Yesterday Lewis Hamilton became the first British driver in more than 40 years to win the Formula One drivers’ championship twice. It was a year in which he won 11 of the 19 races, and sealed the title with victory in Abu Dhabi. This is an amazing achievement for a boy from a humble background in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, whose parents split up when he was just two years old. Highlighting how exceptional a story this is, his closest rival, teammate Nico Rosberg, is the son of a former F1 champion and was raised in Monaco.
Added to this is the fact that Hamilton is the first and only black driver ever to make it into this sanctified world. Like Tiger Woods in golf and Venus and Serena Williams in tennis, he’s blown open the doors of a previously exclusive set and fought his way to the pinnacle. The first time he won the title, in 2008, he was also the youngest ever world champion, so this is truly a boy’s own story of success against the odds.
Yet somehow, it seems, the British public has not taken Hamilton to heart. In 2008, when he seemed a shoo-in for the British public’s vote as BBC sports personality of the year, he lost out to cyclist Chris Hoy. The preceding British F1 champions, Damon Hill and Nigel Mansell, had each won the viewers’ vote twice – including years when they hadn’t even won the title. This year Hamilton will definitely be in the shortlist of 10 to be announced tonight, but the chances are that he will ultimately miss the main award again, with golfer Rory McIlroy the odds-on favourite.
This is more than just bad luck. Within hours of his moment of glory yesterday, the Eurosport website had posted an article headlined: “Hamilton a worthy world champion but is he a likeable one?” This came days after a full-page Sunday Telegraph article asking, Why does Britain not love Lewis Hamilton?
Reasons given were that he “offers curt replies to interviews”, criticises his team over the radio, or sulks. And then there’s the “celebrity red carpet lifestyle, the pop star girlfriend and bling”. Or, simply, “He’s gone off to America more”.
All of these are ludicrous criticisms. There’s barely a sports star in the world who’s not been caught letting their guard down after some painful defeat – blaming their opponents, the referee, whoever; or staying tight-lipped when journalists are looking for a quote. When someone such as Chelsea manager José Mourinho does this, it’s normally taken as a sign of his genius at mind games. Hamilton has faced some extreme examples of bad luck or sporting injustice this season – from engine fires to being rammed out of the race in Belgium by Rosberg – yet has remained supremely calm and diplomatic on almost all occasions. And when he does show his honesty, he’s criticised for that too.
The pop star girlfriend? Why is this a negative? David Beckham’s popularity was boosted, not tarnished, by such a relationship.
And as for the superstar lifestyle, well, F1 has always been the most glamorous sport in the word. It takes place in some of its glitziest locations, from Brazil to Monaco to Monza. And underlying it all is an awed respect for the courage and boldness of its drivers who risk their lives in every race – as seen in the recent popular movies Senna and Rush, and as we were reminded last month by the serious injuries suffered by Jules Bianchi, who crashed in the Japanese Grand Prix.
Even the regular complaint that Hamilton has moved into tax exile (in Monaco) seems to be selective, given that several popular British sportsmen and celebrities have made a similar move, including fellow F1 world champions Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill and Jenson Button.
I suspect the racing great Stirling Moss touched the underlying issue when he was quoted in the Telegraph saying of Hamilton: “He was one of the racing crowd before, and now he’s whatever you call those superstars. And that’s not really the way we English go. We’re more reserved.” Can someone like Hamilton ever be accepted as doing things the way “we English” do?
The Eurosport article stated that Rosberg, the German of Finnish parentage raised in Monaco, “exudes the kind of down to earth, likeable personality that people seem to be able to affiliate with”. People like who?
For all the huge achievements of black sportsmen and women, it seems the public still struggle to accept them. Yes, Jessica Ennis, who displays such joy in her sport, is loved; but Mo Farah didn’t even make the top three in the BBC awards in either 2012, when he was double Olympic champion,– or 2013, when he was double world champion.
Three years ago Hamilton, exasperated at a series of stewards’ rulings which went against him, joked: “Maybe it’s because I’m black.” Needless to say, he was quickly forced to apologise: in a sport where, from drivers to mechanics to journalists to sponsors there are so few non-white faces, such a comment would find little support.
Hamilton is not only a brilliant sportsman, he’s a pioneer – breaking into a white world purely by virtue of his skills, tenacity and perseverance. Yes, this year Hamilton had a great car to drive, but in seven of his eight years on the circuit he’s beaten his team-mate in the same car – and he could have won at least two more world titles were it not for some outrageous bad luck.
Yet although Hamilton is himself seen as a role model, for me his story cannot be complete without acknowledging the huge part his father, Anthony, played in his success. At a time when so many negative stories are told about black fathers, here is a black father figure supporting and directing his son to help him achieve his dreams. They had a brief separation when Lewis needed to mark out his independence, but they now have a positive relationship.
Ultimately, Lewis deserves recognition because his success goes far beyond sport itself. But if he never gains national acceptance through the sports personality vote, it will say more about Britain than about him.
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