Copyright © 2025 by Michael Sawyer

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Cover photograph © Mamadi Doumbouya

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Sawyer, Michael E., author.

Title: Sir Lewis / Michael E. Sawyer.

Description: First edition. | New York, NY : Legacy Lit, [2025] | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2024044026 | ISBN 9781538769744 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781538769768 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Hamilton, Lewis, 1985– | Automobile racing drivers—Great Britain—Biography. | Automobile racing—Great Britain—History. | Grand Prix racing—Great Britain—History.

Classification: LCC GV1032.H33 S28 2025 | DDC 796.72092—dc23/eng/20240923

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2024044026

ISBN: 9781538769744 (hardcover), 9781538769768 (ebook)

E3-20250121-JV-NF-ORI

CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Epigraph

Introduction

Chapter 1 THE ILLUSTRATED SON

Chapter 2 SLOW DOWN, LEWIS, YOU’RE KILLIN’ ’EM

Chapter 3 F—AROUND AND FIND OUT

Chapter 4 THE TECHNOLOGY ARMS RACE

Chapter 5 “HELLO, WORLD”

Chapter 6 FORMULA ONE 101

Chapter 7 TO THE FATHER GO THE SPOILS

Chapter 8 NEVER AS GOOD AS THE FIRST TIME

Chapter 9 ALL THE CRITICS LOVE YOU IN NEW YORK…

Chapter 10 MO’ MONEY, MO’ (POTENTIAL) PROBLEMS

Chapter 11 THINGS FALL APART

Chapter 12 THREE RACES

Chapter 13 SAYING THE QUIET PART OUT LOUD

Chapter 14 GOAT?

Chapter 15 THE DOWN YEARS

Chapter 16 SEB, NICO, AND LEWIS

Chapter 17 THE CHAMPIONSHIP YEARS

Chapter 18 CHAMPIONSHIP NUMBER SEVEN

Chapter 19 I’M NOT A BUSINESSMAN, I’M A BUSINESS… MAN

Chapter 20 THE 2021 SEASON

Chapter 21 ARISE

Chapter 22 THE DOWN YEARS REDUX

Chapter 23 IT’S NOT YOU, IT’S ME…

Chapter 24 AND STILL I RISE

Photos

Acknowledgments

Discover More

Advance Praise for "Sir Lewis"

Cover

Table of Contents

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This book is dedicated to my parents, Theresa and Ernest Sawyer,
who taught me to love sports and, more importantly,
to understand that heroes are not defined by wins and losses.

Explore book giveaways, sneak peeks, deals, and more.

Tap here to learn more.

For all the kids out there, who dream the impossible…

Lewis Hamilton

INTRODUCTION

MET GALA

METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

SEPTEMBER 13, 2021

LEWIS HAMILTON ENTERED THE MET GALA IN A CUSTOM-MADE SUIT, looking none the worse for almost being killed on a legendary racetrack on a beautiful fall day in Italy. It may seem strange to open a book about a Formula One race car driver from Great Britain with an event in New York City that has become the fashion world’s equivalent of the Oscars. Like all of these types of events, the Met Gala is a “who’s who” of celebrities, fashion industry elites, and global socialites. They convene annually to pose for the cameras and see who wears what from whom. In 2021, the event had been moved from its usual time on the first Monday in May to the thirteenth of September because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which had canceled the event in 2020. The 2021 soiree was necessarily smaller than usual, featuring sanitary precautions that didn’t necessarily lend themselves to fashion, but the world had adapted, and the show had to go on.

Lewis Hamilton was there. The fact that he had been in Italy the day before probably didn’t make him unique among a guest list for whom the limitations of commercial flight schedules are not a concern. The fact that he was working on Sunday likely set him apart from some, but driven people often work weekends. The fact that his job on that particular Sunday was driving an open-wheel race car at an average speed of 200 miles per hour in Monza put him in a class with only twenty other people in the world. But Lewis Hamilton was the only one at the Metropolitan Museum of Art who was almost killed at work the day before.

The 2021 Formula One Heineken Grand Prix Premio d’Italia was held at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza. Just uttering “Monza” in a group of F1 fans is enough to get them to reminisce about their favorite race or the incredible speeds cars record on that famed circuit. In 2023, a Formula One car was clocked at 223.1 miles per hour at the end of the main straight at Monza, a record for this type of vehicle. Just to offer some perspective, at 220 miles per hour, the 95 miles from Manhattan to Philadelphia on the aptly named Interstate 95 South would take you a searing twenty-six minutes, give or take a few seconds.

Hamilton was in the midst of a season that had major implications for the sport as a whole. Lewis won his seventh world title in 2020 and came into the 2021 season with the intent of becoming the only driver to have won eight world driver’s titles. His closest rival, Max Verstappen, a Dutch wunderkind competing for Red Bull Racing, was fighting for his first title, and after a win at his home race the previous week, came to Monza with a three-point lead over Lewis. A series of botched pit stops for the two top competitors 22 or so laps into the 53-lap event caused Lewis and Max to find themselves next to each other on the track. As the drivers hurtled side-by-side toward turn two at Monza, things got ugly. Max refused to back out of the turn, though Lewis was clearly leading the way into what is called the “racing line,” the route that allows drivers to take turns as quickly as possible before reaching the limits of grip. Max went over a curb and made contact with Hamilton’s car, sending his own car airborne, and it landed on top of Hamilton’s.

