Don't see a spectacular rags to riches story here: Hamilton was born on 7 January 1985 in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England, 30 miles north of London.[2] Hamilton's father, Anthony, is Black British, while his mother, Carmen, is White British, making him mixed-race;[13] Hamilton self-identifies as Black.[14] Lewis's parents separated when he was two, and as a result, he lived with his mother and half-sisters until he was twelve,[15] and then lived with his father, stepmother and half-brother Nicolas, who is also a professional racing driver and has cerebral palsy.[16][17] Hamilton was raised a Catholic.[18] Hamilton's father, bought him a radio-controlled car when he was five,[19] which gave him his first taste of racing competition before finishing second in the national BRCA championship the following year. Hamilton said of the time: "I was racing these remote-controlled cars and winning club championships against adults".[20] Being the only Black child racing at his club, Hamilton experienced racism from a young age.[19][21] At the age of five, Hamilton took up Karate to defend himself as a result of bullying at school;[22] later, he learned to ride a unicycle, as part of his karting rivalry with future Formula One Mercedes teammate, Nico Rosberg, who could already ride one.[23] His father bought him a go-kart for Christmas when Hamilton was six[24] and promised to support his racing career as long as he worked hard at school. To support Hamilton, his father took redundancy from his position as an Information Technology manager and became a contractor; sometimes working up to four jobs at a time, while still attending all his son's races.[25] Anthony later set up his own IT company, still managing his son,[26] and continued managing him until early 2010.[27][28] Hamilton was educated at The John Henry Newman School, a voluntary aided Catholic secondary school in Stevenage, Hertfordshire.[29] In addition to racing, he played association football for his school team with eventual England international, Ashley Young.[26] Hamilton, an Arsenal fan, said that if Formula One had not worked for him he would have been a footballer or a cricketer, having played both for his school teams.[30] In February 2001 he began studies at Cambridge Arts and Sciences (CATS), a private sixth-form college in Cambridge.[31] Early career
I aren’t getting into an argument. Hamilton has a lot of input into the engineering set up of the car. Perhaps he is also one of the key contributing factors behind his teams success other than downright ability. It’s ridiculous to even suggest his success is solely down to the car. From carts right the way through to F1 he has demonstrated he was quicker than others with far greater amateur backing equipment and budgets. His first ever run out in an F1 car at 17 he was as quick as a seasoned F1 driver in the very same car. Like I said credit where it’s due. Like football, we seem to have a forum full of Formula 1 experts. Apologies for wanting to celebrate British success.
Britain should be proud of what he's achieved in a Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton snubs Britain again, saying he’ll bring up his kids in the US The Formula 1 champ drew flak when he quit the UK for tax haven Monte Carlo and now he says Colorado is his “family home”
how anyone can claim him to be the best driver of his generation when he got beat by his team mate nico rosberg beats me. he's been in the best car by miles. i used to watch everything F1 -practice qualy and the race plus the couple of hours before and after. thanks to his and mercedes dominance i, like i suspect many others, dont watch it anymore. today was the first time for a while purely due to the weather levelling it up and it being exciting for once F1 became boring and predictable at the best of times but when you give one team dominance and then ensure one driver is head and shoulders above his team mate its just a snooze fest. Look at Vettel at red bull. best driver of his generation everyone claimed. greatest driver ever it says on wiki. then danny ric as his team mate showed how much we'd been duped. there is no doubting hamiltons skill as a driver, put him in a crap car and he can get more out of it than most. put him in a great car and there are other drivers who can match him fair play to him leaving mclaren for mercedes who had a lesser car. but those in the know knew they were gonna be the main player in years to come due to engine regs changes. its unfortunate the more he tries to be humble and liked the more he comes across as out of touch with reality with his superstar lifestyle
"Accomplishment of others is often the envy of less adequate or less determined individuals." Nothing changes. Sad indictment.
He is the best driver of his generation. You can’t argue with F1 wins and F1 titles. Those are the cold hard facts.
Perhaps, Personally I admired Senna and Schumaker, and in other sports Rodger Federer and Katie Taylor.
As per usual, nobody is allowed a different opinion to you without you getting out your pram about it. I've said he's good, I just won't out him up there as the best ever until he's done it with a team that isnt way way way better then all the rest on the grid. Would he have won as many races and as many titles if he wasn't at Mercedes... I highly doubt it
It’s a fantastic achievement and he’s quite obviously a great driver, but he’s eminently dislikeable.
I'll preempt this by saying I don't give a flying **** about racing car drivers. It's just not my thing. My real thoughts though are about successful people who choose to live wherever they want. A beautiful place, with a great climate, maybe. It doesn't necessarily make you a tax dodger, does it? Maybe you just want to live in a lovely place. Like Brid or somewhere like that
