Lewis Hamilton: We Worked Hard With What we Had

Lewis Hamilton is the epitome of a rags-to-riches story in Formula One. However, he is afraid that the days are long gone when kids from working-class families could make it in motorsport.

Last month, Hamilton signed a lucrative deal with Mercedes. He recently spoke about the current situation at the lowest rung of the sport. The 4-time world champion admitted that people often ask him where the next Lewis Hamilton will come from. But he said that all the kids come from wealthy backgrounds whereas he had to struggle.

According to him, the fundamental flaw lies in how the sport is governed. He noticed that a lot of wealthy kids are coming through.

Hamilton was open to helping young kids climb up the ranks, but the question is how? All the various championships are owned by different people. According to him, karting has changed a lot since his time. People are spending millions to get there and it is one big money pit.

Hamilton and his father/manager Anthony Hamilton had to use second-hand equipment. It is a well-known fact that they would be very careful about spending money. Especially during Lewis’ karting days, two decades ago.

Nowadays, any major karting event in Europe has enormous investments poured into it. Particularly for children of the wealthy to compete with factory teams and regular teams.

Mercedes chief Toto Wolff also said that it takes at least one million euros to rope in someone who has talent.

Back in Lewis’ struggling days, Anthony Hamilton had to work two jobs to fund his son’s early karting career. He said, “We worked hard with what we had and were blessed to have been spotted by Ron Dennis [of McLaren] and Mercedes but that isn’t enough anymore.

However, he fears that if costs continue to climb at the junior level, Lewis could be the last of his generation. Most of the current F1 drivers kickstarted their career in karting. Karting is the universal first step on the ladder to the top.