– Anyone looking at Lewis Hamilton’s steep career today sees one of the most successful athletes in motorsport history – a driver known for his iron discipline and focus. But the path to the top was anything but predetermined for the Brit. Growing up in Stevenage, Hamilton was a bundle of energy as a child who first had to find a direction.
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“I was just a normal kid with an extreme amount of energy, jumping against walls, climbing trees – I just had to channel this energy into something,” says the Ferrari driver. What he is referring to: Hamilton started karate as a child.
Martial arts were “a very important part of my life” for him and taught him “a lot of discipline.” It also helped him stand up to some school bullies and use his energy meaningfully, “otherwise I probably would have gone down the wrong path where I grew up.”
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Hamilton says he asked to go to karate at the age of six, “because I was teased and bullied.” This continued throughout elementary school into secondary school. “Karate gave me the confidence to deal with myself and those bullies.”
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“When I then came to the racetrack, it was exactly the same: there were bullies there too,” he recalls. “It just helped me understand myself and the power inside me – and learn how to use it for something positive instead of something negative.”
This applied to the sport itself, but of course also to everyday life: “It was probably even better and more important in normal life because it allowed me to protect myself from the people around me,” he says.
However, the Brit became a professional in motorsport, where he has become the most successful driver in Formula 1 history.
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