Lewis Hamilton recently relived his past glory days of Radio Control (RC) racing. The Briton took part in a race and he won, but it was against a child. However, Hamilton made sure to declare his competitor as the winner because he admitted to doing something the child did not – practice a lot before turning up to the task.
During a visit to the Mulberry Schools Trust, Hamilton raced against a school kid who impressively, built his own RC drag race track with a launcher. All the two competitors had to do is press a button to launch the cars and off they went. Unfortunately for the kid, the winner was Hamilton, Hamilton who consoled the kid by saying,
“You beat me, I had an advantage. I practiced a lot.”
The video for this was posted by Mercedes on their official YouTube channel. He met the students of the trust who showed promise in STEM subjects and was awestruck by their creations. It included an interactive robot that left Hamilton so impressed that he wished to have one for himself.
The Mercedes star’s commitment to inclusivity in STEM fields is no new initiative. In particular, he has often raised the issue of there being a lower representation of students from racial minorities. The trust he visited had a visibly exclusive representation of students from different backgrounds. Dr. Vanessa Odgens, the CEO of the Mulberry Schools Trust lauded Hamilton’s vision and his commitment to the initiative.
Hamilton himself, takes a keen interest in the technical aspect of the F1 cars that he has driven over the years. Two years ago, he met kids from a facility known as ‘RC Vision’, which helped kids stay away from malpractices, by helping them develop interest in RC racing, karting and the mechanical side of racing.
Today, he is a seven-time world champion and one of the most popular F1 drivers in the world. Back in the day, however, Hamilton was an avid RC racer. In fact, he was just seven years old when he developed this particular passion.
How Lewis Hamilton started his journey to F1 with RC racing
The video posted by Sky Sports regarding the Mercedes driver’s childhood passion, featured a clip of a 7-year-old Lewis Hamilton winning an RC racing championship. He recalled the time when he was shopping with his parents and first saw an RC car. His parents got him that car on Christmas that year, and enrolled him in some local tournaments. Despite being the youngest competitor there, Hamilton won, and that is where his motor racing journey started.
He soon transitioned into kart racing. A natural behind the wheel, Hamilton found success pretty early. At just 10 years old, he was the British karting champion and got the invitation to the coveted Autosport awards.
At the awards, Hamilton met a man who was about to change his life forever. Young, but confident, Hamilton went up to then-McLaren boss Ron Dennis and introduced himself as a champion. He wanted to drive in F1 (like any other young talent) and asked Dennis for an opportunity. Awestruck, he asked a young Hamilton to call him again in 10 years as he gave him his autograph. As fate would have it, it was Dennis who contacted the boy from Stevenage just a few years later.
Dennis offered Hamilton a place in McLaren’s young driver’s program and after nurturing his talent for years, he offered his prodigious pupil a McLaren F1 seat in 2007. And the rest, as they say, is history.
