Lewis Hamilton recalls traumatic experience of racism in his childhood, sheds light on cruelty towards Black kids
Lewis Hamilton has talked about racial abuse that he has been with ever since the early days of his racing career.
Follow Us
Amidst the recent racial abuse that was meted out to Brazilian football superstar Vinicius Jr. at a Real Madrid match in Spain, F1’s Lewis Hamilton raised his voice against the ones responsible. As the only Black racer in a sport that is still dominated by White males even in the twenty-first century, the seven-time World Champion has been subjected to heinous slurs ever since his formative years. He has shared many a times that he was often discriminated against when he was a child because his karting mates did not look like him.
Growing up, racial abuse became a part of Lewis Hamilton’s life. But the Mercedes man never let them go to him and he proved his worth to his critics by becoming a living legend in the sport. Still, even his position as one of the richest athletes in the world did not protect him from being badmouthed for being Black. In 2021, when Lewis was tied up in a battle with Max Verstappen for his eighth F1 title, Max’s girlfriend’s father, the former racer Nelson Piquet Sr. called Lewis a “neguinho” or a “little black guy”.
In one of his interviews with Jay Shetty, Lewis Hamilton spoke about his traumatizing experience at school for being bullied because of his skin color too. Thus, racism is not foreign to the Briton, but he wants no other Black child to go through the experiences that he has had to endure. When the Netflix crew interviewed him for a feature in the F1-themed docu-series ‘Drive to Survive’, Lewis Hamilton highlighted the current situation for kids who look like him, “Every Black kid in the world will, at some stage experience racism. It’s just a fact.”
Lewis Hamilton gives account of being the subject to racist behaviour when he was eight
Racism has been deep rooted in various parts of the western world, and when it came to an elitist sport like Formula One, it can be imagined that Lewis had a hard time there. Even when he was a newbie karting driver, he was dismissed by people based on his complexion. He recounted on his Drive to Survive interview, “I was just eight years old. For someone to look at an eight-year-old child and tell them they’re not gonna achieve anything in life, they must be in a really bad place. My dad would always say, ‘Tread carefully. Be careful of what you say.’“
But that kid has now grown up to be a massive sports star with a $235 million net worth. And he has started the Mission 44 campaign to bring up new talents from underrepresented groups and to give them opportunities for advancing in their lives. In 2021, Lewis Hamilton also joined hands with Mercedes to form ‘Ignite’ in order to promote inclusivity in Formula One. But unfortunately, he remains the only Black racer in the pinnacle of motorsports till date, waiting for his suitable successor to arrive any minute.
In case you missed it:
Stay Updated!
Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)