From his active participation in the Black Lives Matter movement to designing his own clothing, British icon Lewis Hamilton, certainly has interests outside the world of motor racing. Here are five facts that you may not know about the seven-time world champion.
He almost signed for Williams
Back when Hamilton was still racing in Formula 3, Williams team principal and founder Frank Williams wanted to give the then 19-year-old his shot at Formula 1 after the Brit won the Bahrain Super Prix, beating the likes of Paul di Resta, Nico Rosberg, and Nelson Piquet Jr. in the process. Sadly, BMW refused to support his racing career and Hamilton opted to stay with Mercedes. As we all know, that proved to be the best course of action for the now seven-time world champion.
He's an accredited movie star
Hamilton actually made a small cameo in the Pixar movie Cars 2. The Mercedes star voiced the British representative of the World Grand Prix meaning he made his Hollywood debut way back in 2011, an entire decade ago!
He's featured on a song with Christina Aguilera
Back in 2018, the talented songstress released a track called "Pipe" featuring a rapper known as XNDA. In 2020 Hamilton informed fans through his Instagram account that he was the mysterious rapper named XNDA. The former McLaren star has openly expressed his love for music, though not many expected him to appear on a track with one of the most recognisable names in pop music.
Hamilton's relationship with Mercedes dates back to his karting days
While you may know that Hamilton has only raced with Mercedes engines in Formula 1, his relationship with the German manufacturer dates back to the year 2000, when McLaren in partnership with Mercedes decided to fund the British driver's career. Racing under the tutelage of karting legend Dino Chiesa, Hamilton along with former friend Nico Rosberg competed in the European Formula A championship racing CRG karts under the Mercedes Benz-McLaren banner.
He is the only driver to win a race in every season he has competed in
Apart from winning the most number of races, accumulating the most pole positions and sharing the record for the most championships wins with a certain Michael Schumacher, Hamilton has another record that often goes unnoticed. The Briton is the only driver in F1 history to win a race in every single season he has competed in. Say what you want about the Mercedes driver, but this level of consistency hasn't been matched by any of the other greats across Formula 1 history.
Most read
