Lewis Hamilton: My Story

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I felt proud of the team for the way they had worked through to the end of a really difficult, troubled year. This was a nice read, but it should be said this was written in 2007 at the start of his career, so present-day Hamilton definitely has a different story to tell. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. I soon got over that, though – thanks to my dad’s endless positive energy and example, and the McLaren team’s great spirit, not to mention a memorable team party organized by Vodafone on the Sunday night after that final race at Interlagos.

I like to think of my parents’ home as my power station, the place where I can go to seek support, rest and reassurance in the good things in life. While this is a great start for Lewis - the book was more of his super memory and his perspective but it was uninspiring and not captivating the reader by any means. I hope he updates the book considering there were a lot of interesting events in his F1 career that happened after 2007. My mum is a huge and important part of my life and has always been there in the background wishing me success from afar. Lewis's family was not that wealthy to participate in sports, but because of his father's hard work, he has come to this level.That accident was a shaker for me, a reminder of what these cars can do and it was a big part of my early learning experience with the team. It summed up our unity at the end of a very trying season and I admit I enjoyed the opportunity to let my hair down a bit with my friends and team-mates. What I was looking for was his personal views on this season he just had, his relationship with Alonso and all other controversial topics which he never touches. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. I remember that first week of testing at Silverstone when I wore some other dude’s race suit to start with, and it smelt.

I also liked to have additional context about some of the reasons behind the rivalries we see today (Fernando Alonso and The Piquets) and hearing about some of the controversies of 2007 from Lewis himself.He looks back in detail at the 2007 World Championship -- the race wins, the frightening crash in Germany, his intense rivalry with team-mate Fernando Alonso, his special relationship with Ron Dennis, and the furore over the Ferrari allegations -- right up to the dramatic last race of the season in Brazil. He made his F1 debut for at the 2007 Australian GP and was crowned the youngest-ever Formula One World Drivers’ Champion in 2008 at the age of 23 – and the first British champion since Damon Hill in 1996. I know it was all against me in the end, and that the final two races were bad results for me, but I plan to learn from that and to go into next year and try to improve all round. He has unbeatable records and such great race moments that would still give you goosebumps if you look back at them.

I found I had a talent and I have worked as hard as possible to develop it so that I can be successful and in the process inspire others, if I can, to achieve a dream. I liked the book back then as it gives us a glimpse into where Lewis came from and like the title says, his story. Lewis has achieved so much since then but it was interesting to see what was in his mind over a decade ago - long before he became the sports second ever most successful driver. In all honesty, at the end, I just felt it had been a really intense, crazy year and, truly, I did not feel gutted by the outcome.Nobody would have predicted that I would finish second in my first season, so there was no reason for anything but celebrations. And the launch in Valencia on 15 January earlier in the year, when we did all the razzmatazz and had those huge crowds and did the ‘doughnuts’ in the streets…So much has happened since – and luckily for me, nearly all of it has been good. Lewis also charts how he got into the sport and was signed up by Ron Dennis, what motivates him, who are his closest friends, how he copes with the constant travelling, and the physical and mental challenges of driving a state-of-the-art Formula 1 car. They were the greatest weekends – I would not have missed them for anything – but I remember when I was ten that I liked living with my mum because she was the ‘easier’ parent. One thing that comes across is his rawness as it was his first year, it is a very different Lewis to the multi champion of today.