be alive.
Here’s the latest:
QAMISHLI, Syria — Thousands of people in northeastern Syria attended a funeral Thursday for six fighters from a Kurdish-led, U.S.-backed force who were killed in ongoing clashes with Turkish-backed militias.
The Turkish-backed groups are launching attacks to take the Arab cities west of the Euphrates River that are under the control of the Kurdish group . The Turkish-supported groups helped overthrow Bashar al-Assad’s rule of Syria, and have since kept pushing eastward against the Kurdish groups.
“We thought that Syria today has entered a new stage after the fall and escape of Assad. We thought that we got rid of all of this, but this attack on us changed everything and those who came in are taking orders from Turkey,” said Nihayet Hassan, the uncle of a killed fighter.
The fighters were killed during attacks on Tishreen Dam near the strategic city of Manbij in recent days. The bodies were returned to the city of Qamishli in northeastern Syria where the U.S.-backed group, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, has a strong presence.
Ankara sees the SDF as an affiliate of its sworn enemy, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which Turkey classifies as a terrorist organization. Turkish-backed armed groups backed by Turkish jets have for years attacked positions where the SDF are present across northern Syria, in a bid to create a buffer zone free from the group along the Turkish border.
“It is obvious that Turkey’s issue is with the Kurds. It is not about an organization, or the PKK, no, their target are the Kurds,” said Ahmad Ammo, a Qamishli resident who attended the funeral.
The U.S. has about 2,000 soldiers in eastern Syria to help fight the Islamic State group and protect critical oil fields there.
BEIRUT — The Lebanese military said Thursday that Israeli troops encroached on areas of southern Lebanon, violating a ceasefire agreement that ended the war between Israel and the Hezbollah group.
The U.S.-brokered ceasefire that went into effect a month ago called for Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops to leave southern Lebanon over a 60-day period as Lebanese army soldiers gradually deploy in the country south of the Litani River. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the reported incident.
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Israeli bulldozers are setting up dirt barricades that would close off the road between Wadi Slouqi and Wadi Hujeir.
Lebanon’s military said it brought reinforcements into the areas entered by Israeli troops. NNA said the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, sent a patrol unit to an area near the southern town of Qantara where Israeli forces are present.
UNIFIL in a statement expressed its “concern at continuing destruction by the IDF (Israeli military) in residential areas, agricultural land, and road networks in south Lebanon.”
Lebanese army chief Gen. Joseph Aoun traveled to Saudi Arabia earlier Thursday as part of ongoing efforts by the cash-strapped military to find financial support to deploy in larger numbers.
The Lebanese military and government have complained about Israeli strikes and overflights in the country to a new monitoring committee headed by the U.S. that also includes France.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli strike killed five Palestinian journalists outside a hospital in the Gaza Strip overnight, the Health Ministry said Thursday. The Israeli military said it had targeted a group of militants.
The strike hit a car outside the Al-Awda Hospital in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in the central part of the territory. The journalists were working for the local Quds News Network.
The military said it targeted a group of fighters from Islamic Jihad, a militant group allied with Hamas, whose Oct. 7, 2023, attack into southern Israel ignited the war. Associated Press video showed the incinerated shell of a van, with press markings still visible on the back doors.
The Committee to Protect Journalists says over 130 Palestinian reporters have been killed since the start of the war. Israel has not allowed foreign reporters to enter Gaza except on military embeds.
BEIJING — China has pledged two more shipments of humanitarian aid to Gaza, in an indication of support for the Palestinian Authority, state media reported Thursday. The agreement was overseen in Cairo by Chinese Ambassador to Egypt Liao Liqiang and Palestinian Ambassador to Egypt Diab al-Louh.
“To ease the humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip, the Chinese government has continued to provide assistance to Palestine,” Liao was quoted as saying. The types and quantities of aid to be delivered via Egypt were not given, but China has previously shipped food and medicine to Gaza. China has longstanding ties with the Palestinian Authority but has also sought to strengthen economic and political relations with Israel.
Al-Louh “voiced appreciation for China’s consistent and firm support for the just cause of the Palestinian people and for raising this issue on international occasions," state media said.
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Monday at Israel’s request to discuss recent attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
Israel’s U.N. Mission said Wednesday the meeting will take place at 10 a.m. Monday.
Israeli U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said he expects the council will condemn the Houthi attacks.
He urged the council “to enforce international law and hold Iran, the Houthis’ patron, accountable.”
Alluding to Israeli retaliation for the attacks, Danon said ”It seems that the Houthis have not yet understood what happens to those who try to harm the state of Israel.”
Locals stand next to a damaged building after the latest Israeli military operation, in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A mourner cries while she takes the last look at the body of a relative, one of eight Palestinians killed, during their funeral following the withdrawal of the Israeli army, in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Mourners carry the bodies of killed Palestinians, some wrapped with the Islamic Jihad flag, during their funeral following the withdrawal of the Israeli army, in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
A mourner cries after taking the last look at the body of a relative, one of eight Palestinians killed, during their funeral following the withdrawal of the Israeli army, in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Mourners react as they carry the bodies of five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A relative mourns over the body of one of the five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians, mostly journalists, gather around the bodies of five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A woman reacts during the funeral of five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Relatives and friends mourn over the bodies of five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
