It is a well-known fact that Formula 1 has quite a few legends, two of which are Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. The dynamic duo dominated in their own time, but, it wasn’t an easy path to glory for Hamilton. The success came with a lot of suffering and racial abuse for the Mercedes driver as he constantly fought against the hate and proved himself worthy of being number 1.
Hamilton started his career with McLaren and eventually shifted to Mercedes and went on to win six world championships with them and one with McLaren. Although the Briton was gaining popularity thanks to his pace, hunger, and passion for the sport, he also struggled to have his place in the sport because of his race and the constant hate he was receiving from the former champion’s fans.
Lewis Hamilton became a target for Fernando Alonso fans
Hamilton has become successful in the sport while being the only driver to talk about various issues that need to be highlighted in our society. He has used his platform to talk about the LGBTQ community while having the flag on his helmet to show his support. He also started talking about the black lives matter movement in Formula 1.
Lewis Hamilton is also the only driver to talk about wanting to see more women coming to the sport and has shown constant support by going to the F1 academy races which was the W-series. While he uses his platform for multiple reasons he has also dealt with a few of these issues and has talked about them online.
From facing racism and being a victim of racial abuse ever since he was a kid in school and as a kid in karting, to the constant hate towards him including Nelson Piquet’s racist statement, the driver has opened up about how he has suffered throughout the years with discrimination. However, it was at the beginning of the champion’s career when he became the subject of Fernando Alonso fans’ abuse.
Reminds me of Lewis Hamilton in Mclaren 2007.
22 years old, being racially abused in Spain cus he was beating Alonso on Merit & called his teammate out for not conducting himself like a world champion.
Alonso said that the racial abuse was retaliation LH should’ve expected. š https://t.co/2lyZzRLCgk pic.twitter.com/5229tfdA3rā Athena š³ļøāš (@tarmactorque) May 21, 2023
The driver had just reached Spain for a race after winning a championship with McLaren. However, the fans were not pleased to welcome the driver. Right before the race, Alonso fans dressed up in t-shirts that said “Hamilton’s family” and colored their faces with black paint to abuse the driver and express their hatred towards him.
This did not sit right with him, but he chose to ignore the situation and continue to concentrate on his race although he could not get good results for his team that weekend.
Hamilton talks about his experience with abuse as a kid
Lewis Hamilton has now become a well-known celebrity and a brand of his own. His major success is the reason, his name is mentioned alongside celebrities like Naomi Campbell, Pharrell, Tyler the Creator, and much more. However, it all started for the Mercedes driver long back in a tiny school where he was subjected to racial abuse almost every single day.
After facing racial abuse from Nelson Piquet, Lewis Hamilton has called on the #F1 community to take āreal actionā and stop giving āolder voicesā a platform
Hereās the full story ā¬ļøhttps://t.co/5jUDkbdbD9
ā Autosport (@autosport) June 30, 2022
Not too long ago, the seven-time champion appeared on Jay Shetty’s podcast and talked about how he had bananas thrown at him and constantly called the N-word by students and teachers alike. He said, āI felt the system was up against me and I was swimming against the tide. There were a lot of things I suppressed.”
The champion dealt with his image quite a lot because of the abuse but it did not bother him enough to stop him from achieving what he wanted to. As he continued, he went from being a kid in karting to gaining sponsors and soon driving in Formula 1 as a rookie. He also won a Championship and secured the most points in a season as a rookie.