Lewis Hamilton had a tough childhood being one of the only 3 black children in his school and the only black kid in racing.
He was often bullied at school and on the track and wanted to have the confidence to defend himself from being pushing into a corner most of the time.
In an interview in 2018 on 92nd street, Hamilton revealed that as a 6-year-old he turned to Karate to learn to defend himself.
The Briton also said that he wanted to be like Bruce Lee and that is where he got the inspiration from. By the age of 13, he was a fully-fledged black belt and the marshal art training helped him in other aspects as well.
He explained that as a kid he was wild and Karate requires a lot of discipline, so in that way, it helped the young F1 star. Later he also learned Muay Thai and while it was more of a fun activity, he loved that he knew how to defend himself as the other kids were always coming at him in the karting world.
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Lewis Hamilton was too embarrassed to tell his parents about bullying
On Instagram in 2019, Hamilton posted a picture of young himself in a karate pose and shared an emotional story of how marshall arts helped him in fighting the bullies.
🗓 #OnThisDay eight years ago @LewisHamilton secured his second world title and his first with @MercedesAMGF1! 👑#AbuDhabiGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/wmFnUIF6qj
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 23, 2022
He wrote in the caption that at school, he was small, alone and an easy target for the bigger kids. He used to stand up for himself but was usually outnumbered.
“I remember sitting in the back of the car as a six-year-old driving home with my dad and step mum, being so sad inside but too embarrassed to tell them,” he said.
Lewis Hamilton dedicated his race win to Mohammed Ali
In 2016, when Hamilton won the Canadian GP, he dedicated his victory to the late Boxing legend, Mohammed Ali.
He revealed that he always admired Ali for calling the shots and doing things his way.
“The way he would go in and say: I’m going to whoop your ass and then he would go in and whoop their ass, that was amazing. I always wanted to have that,” he said.
