Lewis Hamilton Left ‘Gutted’ After Missing Out on the Opportunity of a Lifetime With F1 Hero Ayrton Senna

At age five, a young Lewis Hamilton was gifted a remote-controlled car by his father. Driving the miniature car developed an interest in racing as a youngster who started karting at age 6. This catalyst gave us one of the most prominent F1 drivers ever.

Hamilton was a promising young kid in the British karting scene. After becoming the youngest driver to win the British Karting, he got the attention of Ron Dennis, the Mclaren CEO at the time.

Dennis offered financial and technical backing to the youngster. He also promised Hamilton that someday in the future, he would give him a racing seat in the McLaren F1 team.

 

This was a dream come true for the driver, who had been a die-hard McLaren fan since the beginning. It allowed him to retrace the steps of his childhood racing icon, Ayrton Senna.

Hamilton reveals he was an Ayrton Senna fan growing up

Lewis Hamilton started watching Formula 1 in the late ’80s and early 90s. The F1 scene at that time was dominated by the likes of Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, and Nigel Mansel. Williams and McLaren were the most dominant teams of the era.

The Briton had always followed the orange team. “McLaren was the team I followed,” said the 7x champion, who was attracted to the bright colors of the car. McLaren, powered by Honda, was unbeatable in the 1990s. Between 1985 and 1991, Senna and Prost secured 6 of the 7 championships. The Brazilian and Frenchman had an epic rivalry that defined the era.

However, Hamilton had pledged his support for the 3x champion. “I was a huge fan of their driver Ayrton Senna,” the Briton said. Hamilton claimed watching Senna race was magical and was what inspired him to become an F1 driver for McLaren in the future.

He recalled, “It was a strange feeling. It was that team that made me think, ‘I want to drive that car one day.’ I wanted to be in that team. ‘One day, I want to be in his seat.’”

Unfortunately, the Mercedes driver never got to see his idol. Senna was killed in a tragic accident in Imola in the 1994 San Marino GP. To this day, it remains one of the darkest moments in the sport’s history.

Lewis Hamilton was 1 year late to meeting Senna

In his biography, “Lewis Hamilton: My Story,” the Briton shared that he was utterly heartbroken upon hearing the news of Ayrton Senna’s death. He cried himself to sleep after his father broke the news to him.

Moreover, the 7-time champion was gutted because he lost the chance to meet his idol in 1994, months before the crash. He said, “When I went to the Autosport Awards it was the year after he had been killed at Imola.” Senna attended the ceremony after finishing 2nd in the 1993 season. Had Hamilton finished in the top 3 of his karting championship, he could have met the 3-time champion.

The Briton won the championship the following year and was invited to the awards. Nevertheless, it was one year too late for the youngster. He continued, “To this day I always feel a bit gutted that I missed him by a year.”

He still regards the Brazilian as ‘the man’ for himself. Hamilton shared, “It was everything about him, but especially the way he drove and him as a person.”

He met McLaren drivers David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen during karting races in the following years. But none of them manages to leave him awestruck. It would have been different if it was Senna, he said. “Maybe I would have been if I had met Ayrton Senna, I would be star-struck. But I honestly haven’t been star-struck yet.”

Years later, Hamilton has established himself in the same league of legends as his hero Senna. After winning the 2021 Brazilian GP, he waved the Brazilian flag as his hero did. He was conferred honorary citizenship from Brazil in 2022 for his contribution to motorsports.