Lewis Hamilton made his way into the pinnacle of motorsport, Formula 1, through multiple struggles. Unlike many of his peers, Hamilton came from a humble background eyeing the F1 seat and being the only black driver did not make things easy for him.
Hamilton started his career with remote control car racing and won his first two trophies. The stupendous hand-eye coordination combined with laser-sharp focus saw the 5-year-old Hamilton defeat adults.
Speaking to Gayle King, the American broadcast journalist, Hamilton revealed that his father Anthony Hamilton spotted those exceptional traits in his son and someone spoke to his father about it as well.
This further led Hamilton Sr to put his young child into karting who now has 7-world championship titles under his belt and multiple other records on the racing track.
Where it ALL started. #BluePeter
“Well @nigelmansell, eat your heart out. The radio control, modern car racers, are hot on your heels.” – John Leslie
Boi, oh was John Leslie right. @LewisHamilton 🇬🇧🇬🇩🔨#44FightFor7 #TurkishGP 🇹🇷 #TeamLH #F1 pic.twitter.com/iHaA2tYAc5
— 🇻🇨Mr Lawrence🇬🇧🇬🇩🌸 (@Mr_Lawrence4) November 15, 2020
On a side note, Lewis also told King in the 2018 interview that as a kid he either wanted to be Superman or Ayrton Senna.
Also Read: 13-year-old Lewis Hamilton got ‘black belt’ in Karate to stand against bullies
Hamilton’s fifth-hand first ever Go-kart
The 7-time world champion once revealed that he used to watch Formula 1 with his father and he admired Senna. He would often watch the Brazillian F1 legend documentary ‘Racing is in my Blood’ on repeat.
His extraordinary performance with radio-controlled cars ignited his willingness for go-kart racing. He asked his father to buy him a kart on Christmas. And the next thing he knew, he was looking down the hallway at a massive gift-wrapped box on the dining table of his house.
The Briton was only 6 years old when he unwrapped the box and found the Go-Kart his father had fixed for him.
Speaking in the interview with King, Hamilton revealed that it was a fifth-hand go-kart that his father had fixed the kart to make it look brand new.
Lewis Hamilton did the talking on the track
The current $285 Million worth F1 star started his karting career in 1993 and only two years later he was the youngest driver to win the British cadet karting championship at the age of ten.
He started to make himself a recognisable driver on the track with his exceptional driving skills and hard work while being the only black driver also saw him subjected to racist abuse.
The young Briton took refuge on track from bullying and racism and he went by what his father told him to do.
He revealed that his father used to tell him to ‘do your talking on the track’ and he did. At the age of 22, Hamilton drove his first F1 car and in his first year in Formula 1, he challenged his 2-time world champion teammate, Fernando Alonso, to a close battle in the 2007 championship title.
Also Read: Lewis Hamilton takes $188,500 legendary car on spin on Tokyo Expressway
