Lewis Hamilton is not only famous for his exploits on the race track but also because of the way he carries himself. The Briton has a unique fashion sense and is not afraid to voice his opinion on issues that he does not agree with. The 38-year-old was so fearless that he once also broke down publicly after he achieved his dream of making it to F1.
Most drivers perhaps would have preferred to hide their emotions in one of the most competitive sports in the world but Hamilton was not one of them. The Mercedes driver is well aware of the struggles his father, Anthony, went through to help him reach this stage.
“We started with nothing. He (Anthony) had 4 jobs to keep me racing at one time and I slept on the couch,” Hamilton wrote (as quoted by mirror.co.uk) in a post in 2020. “We dreamt of doing something, something so far out of reach, becoming an F1 driver“.
Hamilton then explained how they “sounded crazy” when they spoke of the same. The Briton revealed that “people would laugh” at them and call them names.
However, despite the same, he remained determined to fight back with his actions on the race track. These are perhaps some of the many reasons why it meant so much to Hamilton when he finally made it into F1.
McLaren’s former mechanic reveals why Lewis Hamilton once broke down
Marc Priestley was one of McLaren’s top mechanics from 2000 to 2009. During this time, the 46-year-old worked alongside some of the biggest names in F1 such as Mika Hakkinen, David Coulthard, Kimi Raikkonen, and also Lewis Hamilton.
Following his career, Priestly wrote a book, “The Mechanic: The Secret World of the F1 Pitlane, to shed some light on some of the best moments of his time at McLaren. While looking back at his career, one of the memories he shared was that of Hamilton. Priestly explained how he was positively surprised when he saw the Briton express his genuine emotions while taking part in a marketing event for the team.
“When Lewis emerged from the team’s chauffeur-driven Mercedes to see his own face projected, in enormous scale, on the side of the building, he couldn’t hold back the tears of disbelief and needed a moment to compose himself while the emotions around his life-changing role as an F1 driver hit him all at once“, Priestly wrote.
After noting the same, the former 46-year-old mechanic explained how it was rare to see such a reaction from an F1 driver. Priestly believes that the same is the case as many often perceive “vulnerability” as a “weakness in such a testosterone-driven industry“.
However, Priestly mentioned that for him, Hamilton’s emotions were “endearing” as they were “genuine“. Moreover, not only was the 38-year-old fearless to express his emotions freely at the time, but he was also extremely confident in his own abilities.
Hamilton contacted Dennis at the age of 10 for an opportunity in F1
In his autobiography, former McLaren chairman Ron Dennis revealed how an extremely confident Lewis Hamilton once contacted him at the age of just 10. “Hi. I’m Lewis Hamilton. I won the British Championship and one day I want to be racing your cars,” wrote the 76-year-old in his autobiography (as quoted by gpfans.com) to quote Hamilton’s exact words.
In reply, Dennis asked Hamilton to contact him in nine years. However, much to everyone’s surprise, the 38-year-old just took another three years to impress Dennis and got an opportunity in McLaren’s young driver development programme.
A few years later in 2007, Hamilton also got the opportunity to get the first team seat at McLaren. A year after, the Briton went on to win his first of seven Drivers’ Championships with the team at the age of just 23. And the rest since then is history.
