Athletes, by definition, are artists of excellence. It is an often-lonely pursuit, seeking to peek beyond the envelope of existence and find new edges that needed to be discovered. Elite athletes tend to inform their sport and shape its future. They are a rare breed of human beings, with the drive and determination to explore the farthest reaches.
The world bestows fame and fortune upon those rare individuals that stretch the envelope of their endeavour into a new realm. Only in the rarest of the rare cases do we find these famed geniuses stretch their influence beyond sport and into life.
Lewis Hamilton is among those that have sailed on the wind of their accomplishments to address issues far beyond the trivial boundaries of sport.
As he celebrates his 37th birthday on 07 January, it would be a service to sport, to understand the significance of his achievements. The high lane that Hamilton is driving in is one that has been paved through the pioneering work of immortal heroes such as Jesse Owens, Billie Jean King, Jackie Robinson and Althea Gibson. Each of them excelled at sport and used their fame to educate people and lead an informed life.
Hamilton’s emergence from the relatively impoverished pitlanes of Formula One makes it a remarkable journey. And despite rolling in the millions now, Hamilton hasn’t lost sight of his humble background, growing up in Stevenage, less than 50km from London.
"I grew up seeing kids arriving in helicopters and stuff. My dad and I were in our Fiat Cinquecento and they were turning up in their Lamborghinis,” recollected Hamilton in 2018. “I really hope that there is some of that rawness coming through in the next generation, those diamonds in the rough. That's what all sports unleash at some stage, and that's the greatness I think.”
His influence over the sport – 288 starts; 103 wins and pole positions; 182 podiums; seven championships – is nothing less than staggering.
As the first and only black racer to have forged a career in formula one, just racing would have been enough to hand the Brit a rich legacy in the annals of the sport. The fact that he has turned into a dominant force in it only solidifies the story, affording Hamilton true greatness.
But Hamilton has been explicitly clear that his desire for success and eventual destiny stretch far beyond the realm of racing.
"I've never wanted to be remembered as a racing driver. I don't want to be remembered just for that. It's all good if people remember me being a good driver but I think my time here is really about impacting and helping people."
He has been interested in fashion and music. Hamilton’s enthusiasm spilled into clothing lines in collaboration with Tommy Hilfiger and XNDA, a single track in collaboration with Christina Aguilera. But that is barely what Hamilton meant when he expressed his desire to spread his influence beyond racing.
Over the past many years, Hamilton has been extending his influence in the fight against inequality in sport and in life.
“We all bleed the same blood, we all need the same opportunities. Right now, there are 40,000 jobs within the motorsport industry and only one percent are from black backgrounds,” Hamilton said in a conversation with BBC Sport last year.
Early Beginnings & a Stunning Debut
He was just thirteen when he was introduced into the McLaren Young Driver Program in 1998, and has been breaking new ground ever since. Anthony Hamilton, the driver’s dad gave the young lad great support, throwing his full weight behind the racing aspirations of the little boy.
It was a brave decision from a father willing to swim against the tide, when even close family members felt that Anthony was architecting a wild dream, nearly too foolish to even be considered real.
But Hamilton kept his head down and drove with passion. He was just ten when he won the British cadet karting championship, the youngest to do so. The legendary tale about his own introduction to Ron Dennis, the principal at McLaren, has been recounted more times than he has taken laps around the circuit.
By the time he made his debut for McLaren in 2007, Lewis Hamilton was already a name in the racing circles. The Brit drove a phenomenal rookie season, highlighted by several wheel to wheel battles with team mate Fernando Alonso and a battle to the wire with Kimi Raikkonen. Eventually, Hamilton would lose the championship to Raikkonen by a mere one point. And thus the legend of Lewis began in right earnest.
Debut Title and a Historic Run
Hamilton made amends in 2008, when he pulled off a sensational overtake off Timo Glock in the dying corners of the final lap of the season to finish fifth in the Brazilian Grand Prix. That was enough to deny Felipe Massa the championship, winning it by a solitary point. You could not have scripted a more thrilling start to a career destined for Formula One greatness.
Alonso, Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button were among those that upended Hamilton as he wound down his contract with McLaren through 2012. The intense competition, elusive success and some personal strife all contributed to harden Hamilton for an epic run with the Mercedes team, his racing stable since 2013.
After winning all but one driver’s championship between 2014 and 2020, Hamilton was denied a history making eight title when Michael Masi, the FIA race director, made some dubious decisions towards the end of a thrilling 2021 season.
A Loss, But Not a Setback
The experienced Brit has maintained a dignified silence since that dark night in the Arabian desert, affording the sport and its administrators the small shreds of hope they needed to cover their vitals. As it is, the run with Mercedes produced some memorable battles against Nico Rosberg, Vettel and Valtteri Bottas before the epic duel with Max Verstappen in 2021.
As his legend in the sport grew, Hamilton was successful at extending it well beyond the sport. Drawing from his own experiences, having suffered racial abuse as a child and racer, Hamilton has been vocal about racial abuse and social inequity.
He took the knee at every race in the 2020 season, throwing his support behind the Black Lives Matter campaign, helping it garner global attention. In June 2020, Hamilton launched the Hamilton Commission with the Royal Academy of Engineering, to engage with people of black backgrounds through STEM subjects and afford them careers in engineering and motorsport.
With 26.5 million followers and counting on Instagram, Hamilton espouses a unique appeal that transcends race, gender, age and interest. And he is eager to make that voice heard. Even though he has been panned in 2019 for speaking up about the environment, Hamilton has taken on the challenge with gusto.
While admitting to the carbon footprint emerging from his sport and some of his own personal choices, the Brit has vowed to push as hard as possible personally and professionally to achieve a greener footprint. He sold his private jet that season and started flying commercial to underline his intent. It remains a difficult argument though for one of the elite racers in a sport that bleeds carbon week after week.
The seven-time formula one champion is no stranger to winning. But receiving the first ever Laureus Athlete Advocate of the Year in 2021 may have iced the cake for Hamilton. He cares deeply about transcending sport, and an acknowledgment of his advocacy for equality was perhaps the antidote he needed for a stolen championship.
Count on the 37-year-old Lewis Hamilton to return to racing in March, hungrier for the title. And even more determined to fight against an unjust system, with the spinning might of his wheels.
Meanwhile, happy birthday champion.
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