Lewis Hamilton's decision to wipe his social media over the winter break had been a move planned by his management team, the British driver has revealed.

This comes after the four-time world champion received criticism for a video he posted to his near six million Instagram followers in December.

The controversial video showed Hamilton telling a young member of his family that "boys don't wear dresses," causing many fans to accuse to current champion of posting disrespectful content.

In what appeared to be in response to the backlash, Hamilton deleted much of his social media posts and activities after apologising through Twitter.

Instead, it seems the timing may just have been a coincidence.

The Stevenage-born racer has said his management team had always planned for him to take a break over the winter period.

"We always planned at the end of the year to start a clean slate at the beginning of this year. It just so happened that it turned out to be an opportunistic time to change it," Hamilton said.

"It’s always difficult to make a change [in approach] because I’m quite happy. But we are in a very strange time in the world where things are magnified more than perhaps there were in previous years, so it’s a critical time for the world.

"For me personally, I think I’ll continue to show what I am doing. I think it’s just about being maybe a little more strategic in what I do or don’t show.

"It is a gateway to connect my fans in a way that I am not able to do at race weekends, so it will continue to be a part of my life."

Luckily for Hamilton, the Mercedes F1 team boss appeared fine about Hamilton's pre-season mishap.

"I think there is so much crap in the social media. What's big today has no relevance tomorrow," Toto Wolff said.

"The best thing is to entertain yourself and enjoy the haters."