Grandad’s death spurred me on
LEWIS HamIlton has revealed that he drove to his fifth world championship in the shadow of his grandfather’s death.
It was Davidson Hamilton who brought the family over from Grenada to Britain in 1955, escaping the storms that destroyed most of the nutmeg trees he farmed. In his town of Grand Roy on the west coast of the island he earned a reputation as the fastest man on two wheels.
Scornful of the dangerous roads snaking through the hills, he is reputed to have scorched on his BSa motorbike from Grand Roy to the neighbouring town of Gouyave three miles away in five minutes.
Believed to be aged 88, he died in Grenada last thursday morning. His grandson, lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton, kept quiet about the loss until after Sunday’s mexican Grand Prix in which he went level with Juan manuel Fangio on five titles and even further ahead of the rest as the most decorated British driver of all time.
Hamilton, who flew back to see his pet bulldogs Roscoe and Coco in los angeles straight after finishing fourth in a tense race, said: ‘this has actually been a really difficult weekend. my grandad was the godfather of the family.
‘naturally when someone passes away it brings the whole family together. my grandfather would be so proud of us, so grateful that the Hamilton name is established and that it will now go down in history, which is kind of crazy to think.’
Davidson set up in west london, working for london Underground. In 1963, lewis’s father anthony was born. He lost his mother at a young age, and father and son later moved to the new town of Stevenage, where lewis was born.
lewis has had ups and downs with his father but the essential bond is strong. anthony nurtured and guided lewis’s early career, the speed gene having skipped a generation.
‘my dad and I were already quite close, but this death has made us even more so,’ said lewis (right). ‘I will never forget the things he did in order for me to be here today and for us to thrive.
‘I really do aspire to be like him, as a strong black man, and as a father for doing what he did in the difficult times, with what little he had. I think that’s testament to where we are.’
there are some parallels between Hamilton and Fangio: neither grew up with privilege. Hamilton’s father, then known as tony, worked as a clerk at British Rail, later supplementing his income by putting up ‘for sale’ signs on houses, among other part-time jobs to help fund lewis’s karting career. Fangio was the son of a farm labourer in Balcarce, 180 miles south east of Buenos aires. He won the second of his championships — driving for mercedes — in the year Davidson moved to England. lewis cast his mind back to his early days and how they had shaped him even before he joined mclaren on their young driver programme.
He said of karting in Hertfordshire: ‘Driving around there the quickest kid was called nicky Richardson. as an eightyear-old, I looked up to nicky. He was so quick and I thought: “I’ve got to be better than him somehow.”
‘So, my dad would look where he was braking, move several metres down, stand there, and say: “this is where you have to brake.”
‘I would try it, but I would spin off and crash every time. Eventually, I could do it, and ever since I have been known as a late braker. those special moments are what I fight with today and are at the core of who I am.’