“It’s a Sign of Weakness”: Lewis Hamilton Reveals He Never Cried for 10 Years As His Father Once Instructed Him Never To Do in Front of Him

Lewis Hamilton is among the faces in Formula 1 who comes from a racially disadvantaged group. He has often claimed that being the only black kid during his karting days came with several racial waves of abuse from other people.

He admits that his skin colour has been a huge factor in his struggles before getting into F1. Considering he is the only black driver in the sport’s history, it’s a fact that bothers him, as his relatability with someone hasn’t been at a similar magnitude.

There have been times when the hate he is getting for his skin color has been overwhelming for him. But he claims he never shed a tear as a towering figure in his life once told him that it’s a sign of weakness.

Also read: Kimi Raikkonen Once Told Ted Kravitz That Media Knows Nothing About Him Despite Him Being a Celebrity

Lewis Hamilton reveals his father told him never to cry

Crying has often been stereotyped as a feminine trait. Many even surprisingly associate gulping the tears away as a sign of ‘manning up’. The seven-time world champion reveals his father also instructed to do him that, and he adhered to it from 2010-2020 until one trigger became his breaking point.

“My dad never let me cry as a kid,” Hamilton said on Jay Shetty’s podcast. “He said it’s a sign of weakness. Don’t let me ever see you shed a tear. I remember just holding back through those difficult times as a kid. In 2020, I cried, I hadn’t cried for at least 10 years or maybe more.”

Hamilton is obviously hinting at George Floyd’s brutal murder as his trigger. The gruesome violence against Floyd also kicked off the Black Lives Matter movement. Hamilton was one of the leading celebrities to support the struggle.

There was a lot of bottled-up pain

Hamilton reveals that once he cried after that long gap, he realized that a lot of bottled-up stuff had come up. He never realized that he had been depressing his feelings all this while. He claims he hardly knew what it actually means to suppress emotions and was doing it out of habit.

However, he thought that the BLM was a time when he had to act up and express himself while taking a knee for the people who are similarly disadvantaged and oppressed.

 

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The seven-time world champion got criticisms from people who never agreed with the BLM movement. But he also got massive backing and influenced some high-profile F1 drivers to join his struggle within the F1.

Also read: Lando Norris Was Once Asked to Sign His Own Driver’s Car Ahead of F1 Race

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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