ARISE, SIR LEWIS
Despite what promises to be a difficult season for the low-rake Silver Arrows, Sir Lewis Hamilton has once again been at the front of the grid, breaking yet more records
No one has won more consecutive races than Ascari or Sebastian Vettel (nine each). Vettel won three world titles before the age of 26; the next youngest is Hamilton, aged 30. So it goes with statistics … and we haven’t even mentioned the late Ayrton Senna, a three-time world champion who died at age 34 but whom many regard as the greatest racing driver to have ever graced an F1 cockpit.
Hamilton was just nine when Senna was killed in 1994 at Imola, but he has never hidden his feelings and respect for the Brazilian, who has been an inspiration to him. In many ways, the British driver is cut from the same cloth as Senna: a natural racer, as opposed to a more thinking driver like “the professor” Alain Prost. Those in the business often talk about natural speed among drivers – no matter what car or condi‐ tions – and Hamilton has that.
“Every now and then, Senna pops into my mind … his Monaco Grand Prix in 1988 where he was in the lead and hit the wall … That always comes in and reminds me not to do that. I’ve had experiences like that, but I learnt that lesson. It’s almost like he talks to me: just stay focused, keep it together,” Hamilton said after winning on the demand‐ ing street circuit in Singapore in 2017.
When he won the Eifel GP in October 2020, Hamilton joined Schumacher at the top of the all-time podium with 91 career victories. To mark that achievement, Mick Schumacher – Michael’s son and F1 rookie this year with backmarkers Haas – presented Hamilton with one of his father’s race helmets from his time with Mercedes-benz.
“You grow up watching someone and you generally idolise them in terms of the quality of the driver they are, what they are able to do year on year, race on race, week on week with their team,” Hamilton said later. “Just seeing his dominance for so long, I don’t think anyone – especially me – imagined that I would be anywhere near Michael in terms of records, so it’s an incredible honour. It’s going to take some time to get used to it.”
Hamilton now holds no fewer than 38 F1 records, his latest being most laps in the lead, but includes most career points, pole posi‐ tions, points in a single season and the youngest driver to lead the championship.
Schumacher’s 91 wins were set over 15 sea‐ sons between 1992 and 2006; Hamilton’s over 14 seasons since 2007 (with his 15th season still ongoing). It has to be said that current F1 calendars (barring the Covid-19-curtailed 2020 season) are more extensive than those of the ’90s. Still, if you consider Schumacher a Formula One great, Hamilton undoubtedly stands shoulder to shoulder with him.
Anyone can win if they’ve got the best car, I hear you say. Ah, the car. Put Max Verstap‐ pen in the same Mercedes and he’d beat Hamilton, you declare … Put everyone in the same car and see how well Lewis Hamilton does, I have heard. Such arguments are base‐ less for the very fact it’s never going to hap‐ pen. If you’re looking for a reason to bash Hamilton, you can find one or more. Then again, if you applied the same reasoning to every other Formula One world champion, you’re quickly going to find a very short list of candidates to suit your particular preference.
Maybe the dislike of the 35-year-old Hamilton is based on other personal grounds?
He’s had a string of beautiful women on his arm – most notably popstar Nicole Scherzinger – but prefers the single, unat‐ tached life nowadays. “When you travel as much as I do, it’s hard to keep up a relation‐ ship, so I’m of the mindset that I’m not going to do that until I’ve stopped and no longer have to be so single-minded. I want to have kids but I want to be there for them – to be a good and present dad – but I’d be open to it if
I happened to come across somebody spe‐ cial,” he has said.
A celebrity lifestyle, playing the field for now, and so what. Hamilton lives a different life to the majority of the drivers on the F1 grid: a fashion-conscious metrosexual who owns clothing lines with brands such as Tommy Hilfiger. He is also open about his vegan lifestyle, even starting his own meatfree burger chain. Not to mention he also cares a lot about the environment and animal welfare, spending some of his time visiting and donating money to charities.
Hamilton’s outgoing personality is another reason why people don’t like him. He has a reputation for being controversial, such as wearing sunglasses during national anthems. He was also at the forefront of the Black Lives
Matter movement in 2020, with signage on his helmet and Mercedes car livery – painted black – and he took a knee at the start of every race.
Perhaps there’s something in his political idealism that also turns people away. Last year, Hamilton took to social media to high‐ light the death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers in the US. “I see those of you who are staying silent, some of you the biggest stars, yet you stay silent in the midst of injustice,” Hamilton wrote on his Ins‐ tagram. “Not a sign from anybody in my in‐ dustry which of course is a white-dominated sport. I’m one of the only people of colour there, yet I stand alone. I would have thought by now you would see why this happens and say something about it but you can’t stand alongside us. Just know I know who you are and I see you.”
Hamilton is the only black driver in F1. He’s one of just two black drivers in the world’s biggest racing championships; the other is NASCAR’S Bubba Wallace, who him‐ self was subjected to racial abuse. “This is not just America, this is the UK, this is Spain, this is Italy and all over,” Hamilton wrote further on social media.
Lewis was the subject of racist abuse back in 2008, when fans coloured their faces black, wore wigs and T-shirts emblazoned with the words “Hamilton’s family”. Sympathisers reckon it was more to do with the fallout between Hamilton and Fernando Alonso the previous year when they both raced for Mclaren. “The way minorities are treated has to change; how you educate those in your country of equality, racism, classism, and that we are all the same. We are not born with racism and hate in our hearts, it is taught by those we look up to.”
Sure, Hamilton was born into a wealthy family that could support his early career in karting: his is no rags to riches story. That scenario simply doesn’t exist in the world for Formula One. But money can’t buy talent and it can’t buy natural speed. Hamilton was born to race and the statistics show that if all cars were equal, the British superstar would be more equal than the others.