We are dedicating this blog to a boy from the small town in Stevenage who dreamt of becoming a Formula one race driver and idiolised Ayrton Senna, called Lewis Hamilton. In many interviews done over the years, Lewis Hamilton, who recently was knighted for his contribution to the motorsport industry, directed all his praise at his father, Anthony Hamilton who tirelessly worked hard to give his son a chance of making his dream come true.
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A Kid with a Dream
Hamilton started out karting when he was 8, which was something he started as a hobby with his dad when they spent time together. His father was a huge influence in Lewis’ life, giving him the support that he needed growing up and keeping him motivated to go the extra mile. His father instilled a “never give up” attitude that is prevalent to this day as he keeps pushing his and his car’s limits to become even better.
To become a Formula One driver, one needs a lot of sponsorships to maintain his place in the sport and most of the sponsors that Lewis and his father approached pulled out as they did not want to support the first black man in Formula One. Lewis Hamilton suffered a lot of racial abuse when growing up and so did his father when he approached potential investors. Still, he used to tell Lewis to do the talking on the track and show that he is the superior driver, making them regret their decision of not backing him.
Rookie Season
Lewis Hamilton made his debut season with McLaren Mercedes in 2007. His teammate at the time was Fernando Alonso, who, prior to that year, had won back-to-back titles with Renault. So, a young and inexperienced Lewis Hamilton was up against a two-time World Champion, for starters. One of the iconic moments of this remarkable season came a few seconds into the race when Lewis qualified in fourth place ahead of teammate Alonso. Off the line, Lewis did not get the purchase that he wanted, so he fell down a couple of places, but in turn one, with a swooping move around the outside, he overtook both his teammate and Robert Kubica. This was a big sign of how confident and talented Lewis Hamilton was from the get-go. He finished the race in third place, making it the best maiden race for a rookie. After getting on the podium in his first race, he followed it up with back-to-back second-place finishes in both Bahrain and Malaysia. Up next was Canada, the place where Lewis Hamilton showcased his true potential when he stuck it on pole position by almost five-tenths ahead of teammate Fernando Alonso. He converted that pole position into his first of many wins.
Heading towards the last two races of the season, Hamilton had a considerable lead ahead of both Kimi Raikonnen and teammate Fernando Alonso, but in China, Lewis did his first costly mistake when making his way into the pitlane. His car slid and went off the track just before the pitlane, and he beached the car and had to retire, costing him a potential race win and, with it, the title. In Brazil, Lewis suffered yet another setback as he got a gearbox issue that cost him a lot of time, and after it got fixed, he was way behind in making up the places back. The title went to Ferrari’s Kimi Raikonnen as he got a singular point more than Lewis Hamilton, who finished in second place after being ahead of his teammate after countback.
It remains to this day the best-ever rookie season, even after the great emergence onto the Formula one paddock by Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen. That season was the first of which we enjoyed the greatness of Lewis Hamilton.
The Silver War
For context, the Silver war was the rivalry between boyhood friends Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, who were teammates in the silver arrows of Mercedes in 2016. This special rivalry had a lot of elements to it, and we are going to dive into it.
After four races, Nico Rosberg gained maximum points with 100 points, winning all four, but it was an incident-packed couple of races for Hamilton, who managed to get 57 points. It was so far so good as drivers did not tangle with each other, but that all changed in Spain. Hamilton took pole position, but Rosberg had the better start and overtook on the outer side. As the track leads to turn four on the straight Rosberg was on the wrong engine mode which gave an opportunity to Hamilton to sneak up on the inside but room was not afforded and both drivers came together ending their hopes of winning the race. From that point onwards, their relationship took a bad turn and it turned ugly, especially for team boss Toto Wolff who had to keep a lid on the situation.
A lot of technical issues costed Lewis Hamilton a host of points in Azerbaijan, which continued to give Nico Rosberg the edge. At the time, the Mercedes was on a world of its own in terms of pace, but reliability demons crept up in almost every race weekend presenting the drivers with a challenge. Much to the dismay of Lewis Hamilton especially in Malayisa, when he was leading the race but was forced to retire the car due to a fire in the engine.
Going to the final few races of the season, Lewis had to win all fives races to keep his title hopes alive in which he did win them all, but unfortunately for him, his teammate also finished second meaning that Nico edged it with just five points. To add to the great achievements that Lewis has had during his career, this season might have been one of his best in terms of fighting back and getting on the front foot. The amounts of issues, bad starts, engine issues and many other things only five points separated the silver arrows. The 2016 season really epitamizes the character of Lewis Hamilton of never giving up and keep giving it your all as that is the only thing that you can physically control.
Moments of Brilliance
Singapore 2018
One of the best qualifying runs that any driver has put together, goes to Lewis Hamilton under the lights of Singapore. At the start of the qualifying session, things did not look to good for the Brit, nearly avoiding a Q1 elimination and in Q2 falling short of the pace from Raikonnen and Verstappen’s pace. In Q3 where it all mattered he set three purple sectors, the clock stopped at 1:36.015 over three seconds up on Vettel’s pole time the previous year.
Canada 2007
The weekend which was all about firsts for Lewis Hamilton. He got his first pole position and also his first win, fending off the challenge of then teammate Fernando Alonso at the start and not putting a foot wrong throughout the race. The race win did not come without a challenge as a whopping four safety cars where called into action, cutting his hard earned lead back to zero. Despite being the first time leading the pack for a safety car restart, he timed them to perfection making him the first and only black man to win in a Formula one race.
Monaco 2019
Lewis Hamilton started the race in pole position and, after a puncture to Charles Leclerc brought the safety car out, Mercedes fitted car 44 with a set of medium tyres despite the rest of the field being on hard compound tyres. The World Champion faced a daunting 64-lap stint on the softer compound. In theory the medium tyres should do around 50 laps and Lewis Hamilton had to caress them home for 67 laps. Once again, the crisis showed the measure of the man as he protected his delicate tyres and defended for his life against Verstappen, one of the most aggressive drivers on the grid. On tyres with minimal thread on the most psychological demanding circuit in the world—quite a situation. The Dutchman spent 60 laps trying to sneak, slip and nudge past with Hamilton showing Herculian defensive stamina and tenacity to stay ahead, all the while conscious not to overwork his fragile tyres.
Seventh Heaven
After a challenging year through covid restrictions and not having the fans by his side whenever he races, Lewis Hamilton won the race in Turkey finishing, off the job for 2020 and winning his seventh world title. His speech at the end was inspirational for many, as it was directled to all the kids who are told that their dreams are not possible, that if they work hard enough they can achieve anything. With that world championship sealed, Lewis Hamilton draws equal with Michael Schumacher as the two individuals to have won the championship seven times during their time in the sport; an achievement that will surely take a lot of time to be repeated both in terms of the mentality needed and the skill.
Legacy
Apart from the success on the track, which is the most important bit for any Formula 1 driver, Lewis Hamilton is one of the most influential personalities, focusing in particular on ensuring a more diverse landscape in the sport through Mission 44, as well as the charitable fund Ignite, a joint effort between Hamilton and Mercedes. His efforts are already leaving a mark, as Mercedes took steps to improve diversity within the team through their ‘Accelerate 25’ initiative, a commitment to 25% of all new recruits being from an under-represented background until 2025.
In terms of racing, we hope to see Lewis Hamilton at his best for a couple of more years just to witness and appreciate his genuis over and over again. Mercedes did their best to produce the best car for him to at least win a race but that bone was taken by teammate George Russell who is eager to follow in his countryman’s footsteps.