Why Lewis Hamilton is Formula One’s rock star on wheels
LEWIS Hamilton may well be the fastest driver of today’s generation of F1 stars. But with a private jet, diamond earrings and tattoos, the Mercedes favourite is more like a rock star on wheels.
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LEWIS Hamilton is more like Michael Jackson than Michael Schumacher.
He is the rock star of Formula One, with 4.25 million Twitter followers, a front cover of Rolling Stone magazine and his own flavour of Monster energy drink.
He is mates with Justin Bieber and Serena Williams, his best friend is a bulldog called Roscoe, he has a $30 million private jet painted in racing red, and he has a secluded getaway in the US that’s a lifetime away from his childhood years in working-class Stevenage in the UK.
It’s all superstar stuff, right down to a speaking voice that’s become quieter and quieter over the years in the same way as Jackson’s.
He might race like Schumacher in the heady days when the German crushed all opposition in his Ferrari, but the Red Baron was never like this. He was almost reclusive away from the track, protective of his privacy and his family, and keen to make a difference on things like road safety.
In sharp contrast, Hamilton had a high-profile collision with Victoria Police when he slid sideways in his high-powered Mercedes as he left Albert Park in 2010 and was investigated by New Zealand police last year after filming himself on his mobile phone while riding a Harley-Davidson. So, who is Lewis Hamilton?
The racing records say he is a three-time Formula One world champion with 53 individual race victories, including two wins in the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park.
Some believe he is the spiritual successor to his mercurial childhood hero, Ayrton Senna, most agree that he is the flat-out fastest driver of the current generation of F1 stars, and he is the short-priced favourite to add a fourth crown this year with the dominant Mercedes-Benz team.
He will sprinkle some of his personal magic at Albert Park this weekend, where he should uncork a spectacular qualifying lap to take pole position and then vanquish the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen.
“Don’t be surprised to see Hamilton just annihilate everybody. That’s what most people are expecting,” says former F1 team boss Eddie Jordan.
But others say Hamilton is a spoiled little boy who is living in his personal Neverland. They talk about his diamond earrings, his tattoos and a lifestyle that is out of step with the world of professional sport, and image-conscious F1 in particular.
“When Lewis first arrived he was so excited. But he’s changed,” says one McLaren insider who was around in Hamilton’s early days.
“Does he really know who he is?”
Does that matter when he can bodysurf on top of adoring fans after winning the British Grand Prix?
Does it bother the peeps who follow him religiously?
Does it bother Mercedes-Benz, which is surfing a wave of Hamilton fever that connects it with a new generation of potential car buyers?
Digging into the Hamilton story brings as many questions as answers.
He is a great example of someone who has grown up with no one to tell him “no”.
The only one who could — his father, Anthony — was jettisoned after the wild ride to his first world championship with the McLaren team that groomed him from his teenage years in karting.
They have since reconciled, but the father is no longer managing the son.
At Albert Park this week he struts outside the pits in white high-tops, ripped jeans, a white corporate tee and flat cap, with a jangle of gold chains that could have been passed on by 1980s television star Mr T.
He really looks like a superstar, even if it’s Fernando Alonso who qualifies as the creamy-smooth George Clooney of the grand prix world.
In some ways he is Jackie Stewart, who was just as trendy in his day with a Beatle haircut and giant sideburns, and he’s now matched the Scotsman’s total of three titles.
In other ways he is Nigel Mansell, who exploded out of the racing world as a working-class hero.
Hamilton is the first black man to reach the top of motorsport, something that has helped him join the A-listers in the US. Dating pop star Nicole Scherzinger also didn’t hurt, particularly when they became an on-again, off-again reality show.
Last year he was joined at F1 races by both the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena.
Young Hamilton was groomed through junior racing by McLaren, led by former company chief Ron Dennis, who was a fan from the earliest days when his protege was only 13.
But, as inevitably as the breakups with Anthony and Nicole, Ron was left behind — after a first world title in a McLaren — as Hamilton cashed in at the colossus of Mercedes-Benz, winning two more championships and racking up regular wins in the Silver Arrows racers.
Hamilton has had setbacks in F1, starting with a high-profile feud with his first-year McLaren teammate Alonso.
The pair were so intent on beating each other that it was Kimi Raikkonen who became world champion in 2007 with Ferrari.
Last year Hamilton should have cruised to a fourth world championship and a hat-trick with Mercedes, but he underestimated the determination of his teammate, Nico Rosberg, and they had several collisions before the German ground out a title.
It was like Robin besting Batman, and Rosberg scored again when he retired instead of putting himself through the mangle of another year alongside Hamilton and denying any chance for revenge.
In Melbourne this week, Hamilton can only lose.
That’s why he is deflecting talk about a race win and a 2017 championship by turning the attention to Ferrari.
“Ferrari are the quickest at the moment, they’re definitely the favourites,” he says.
And, while it’s Hamilton in the spotlight, he also has a new teammate to contend with at Mercedes.
It’s Valtteri Bottas, a calmly determined Finn who was plucked out of the Williams team to plug the gap created by Rosberg’s departure.
Most people are expecting Hamilton to turn him into another sidekick, despite Bottas’ proven pace, while the Mercedes team is talking up the new relationship after the breakdown with Rosberg last year.
“They have a respectful and friendly relationship from what we’ve seen in our team briefings so far,” says Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff.
But Hamilton is still “The Man” in F1 and, when he is asked this week about changes he would like to see in grand prix racing now that ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone has been deposed by the entertainment-focused Liberty Media group from the US, he does not hesitate.
“More ladies in the paddock. More paddock access to some women. There’s too many dudes in the paddock,” he says.
Apart from him, of course.
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