“He Thinks He’s a Great Driver”: Lewis Hamilton Disses the Man Who Taught Him Everything He Knows

Lewis Hamilton was a very high-rated prospect, right from his karting days. The Mercedes driver began karting aged 8 and won the British karting championship (cadet class) and STP Karting championship 2 years later. Nico Rosberg and himself were perhaps one of the best karting teammates of all time.

Nico’s father, Keke Rosberg was the 1982 F1 champion. Hence, a lot of Nico’s learning and skill came from his father. Similarly, Hamilton has also learned a great deal about racing from his father, Anthony Hamilton, despite not being an F1 driver like Keke.

However, Lewis Hamilton turned on his cheeky side in one of Top Gear’s interviews with Jeremy Clarkson. The former McLaren driver roasted his dad while telling Clarkson an anecdote involving his dad, Nico, and Keke Rosberg.

Hamilton mentioned, “I have a good story actually about handbrake turns. Years ago, I was at a karting race in Italy with Nico as my teammate. Actually, so it’s 2000 and me, my dad, and Keke Rosberg were on the way to the track, and my dad was driving down this country lane which off the edge of the road drops down into a field and it’s like a meter drop.”

Lewis further added, “Keke all of a sudden just pulls the handbrake while my dad’s driving, and my dad doesn’t really know how to drive that well. He thinks he’s a great driver, but you know, he’s not. He lost the back end of the car and put it down into the ditch and we had to leave it there and walk to the track.”

READ MORE: How Does F1 Qualifying Work?

Hamilton has had mixed feelings with a few of his teammates. However, the Mercedes driver has mentioned his relationship with George Russell is going strong.

Nico Rosberg believes former Mercedes teammate, Lewis Hamilton, is still at his best

Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton will be happy the season has finally reached its conclusion. After enduring a difficult campaign, Lewis Hamilton failed to register a single race win this season. However, Nico Rosberg still believes that Hamilton is at his best, despite a rocky season.

The 2016 champion told, “We all know Lewis had a bit of an unlucky, scruffy season where the car was not going well and they were experimenting a lot so that kind of mixes things up a little bit.”

The former Mercedes driver also praised Lewis’ teammate George Russell and claimed he was excited about the duos battle next season. Rosberg said, “Lewis is still at his best so to beat him over a season is so tough, but it will be so great to watch because those guys are so closely matched.”

WATCH THIS STORY: How a Kitchen Rendezvous Prevented Lewis Hamilton-Toto Wolff “Divorce”

Hamilton and Russell displayed fighting spirit to rescue the season for Mercedes in the second half. Can the Mercedes boys bring back glory days to the Brackley-based outfit?