Hamilton's Instagram goes blank and recent Twitter posts deleted

Hamilton's Twitter account - with 5.23 million followers - has also been affected with all posts since he claimed his fourth world title, on 29 October, removed either by malicious hackers or either by himself - the latter most likely although he has not commented on the move. His Facebook account seems to be unaffected.

At the time of writing it is not sure if Hamilton deleted/archived the posts in reaction to the huge furore that his Christmas video ignited or if he was hacked in retaliation to the ill-advised post.

Much has been written during the past week about Hamilton's Christmas video on Instagram in which he scolds his nephew for wearing a purple princess dress: "Boys don’t wear princess dresses!"

The anger and fallout in the aftermath of his comments are unprecedented for the Mercedes driver with many high profile figures slamming him for the insensitive reaction to his nephew, while a Tweet mocking him for dressing like Princess Diana has gone viral.

It would be fair to assume that this politically incorrect episode will have hurt Hamilton who works hard at reaching out to his fans through social media. He may now be forced to rethink his approach to communicating so intimately to the world through these mediums.

Prior to his Instagram account going blank, Hamilton apologised for berating his nephew in the manner which he did, "Yesterday I was playing around with my nephew and realised that my words were inappropriate so I removed the post. I meant no harm and did not mean to offend anyone at all. I love that my nephew feels free to express himself the way we all should."

"My deepest apologies for my behaviour as I realise it is really not acceptable for anyone, no matter where you are from, to marginalise or stereotype anyone. I have always been in support of anyone living their life exactly how they wish and I hope I can be forgiven for this lapse in judgement."

Ironically, in the same week that Hamilton's social media future appears to be uncertain in the wake of this saga, normally media-shy fellow Formula 1 driver Kimi Raikkonen has taken the plunge by starting his own Instagram account.