Lewis Hamilton has made history. Now a seven-time Formula One world champion, the Englishman equaled Michael Schumacher’s record with a stunning victory at a wet and tumultuous Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday.
Upon winning the race on Sunday, Hamilton was overcome with emotion and said over the radio through tears, to his engineers but to the wider world too, “That’s for all the kids out there who dream the impossible. You can do it too, man! I believe in you guys.”
Hamilton’s rise through motorsport is incredible because such a story is so rare. He is F1’s first and only Black world champion in its 70-year history and a racing great from a humble background.
“It is no secret that I have walked this sport alone as the only person of color here,” he told reporters after record-equaling feat on Sunday. “You can create your own path and that is what I have been able to do, and it has been so tough. Tough doesn’t even describe how hard it has been.”
But will there ever be a champion like Hamilton again? Will we ever see another working-class driver or a person of color achieve sustained success in motorsport?
