Lewis Hamilton is a person of color and has often been at the receiving end of racism. Moreover, being the only black contestant in his racing career, right from karting to F1, he had some unpleasant experiences.
On top of that, he has also revealed that his school wasn’t supportive of him. In one of the interviews, he spoke about how he was punished for missing school every Friday, and despite his father’s pleas, his school principal never allowed him an exception to miss school for karting.
That conversation happened years ago, but the scars of his formative years haven’t healed. The seven-time world champion in 2023 extensively talks about how his school harmed him even more.
Also read: Lewis Hamilton Claims He Has Massive Respect for Max Verstappen; Not Sure About the Opposite
Lewis Hamilton reveals his school years were most traumatic
In Jay Shetty’s podcast, Hamilton talks about how he was bullied in school because of his color. According to him, the age of six was the most traumatic phase.
“For me school was probablythe most traumatizing or difficult part of my life,” said Hamilton. “I was already being bullied at the age of six. I think at that time that particular school I was one of the three kids of color. Just bigger, stronger kids used to throw me around a lot of time.”
Hamilton also reveals that people around him at the school used to throw the n-word around without realizing the harm it did. Moreover, he claims that the minority of black kids in his class were made to stand outside the headmaster’s room because he had issues with them for no reason.
So, these things made his time at that school very tough. Hamilton claims all this made his academic situation even worse as till 16. He didn’t realize that he was dyslexic and, without knowing the cause, was doing badly in his studies.
A ray of hope
Hamilton then talks about how there was a small glimmer of good amidst bad. The seven-time world champion talks about a teacher who cared enough and took him down the road to make Hamilton realize how education can better him.
The Mercedes star then talks about how in school, nobody realized that he is working so hard across the weekends. When other kids had normal weekends, he was out racing, and when he told them that, they assumed he went to theme parks.
So, that’s why there was a distance between him and others. He also reveals that he was always kept in the lower sets in the school and promised to promote if he did good, but he claims he was never allowed to progress no matter how hard he worked.
Also read: Lewis Hamilton Reveals That He Is Really Enjoying Listening to Popstar Billie Eilish