If not for the recent addition of a titanium “halo” that protects the head of the driver, Hamilton might have had his head separated from his body on this sunny afternoon outside of Bologna. The relationship between the drivers was not helped by Verstappen’s behavior during the incident. Max accelerated, causing the wheel to spin dangerously just centimeters from Lewis’s head. After the Dutchman exited his car, he didn’t bother to look at Hamilton to see if he was alive. Instead, Max was heard on the radio to his team saying, “That’s what you get when you don’t leave the space, ****!”¹ What Verstappen called Hamilton during this broadcast has been censored into oblivion. Max had found himself on the wrong side of both racist and ableist language in the past, a practice that had been largely ignored by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the governing body of the sport. During the 2020 season, after the Mongolian government had penned a scathing letter denouncing Verstappen’s use of the word “Mongol” as an insult, Jake Boxhall-Legge of Autosport.com wrote an article called “Why Do Verstappen’s Offensive Comments Get a Free Pass?”². Boxhall-Legge goes directly at the problem, writing, “Verstappen has been able to publicly use ableist, borderline racist language without any fear of sanctions from those in charge. There’s been no apology from Verstappen, and the matter has been rather brushed under the carpet without any further inquiry from those involved.”³ The FIA and broadcasters have provocatively gone to great lengths not to reveal what Verstappen said here, which leaves open the possibility that he may have used language that is beyond commonly used curse words.

TO SAY THAT THE TWO DRIVERS WEREN’T FRIENDS WOULD BE TO UNDERSTATE the atmosphere of animosity between them. Adding to the negative dynamic between the two was Max’s reputation for aggressive driving, what some would characterize as reckless disregard for safety and the rules. This culminated in the implementation of what became known as the “Verstappen Rule,” which prohibited drivers from “moving under braking.” This means that when a driver is defending against another driver’s attempt to pass them, the leading driver cannot make a second move once the attempt has been established, especially in curves where the braking point determines whether the cars make it around without leaving the track or worse. For instance, if a car approaches another and intends to pass on the right side as they enter the curve, the other driver cannot show space on the right side and then suddenly “close the door” at the last possible moment to cause the other driver to have to make an evasive move.⁴ The pressure for Max to win his first championship while at the same time denying Hamilton his eighth created a toxic atmosphere.

Some chalk up the crash at Monza to Verstappen seeking revenge for a high-speed crash at Silverstone four races before. In that incident, Lewis and Max came together, and the Red Bull driver ended up in the wall with a force of 51g’s. For perspective, that would make a 200-pound person’s body feel as if it weighed 10,200 pounds. Max ended up in the hospital, while Lewis was able to continue and eventually win the race. Lewis celebrated after his win, which infuriated Max, his team, and his fans. The situation was not helped when race officials determined Lewis was “mostly responsible”⁵ for the crash.

Hamilton later called the hospital to check on Verstappen, though Max was not placated. After the wreck that ended both drivers’ participation in the Italian Grand Prix a few weeks after Silverstone, Verstappen was found to be predominantly at fault⁶ and was penalized with a three-place reduction in his qualifying position in the next race. There is no evidence that Max ever found it in his heart to check on Lewis after the crash at Monza, though he could have tuned in to the red carpet coverage of the Met Gala to see that Hamilton was discharged in time to make it to the event with his head where it belonged and seemingly no worse for wear.

Elle magazine reported that Hamilton was there to find ways to “put these Black designers at the top of people’s minds.” The article, entitled “Lewis Hamilton Paid Over £60,000 for Young Black Designers to Attend the Met Gala,” identifies the three designers as Theophilio, Kenneth Nicholson, and Jason Rembert. The article makes no mention of what the driver was up to days before the Gala, but focuses only on the positive and inclusive message Hamilton was promoting with his appearance and sponsorship.⁷

In addition to the designers whose work he was dedicated to center, Lewis was accompanied by others whom Elle described as “Black innovators” including Zendaya’s stylist Law Roach, Alton Mason (model), Kehlani (singer/songwriter), and athletes Miles Chamley-Watson (fencer) and Sha’Carri Richardson (sprinter). Several paragraphs of the article are devoted to describing the diversity problem in motorsports and how the driver’s Mission 44 initiative was designed to understand the problems and solve them. Hamilton has the same concerns for the world of fashion, and he apparently had no difficulty separating the two worlds when necessary and combining them when it proved productive.

