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“I had chills and sort of welled up”– How Lewis Hamilton made Denver Broncos’ co-owner emotional with bitter truth

Tanish Chachra
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"I had chills and sort of welled up"– How Lewis Hamilton made Denver Broncos' co-owner emotional with bitter truth

Lewis Hamilton made Denver Broncos co-owner emotional with a bitter truth about society and how she related to the Mercedes star.

The seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton took a minority stake in Denver Broncos after participating in the $4.6 billion takeover of the NFL team.

The Walton-Penner group led this financial storm to buy Broncos, including a close ally of Hamilton- Mellody Hobson, the CEO of Ariel Investments and a board member of Starbucks.

Her husband, the famous creator of Star Wars, George Lucas, joined the consortium. The two have closer relations with the F1 superstar played a key in Hamilton also penning his investment in the NFL team.

But where did it all start? Hobson had followed Hamilton’s progress in F1 since the 2007 Monaco GP when a black driver broke into F1 and only went up to dominate the sport.

On the other hand, Hobson was also the first and the only one in her field. Thus, the isolation felt by both made their bond, and now Briton refers to her as his older sister.

Also read: Lando Norris feels his McLaren car is more suited to 33-year-old teammate

When Lewis Hamilton made Mellody Hobson well up

Hamilton has been open about how he has been alone as the only black driver to compete in motorsport. He is proud to achieve this feat, but it also comes with its challenges, and Hobson related to that and teared up listening to Hamilton saying it once.

“I remember he gave this interview with Gayle King on the CBS morning show a couple of years ago, and he said, ‘Being the first and only Black anything is a proud and lonely walk.’ And I literally stopped,” said Hobson to Vanity Fair.

“I had chills and sort of welled up. I knew exactly: proud and lonely…it’s how it feels.”

How Hobson motivated Mercedes star to come back in 2022

After the controversial end to the 2021 F1 season, Hamilton was heartbroken and stayed away from the public eye for weeks. In the Vanity Fair interview, Hamilton revealed how Hobson and her husband helped her to cope with that low.

He credits them for his return to F1, as many thought that Hamilton’s sudden disappearance meant the arrival of his retirement. Ultimately, the seven-time world champion aims to have a few more years in F1 before ending his glorious time.

Also read: Michael Schumacher’s 7th World Championship winning Ferrari F2004’s miniature model sold for $350

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra

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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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