Make that a double, thank you
Two Formula One world titles, a private jet and a pop star girlfriend - not bad for a boy with humble beginnings and the odds against him
WORLD Champions come from all sorts of backgrounds but few started life with the odds stacked against them quite as heavily as Lewis Hamilton.
The Briton, who celebrated his second Formula One title with Mercedes on Sunday, grew up in social housing with money tight and his father holding down multiple jobs to fuel his son’s progress through karting. Even now, after so much success in one of the most glamorous and expensive sports on the planet, he still has to stop and pinch himself.
There are no silver spoons in the back story of the 29-year-old who now turns up at races wearing clunky gold chains, flashy diamond ear studs and with pop star girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger on his arm. The boy who once slept on his father’s couch and dreamed of toy cars, now has the fastest Mercedes in the world and a private jet.
“Who would ever have thought it of us Hamiltons turning up at the track in the first year in karting, the only black family there?” Hamilton recalled this month after becoming the most successful British driver ever in terms of race wins. “It was almost like everyone thought ‘what are they doing here?’ It was so funny. We had the crappiest little box trailer. I feel very proud.”
Hamilton won this year’s championship in style too with 11 wins in 19 races including Sunday’s season finale, even if engine concerns meant he never quite lived up to his father’s mantra of “drive it like you stole it”.
His team-mate and championship nemesis Nico Rosberg, who was the only other driver in with a shot of the crown, was forced to slow with mechanical problems and only managed to limp across the line in 14th.
It was a long way from 2008 when, as a McLaren driver, Hamilton took his first title in Brazil with a sensational last overtake that turned the 23-year-old into the then-youngest champion.
“People talk about how long it’s been since I won the title, but I honestly feel like I’m fighting for my first world championship all over again,” Hamilton had said before Sunday’s ‘Duel in the Desert’.
“I’m older and maybe a little bit wiser than I was back then. I’ve learnt a lot in the years since 2008. But I’m still the same driver. I still have the same hunger, the same will to win and I’ve been giving it everything I’ve got from the word go this season.”
Hamilton could have taken the crown in his 2007 rookie season, losing out to Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen by a single point after a stormy year at McLaren. Some of the old demons, which triggered controversy and criticism in his six years at his former team, have been tamed if not banished entirely.
Once seen as over-controlled by McLaren group boss Ron Dennis, Hamilton is now his own man and the happier for it. No longer in need of a manager, and enjoying his father’s company more, the new champ seems more confident about who he is. “He feels in a better place in his life,” said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff. “He has sorted out some of his private issues, has a good relationship and feels at home in the team.”
Lewis and Nico raced for the same go-kart team as kids in 1996, and, after this year’s back and forth championship, will again face each as Mercedes team-mates next year.
Final Drivers’ championship standings 1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes 384pts 2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes 317 3. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull 238 4. Valtteri Bottas, Williams 186 5. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull 167 6. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari 161 7. Felipe Massa, Williams 134 8. Jenson Button, McLaren 126 9. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India 96 10. Sergio Perez, Force India 59 - Reuters