LEWIS HAMILTON ARRIVED IN FORMULA ONE WHEN THE WORLD HAD fully embraced the digital revolution in communications that made stars of everyone, even if it was only in their own minds and to those who tagged along in the virtual world. For those who were actually public figures, celebrity was supercharged, and the notion of the boundary stars had enjoyed between the public and private were hard to discern or maintain if they exist at all anymore. Formula One, up until the present moment, had enjoyed a wealthy as well as niche following. The residents of the Principality of Monaco were inconvenienced for several days in May so Formula One could conduct its event, and then it was gone. Hard-core fans could follow their heroes, but the distance granted celebrities made it difficult to know what these people were up to away from the races, if they were up to anything at all. This is obviously no longer the case.

Every moment of every day is subject to being documented and broadcast around the world at the speed of light. Every utterance, no matter how well or poorly considered, can be scrutinized by the world. Bad news travels fast and tends to overwhelm any holistic consideration of the person, situation, context, or revision. Lewis Hamilton embraces all of this. His appearance at the Met Gala demonstrates how he will use the platform of Formula One as a point of departure rather than an end so he can get involved in other causes he cares about. Fashion is a common thread through all his affinities, as are questions about diversity and opportunity.

Hip-hop became a global phenomenon in the 1990s. One of its major themes is the desire for luxury and conspicuous consumption. Fast cars, glittering jewelry, exotic locations, and beautiful people. In short, everything that goes on in the small and exclusive world of Formula One. The concurrent global phenomenon of Modern Black Celebrity served as the fuel in the engine of the global expansion and explosion in the popularity of Formula One. If F1 didn’t have Lewis Hamilton, it would have needed to invent him.

LEWIS’S PRESENCE AT THE MET GALA SIGNALS HIS COMPLETE AWARENESS of what he means to F1 racing. Lewis is hip-hop in a way that could not have been anticipated. He is creating what some might call a modern form of Black cosmopolitanism. He isn’t a basketball or football player, but the biggest stars of both sports make their way to F1 circuits all over the world to cheer him on. The same goes for actors, models, celebrity chefs, musicians, authors, and more. Everyone who is anyone wants to be around Hamilton, turning Formula One racing into a 200-mile-per-hour ride driven by fear of missing out. As the orbit around Lewis becomes full, F1 is affected in a new way: the tastemakers gravitate to other drivers in the sport, and the sport necessarily expands. Not everyone can fit in Lewis’s side of the garage on a race weekend.

Formula One is unlike anything else. Every few weeks from February to November, they hold a sporting event that is a cross between the World Cup and the Oscars with a healthy dose of the Prêt-à-Porter, also known as Paris Fashion Week, to go along. All of it revolves around the twenty or so drivers who pilot these cars, and it is not possible to have a conversation about the greatest in the history of the sport without Hamilton’s name near the top of the list. The mixed-race kid from Stevenage, about twenty-seven miles north of London, has become an inspiration for people across the world who have dreams that don’t seem to fit things as they are. What Sir Lewis Hamilton has done—he was knighted in 2021—is show the world that the possible is only limited by the possibility of access. He and his family burst open the gilded doors of Formula One and the sport has been the better for it.

This book traces the ascendency of Sir Lewis to the top of the sport and tells the story of how and why he has become a worldwide tastemaker. The ups and downs, the triumphs and struggles, and the history-making campaign at the end of his career to win his eighth title. Along the way, we will also examine and critique every institution Hamilton is involved with from a perspective of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexuality, and class. Hamilton cares about all of it, and in so doing, creates the space for a new generation of athletes and fans to see themselves in the sport—or any other endeavor—and express what matters to them.

Footnotes

1. “Verstappen Furious at Hamilton: ‘This Is What You Get Without Giving Space,’” GPblog.com, September 12, 2021, https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/93904/verstappen-furious-at-hamilton-this-is-what-you-get-without-giving-space.html.

2. Jake Boxhall-Legge, “Why Do Verstappen’s Offensive Comments Get a Free Pass?” Autosport.com, October 27, 2020, https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/why-do-verstappens-offensive-comments-get-a-free-pass-4977790/4977790/.

3. Boxhall-Legge, “Why Do Verstappen’s Offensive Comments Get a Free Pass?”

4. Henry Valantine, “The Three Rules Introduced by the FIA Because of Max Verstappen,” PlanetF1.com, July 3, 2024, https://www.planetf1.com/news/max-verstappen-fia-rule-introductions.

5. Jonathan Noble, “FIA Explains Hamilton Blame for Verstappen F1 Collision,” Motorsport.com, July 19, 2021, https://us.motorsport.com/f1/news/fia-explains-hamilton-blame-for-verstappen-collision/6633217/.

6. Laurence Edmondson, “Why the Stewards Blamed Max Verstappen over Lewis Hamilton,” ESPN.com, September 13, 2021, https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/32203367/why-stewards-blamed-max-verstappen-lewis-hamilton.

7. Katie O’Malley, “Lewis Hamilton Paid Over £60,000 for Young Black Designers to Attend the Met Gala,” Elle, September 15, 2021, https://www.elle.com/uk/fashion/a37603807/lewis-hamilton-paid-black-designers-attend-met-gala/.