Lewis Hamilton received his knighthood from Prince Charles (now King) back on December 15, 2021, at Windsor Castle. While the two had a warm exchange on the day, receiving the honor from Prince Charles reminded Hamilton of a time 26 years ago when he had a conversation with the 75-year-old about how he wanted to become a Formula 1 champion someday.
Hamilton appeared in an interview with Vanity Fair a year ago when he made this revelation. The 39-year-old said, “When I had signed into 1997, and then I went to McLaren, Prince Charles came to open up the factory. And that day I remember having my go-kart and I was sitting there. And Prince Charles knelt down next to me and spoke to me“.
Hamilton then simply told Prince Charles of his dream at the time to be a Formula 1 world champion. Although the young Briton’s remarks may have seemed premature at the time, in no way was he jumping the gun when it came to his approach of wanting to reach the top.
McLaren identified Hamilton’s prowess from a very young age and included him in their young driver’s program. Then McLaren CEO Ron Dennis himself provided Hamilton with everything he could to ensure that the young Briton would be prepared whenever he got the chance to drive for his side.
Dennis’ contribution has now been identified, and as a result, he has been named as one of the individuals who will receive the knighthood when the ceremony takes place next.
How did Ron Dennis help Lewis Hamilton become the star he is today?
Ron Dennis indeed did have an instrumental role in helping Lewis Hamilton reach where he is today as it was the 76-year-old who hired the young Briton a neuroscientist to make him a race-winning machine. The details of the same are revealed in Hamilton’s triple-world champion biography.
Author Frank Worrall revealed in the biography, “Big Ron had hired Dr Kerry Spackman, a New Zealand-born neuroscientist, apparently to turn the boy (Hamilton) into a race-winning machine“.
Other than a neuroscientist, Dennis also helped Hamilton get his hands on a $22 million worth simulator to prepare the young Briton in the best way possible ahead of his F1 debut in 2007. It was then that Dennis and McLaren realized that Hamilton was ready to make his much-awaited debut at the 2007 Australian GP.
Sir Lewis Hamilton and Sir Ron Dennis ❤️. They didn’t know but they did it. They made it. https://t.co/AasThdo0Fc
— Daisy Sirma44 (@DaisySirma) January 4, 2024
It barely took any time for Hamilton to deliver as he finished on the podium in all his first nine races. He then eventually finished his debut season with a total of 12 podiums that included four wins.
When it came to the championship standings, Hamilton finished second and lost the title by just one point to Kimi Raikkonen. However, it did not take long for the Briton to make things right as he won the championship the very next season in 2008.
How did Hamilton and Dennis’ relationship turn sour?
Lewis Hamilton’s relationship with McLaren and Ron Dennis was as strong as ever around 2008 when he won his first title. However, following a few seasons of his failure to fight for the championship, Hamilton wanted to look elsewhere to achieve his career goals.
In 2012, he made the huge decision to leave McLaren and sign for Mercedes. It was then that his relationship with Dennis also took a hit. The 76-year-old unsurprisingly saw Hamilton’s move as a betrayal after everything he had done for the British champion.
However, Hamilton saw this as the only option to have a realistic chance of fighting for more championships. And that is exactly what he did. By the end of the 2020 season, the Briton won six more titles with Mercedes to equal Michael Schumacher’s tally of seven world championships.
