Frenchman Samy Mekhalef – who works as an official Hamilton impersonator – was flown from Paris to Melbourne for the AGP as part of a promotional play by Kayo Sports.
He spent the four days of the event roaming the circuit precinct, at times dressed in a shirt that read ‘Lew-ish Hamilton’, and at other times in full Ferrari get-up similar to what would be worn by the seven-time world champion.
Mekhalef was even rolled out on the set of AFL show On The Couch in an attempt to fool Brisbane Lions great Jonathon Brown.
A full interview was conduced before Brown twigged to the fact that it was not the Ferrari F1 star in the studio.
Mekhalef, who works full-time in TV animation, said this was the biggest job of his side career as a Hamilton look-alike so far.
“I think [Kayo] found me on social networks,” he told Speedcafe.
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“They brought me here because I’m the only official look-alike of Lewis Hamilton.
“It’s a hobby, I just do it for fun. I have a job, people think I live from just looking like Lewis Hamilton. But no, it’s just for fun.
“And I admire Lewis Hamilton so it’s amazing when someone says, ‘you really look like him’. I’m so grateful to receive that sort of feedback.
“I went to Monaco first and then Barcelona, and then for my birthday recently I went to Las Vegas. This is my fourth race – and the best one so far.
“I went on a footy show, I did some helicopter rides, I went to so many [corporate] suites here. I met so many engineers, so many journalists.”
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Mekhalef is adamant that he had never heard of Hamilton as recently as five years ago – and was discovered because he was already sporting similar hair and facial hair features.
“It was like five years ago; I was working and someone said, ‘you really look like Lewis Hamilton. Can I get a picture?’,” he explained.
“And I was like, ‘who is Lewis Hamilton?’ I didn’t know about him. I checked and I was like, ‘oh my gosh, we have this same face and smile’.
I already had [the hair and beard] because I have very crazy hair, so it’s easier to do it like this with dreads or twists. Now I just match with [Hamilton’s] because he is definitely a fashion example. I follow some of his outfits and haircuts.”
As it stands, the two Hamiltons have yet to come face to face.
“I would dream to have a face-to-face with him,” said Mekhalef. “Maybe one day he will see me, or his team will, and we can meet each other. That would be fun.”
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