Lewis Hamilton: My Story

Product Information

The heartbreak of losing was countered by the knowledge that nobody had ever performed better in a debut season.

If he wasn't happy with the kart it could get heated, but that's racing and that's what got him where he is today. He didn't always agree with us and he didn't always agree with Anthony. While negotiating the busy streets near Nice in his Mercedes Smart car, Hamilton told his interviewer: “Look, we’re on these roads, anything can happen.” Later, as the traffic built up, he went on to say: “This is now stressful for me. This road is crazy. So much going on here. I’m going to turn around in a second.” Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton was born into a mixed-race family on 7 January 1985, in Stevenage, a quiet English town north of London. His father Anthony, whose parents immigrated from Grenada in the West Indies in the 1950's, and his mother Carmen divorced when Lewis was about two years old. He lived with Carmen until he was 10 then moved in with Anthony, his wife Linda and their three-year-old son Nicolas. Remaining close to his mother, Lewis also formed a strong bond with his stepmother and credits them both with contributing to the caring, considerate side of his nature. He finds the cheerful bravery of his stepbrother, who suffers from cerebral palsy, inspirational. "I only have to think of Nic to feel motivated and put a smile on my face." His steely ambition and iron resolve come from the head of the family. "Even though he always told me to be courteous and polite, my focus and determination comes from, and has always been driven by, my dad." No need to look too far for other clues to Hamilton’s eventual post-racing life, given how many other things he has managed to do alongside driving—which is another way he has defied the orthodoxy of his sport. When he agreed to join his current team, Mercedes, in 2013, Hamilton says that he told them how it would be: “This is who I am. These are things I like to do. Don’t ever try to control me in that respect. I’m going to give everything to this, and I’m going to help you win championships. And I’m going to show you that being different is not a bad thing for your brand.” People overlook his brilliance because they don't like the way he dresses, they don't like this and they don't like that. The Lewis that people see now, there are reasons why he is like that.In 2014, when major regulation changes featured new hybrid power units in chassis with reduced downforce, Mercedes dominated the season, winning 16 of the 19 races and easily securing the Constructors’ Championship. Mercedes’ policy of letting its drivers race each other enabled team mates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg to engage in an enthralling season-long duel for the driving title. Adding extra human interest to the drama was the fact that Hamilton (champion in 2008) and Rosberg (whose father Keke was champion in 1982) had been friends and rivals since their karting days as teenagers. Now, as 29-year-old protagonists competing for honours at the pinnacle of motorsport, the intensity of their rivalry strained their friendship and tested their strength of character.

In the end, Alonso finished second behind Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, with Hamilton third, but the ‘kid’ had left a huge impression. And it just kept growing. You’ve won the season. Enjoy it, show humility. There’s no need to dredge up the past or rekindle old feuds,” Wolff added, alluding to lingering tensions from the 2021 season finale and its aftermath. In the 13th year of his F1 career Lewis Hamilton secured his sixth world championship (one less than Michael Schumacher’s record seven), thus confirming his status as not only the driver of the decade but convincingly securing his place among the select few considered to be the greatest of all time. Regan says the demanding levels set by Lewis and Anthony were matched by the emphasis on loyalty. Despite their working relationship with Hamilton ending as he stepped into car racing, the pair were invited to Lewis' 21st birthday party as his rise towards Formula 1 continued. However, it’s understandable that a driver of Hamilton’s calibre would seek out a team with the best prospects of success.”Wolff says: “He’s almost philosophical about certain things. He spends a lot of time thinking. He is someone who hasn’t built his whole life on one particular pillar. It all circles around his driving. He is the F1 world champion. But now he is the F1 world champion and he’s a fighter for diversity, a fighter against racism. These are topics that go far beyond the racing driver. After Mercedes’ protests over the contentious safety car decision and the race result were rejected, the team ultimately opted against taking the matter to appeal, with the FIA announcing it would conduct a ‘detailed analysis and clarification exercise’ intended to end the controversy and the ensuing arguments that were ‘tarnishing the image of the sport.’

Aged 10, Hamilton became the youngest ever winner of the British cadet kart championship. That year, in 1995, he attended the Autosport Awards, the motorsport industry’s end-of-season shindig. He walked up to Ron Dennis, the boss of McLaren, introduced himself and said: “One day, I want to be racing your cars.” Certainly he was well prepared, though no one was prepared for the astonishing ease with which the precocious youngster stormed through the 2007 season. Consistently out-performing his celebrated team mate Fernando Alonso (who had won the first of his two driving titles, with Renault, when he was just 24), Lewis Hamilton barged onto the podium a dozen times, won four races, led the championship for five months and lost it by merely a single point in the final race to Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.Instead, Hamilton went out ahead and refused repeated requests over the radio to let Alonso through. This put Alonso at a disadvantage in the fight for pole. Alonso worked out what was going on and made sure he came into the pits first before their final laps.

Many of the pivotal figures in his journey - such as karting supremo Martin Hines and McLaren duo Ron Dennis and Martin Whitmarsh - are well known. To explain in detail the subsequent series of events, initially triggered by another car’s accident, would be baffling to anyone not steeped in the world of safety cars, pit stops, differential tire wear, and unlapping procedures. But the crucial part is this: To anyone who understood F1 rules and protocols, Hamilton now seemed destined to win in a rather anticlimactic ceremonial procession. But that didn’t happen. Instead, the race director appeared to improvise a ruling under the intense pressure of the moment, one without precedent, which allowed for one final lap of superficially competitive racing. It was a lap Hamilton would have no realistic prospect of winning because Verstappen, now right behind him with fresh tires, could easily overtake him. That’s exactly what happened. After an inquiry weeks later, the race director transferred from his post—the official report stated that what had happened was human error made in good faith, but the rules were clarified and updated to ensure this wouldn’t happen again. The result stood. Hamilton was on the podium for his first nine consecutive races, and won his seventh. The Italian media took to calling him ‘Il Fenomeno’ - the phenomenon. At McLaren, the tension was rising.Hamilton, who’s 37, tells me that veganism wasn’t even on his radar when he was growing up just north of London. He’s now been plant-based for about five years, a change triggered by a vegan friend he met in New York who opened his eyes to the realities of food production. The physical demands of elite racing are extreme, and doctors advised him that he would struggle to get enough protein. Instead he found his energy levels smoothing out and his skin clearing up. “I mean, I’ve won five world titles since then,” he points out. “I’ve been more consistent than I ever was in the past. So it just takes proving people wrong. And that’s what I did.” As the man who had ended Schumacher’s domination of F1 with Ferrari, Alonso had established himself as the sport’s leading driver. Although it wasn’t in his contract, the Spaniard felt his status demanded he be McLaren’s team leader and designated championship contender. Hamilton had other ideas.