Only one driver before Lewis Hamilton went on to clinch seven world titles. His name is Michael Schumacher and the world will never get to see another like him.
Is this or isn’t overstating facts- you decide.
But then here’s something that may not be contested by that many – the world of Formula 1 shall never see another driver like Lewis Hamilton as well.
There are drivers. There are Formula 1 Grand Prix winners. There are multiple world champions. And then there’s a certain Lewis Hamilton.
When the Gary Sinise and Tom Hanks starrer Forest Gump released, the movie going world fell in love with what quickly became a bumper sticker expression, “the world will never be the same once you’ve seen it through the eyes of Forrest Gump.”
By that logic, if one were to borrow the expression from Hanks’ first Oscar-winning role and transport it into the F1 realm, it would maybe read this: “The F1 world wouldn’t be what it is if Lewis Hamilton hadn’t laid his eyes on it.”
Hamilton has, quite simply, raised the bar of competition. Gone are the days, and this by no means disrespects a legend, where one would judge a driver’s greatness by the Michael Schumacher standard.
Contemporary Formula 1 world measures the potential and talent of a driver by comparing him to the Lewis Hamilton metric.
Through his insipid consistency and backbreaking speed, Lewis Hamilton has raised the bar of competition in the top flight of Motorsport.
No other driver on the current grid barring Fernando Alonso and Max Verstappen have multiple world titles against their names; the Spaniard and the Dutch are tied on two.
In fact, the likes of Sergio Perez, 235 race starts, and Valtteri Bottas, 200 race starts, haven’t yet won a driver’s title.
And then there’s Lewis Hamilton with seven world championships against his name. But here’s the real deal; whether it was a tacit warning
Here is a driver that bagged a podium in his very first F1 outing, circa Australia 2007. Here’s a driver who finished in the top three in his maiden F1 season. A driver who, lest it is forgotten, beat Fernando Alonso in his very first effort. A driver who in a space of sixteen consecutive seasons in the world’s fastest form of Motor-racing emerged a champion on seven separate occasions.
That four of his seven titles were consecutive triumphs- 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, goes a long way to exemplify the Lewis Hamilton legend.
Of course, what makes him a bit of a modern cult is the fact that Lewis Hamilton has used his celebrity status to rally around causes that look after the communalised, marginalised, oppressed and the forgotten.
The Black Lives Matter movement would surely have been just another expression punctuated with jingoism in the F1 world had Lewis Hamilton not put all his weight behind it.
Had Vettel and Hamilton not put their support for Diversity & Inclusion, no longer just attractive PowerPoint phrases, but causes with a global footprint, the F1 world wouldn’t have become as accommodating as it is today.
At a time where, much like others around, he too could’ve been insular and focused on only the glory of the self, Lewis Hamilton became humbler and giving.
A prime example of Lewis’ greatness is the fact that he considers himself a “Kimi Raikkonen fan,” a driver with six fewer titles than the iconic Stevenage-born talent.
“During my McLaren days, when I was about to get into main racing, I was always Kimi in the car on the PlayStation,” said Hamilton after racing the 2018 French Grand Prix, a contest where Raikkonen came third and Lewis’s archrival Verstappen stood second.
Surely, on track and amid intense racing, there’ve been moments where Hamilton’s felt the heat and not necessarily been the great lad he is; for instance the outburst against Seb in 2017 at Baku, where Vettel alleged that Lewis brake-tested him.
But at the end of the day, during the completion of a race, Hamilton’s always demonstrated chivalry for his fiercest opponents, reserving praise for where it’s due.
When nothing was going quite right for the great German driver in his final season for Ferrari, and yet he managed to bag the Singapore GP win in 2019, the first man to congratulate Vettel wasn’t his teammate or someone from another team; it was Lewis Hamilton, who already had more titles than him at that time.
And yet, when cornered and found struggling, Lewis does manage to fight it back.
Whenever his career comes to an end, whether in 2024, ’25 or ’26, the man whose father did multiple jobs so that he could afford his son a chance in F1 someday, will realize that he’s a true success in that he’s inspired countless many to take to the sport he once dreamt of joining.
A sport where he is the owner of the fastest-ever lap raced during a Formula 1 Grand Prix, a record he snatched from the Iceman Kimi in 2020 in that blazingly fast Mercedes.
Yet, here’s a driver who pushes himself, as he is, even at 38 to hunt for another title. And maybe it’s true that what Verstappen’s chasing- a third and what Lewis is after- an eighth and what Leclerc’s seeking- a first could well define what lies ahead of us.
And may what lies in the lap of the future be as blindingly fast as it is exhilarating- right, Sir Lewis?
Happy birthday champion- you’ve come such a long way, and you’re primed to go a lot longer.