HAMILTON’S BODY BLUFF: F1 STAR MASKS FURY AHEAD OF DECIDER 

Well-known body language expert Judi James claims that Lewis Hamilton was left feeling “angry” despite recording an impressive victory in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix last weekend. Judi analysed post-race interviews, press conferences and the trophy presentation in Jeddah on Sunday evening.

The Formula 1 drivers’ title is going right down to the wire in Abu Dhabi this weekend, with Hamilton and fierce rival Max Verstappen level on 369.5 points each.

Paddy Power drafted in the assistance of renowned expert Judi James to provide analysis on Hamilton, Verstappen, Toto Wolff and Christian Horner ahead of the blockbuster finale in the desert on Sunday afternoon.

According to Judi, Hamilton was feeling the anger more than he let on during his post-race interview, after a race full of controversial incidents.

She believes that Hamilton is “ready for a fight”, despite claiming to be ‘relaxed’ and ‘chilled’ ahead of the finale, while Verstappen was trying hard to fight his “true emotions” when standing on the podium.

“Hamilton appears to employ a technique known as social masking or body language bluffing here as he talks about events that could have been potentially dangerous. His overall facial expression is a social smile, which could have more than one purpose.

“First it would help imply that he’s neither troubled not threatened by the other driver and second it could be a relic ritual related to animal instincts. Animals often mask fear or injury to avoid being seen as weak and therefore open to attacks from rivals. Hamilton might be keen to be seen to be shrugging off the other driver’s behaviour on the tracks to avoid it increasing rather than decreasing.

“Hamilton drops enough detail of what he calls ‘rule-breaking’ to let officials or the fans decide but his smile as he speaks looks like a signal that he is going to make light of it and not be intimidated.

“There are, however, a couple of moments when the social mask appears to slip and we get a glimpse of what might be his true feelings. When he refers to ‘avoided collisions’ we see his left eye narrow and his brows pucker into a frown of concern or brewing anger. His eye expression seems to harden, too.

“His right hand rises in a gesture of emphasis that looks like a cross between a precision pinch, but with some slight rubbing to hint at suppressed anxiety, and when he says ‘Live to fight another day’ he speaks in a sigh.

“Talking about specifics, his movements become more staccato and he performs some fast, hard blinks to suggest anger. At one point a sneer at the left side of his nose also suggests anger.

“Hamilton’s eyes widen in concern as he mimes how he ‘nearly went up the back of him’ and although his line ‘I’m personally chilled’ sees a return of the social smile his reflective eye-gaze suggests he is still trying to assess the risk when his opponent ‘hit the breaks so hard’.

“He looks like a man keen to signal reasonableness and likeability via some open and approachable-looking answers to questions about the race. He says he is ‘confused’ with a partial social smile and then looks down, sucking his lips inward in what looks like a gesture of regret. The signs of what looks like tension emerge from the lower half of his body.

“He performs a hip-rocking motion and either fiddles with his mask in a suggestion of suppressed anxiety or he pushes his hands into his pockets. As he smiles and claims ‘All happy today’ his legs seem to be dancing in what looks like agitation. Towards the end of the interview his hands clasp in front of his torso in what looks like a very self-protective ‘fig leaf’ pose.

“All this relaxed and upbeat charm looks at odds with the slo-mo clip shown from during the race, when we see the ‘all happy today’ Toto leaping into the air with his mouth open before slamming his headphones down onto the desk in what could be anger.”

“His splayed torso with his hands on his hips suggests both a desire to emphasise his power and status while suggesting an air of confrontation and aggressive arousal.

“There is no smile from Verstappen and although he performs shoulder, mouth and hand shrugs when talking about the ‘incident’ he also performs a couple of cut-off rituals, with two face-touches to suggest a desire to hide his emotions.

“Walking off the podium as he does looks like a deliberate statement as he ignores the two drivers celebrating and slouches off without one look, smile or gesture of congratulation.”

“He mirrors Verstappen’s hand-on-the-hips gesture despite also performing a volley of small shrugs to suggest it’s not a problem. When he says ‘which incident?’ his social smile turns a little colder as a sense of challenge enters his vocal tone.

“His chin rises and his eye-stare becomes defiant as he says it is ‘very strange to have Lewis drive straight up the back of the car’ and that mood of loyalty and defiance re-emerges as he describes Max as having ‘been a hero’.

“Overall, there appears to be a desire to mask emotions with smiles and shrugs but the smaller, ‘leakage’ signals from all the men suggest those emotions might still be running high going into the next race.”