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“No One Had the Balls He Had”: F1 Heavyweight Lewis Hamilton Reveals His True Obsession With “The Greatest”

Published 09/18/2022, 1:25 PM EDT

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From the very first season, when Lewis Hamilton stepped foot in the F1, he took everyone by surprise. Finishing second in his rookie season and tying with his two-time champion teammate, Fernando Alonso was no simple feat. Not just this, he missed out on the championship by just one point behind Kimi Raikkonen.

The seven-time world champion is an inspiration to many. But who does he revere the most? Where does he derive his inspiration from? He revealed this in his autobiography, Lewis Hamilton: My Story.

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Lewis Hamilton charmed by the Boxing Legend Muhammad Ali

Lewis Hamilton, in his autobiography, revealed the story of him landing in the McLaren Mercedes team in his debut season. He also revealed how his first season, which is considered one of the greatest F1 seasons ever, panned out.

While these were the racing-related aspects of the book, he also opened up on some personal stuff like admitting how highly he regards Muhammad Ali, whom he has a tattoo of.

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“He is my favorite sportsman ever,” wrote Hamilton.

Hamilton admitted to watching Ali’s clips on the internet and possessing the When We Were Kings DVD. He continues, “Seeing him in the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’…oof…that was sick!”

Hamilton confessed that he would love to be like him. He said, “I would love to be like that. No one had the balls he had. That’s inspirational.” The Briton revealed that Ali’s style matters to him so much more than money ever could.

Muhammad Ali is an exception to the Mercedes driver’s otherwise inability to get star-struck.

Hamilton admitted that he hasn’t been star-struck yet

In the book, Hamilton talked about the time when his father, Anthony Hamilton, got a call from Ron Dennis. In the call, Dennis had offered to support Lewis’ career. This was when Lewis was still in his karting days. He said that he was shocked and didn’t know how to react. He just went into his room and started doing his homework.

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Continuing, he talked about how he hadn’t been star-struck yet. He recalled the time when David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen came to a few karting races he was competing in. Despite acknowledging how impressed he was by their performances and achievement, he said that he wasn’t into hero worship.

Hamilton, then admitted, “maybe I would have been if I had met Ayrton Senna or if I were to meet Michael Jackson, say, I would be star-struck, but I honestly haven’t been star-struck yet”.

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Watch This Story: The real truth about Lewis Hamilton-Zendaya dating rumors.

From that 2007 season, Lewis Hamilton has come a long way. He has 7 World Drivers’ Championship titles, something that only a GOAT like Michael Schumacher can boast of.

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Written by:

Nischay Rathore

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Nischay Rathore is a Formula 1 Author at EssentiallySports. Being a law graduate, he has worked at the Supreme Court of India as well as the High Court of Delhi. However, due to his adherent love for sports, he has now set out to start his journey into the world of Sports Journalism.
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Edited by:

Ranvijay Singh