BLaCk Bruce WaYnE MANOR: Lewis Hamilton- A Motorsport Trailblazer

Some of you maybe saying to yourselves ‘race car driving is not a sport’ or ‘who the hell is Lewis Hamilton?’ Well, let us start by making comparisons to make it easy for those at home who are unfamiliar. Formula One Racing’s equivalent to Michael Jordan in the ’sport’ is the now retired Michael Schumacher of Germany who drove for the Ferrari Team (Chicago Bulls of the 90s for F1). Schumacher was known for his aggressiveness, competitive edge and his consistency in winning Grand Prixs (aka races).

So imagine the Lebron James equivalent of this sport (Hamilton) come-of-age the first day of his rookie season and hits the season with guns blazing. In his first season he takes the sport by storm by winning races, finishing in the top 3 at times and also does all this at the ripe age of 22 in 2007. His rookie performance on the track has been compared to a veteran who has been behind the wheel for over 7 years. Unfortunately with such an astonishing rookie performance, he finished just 1 point away from winning the championship by spinning out in the last race of 2007 in Brazil. Rookies in F1 usually average 1 race win in their first season with maybe finishing in the top 3 maybe once during the season if they are lucky but Hamilton won 4 and finished in the top 3 in nine different races in 2007.

Now here comes the intrigue which has drawn celebrities such as Akon, Brad Pitt, Keanu Reeves, Macy Gray, Naomi Campbell, Nicole Scherzinger (Pussycat Dolls), Sean ‘P.Diddy’ Combs and Pharrell Williams to the sport. Lewis Hamilton could probably be not only the youngest (age 23) to win a Formula One Racing World Championship but also be the first Black race car driver to ever win a championship within the profession.

Hamliton is half Black (father of Grenadian descent) and half white (mother) from Stevenage, England.

In 2008, Hamilton is on the verge of making history in the last race of the season at the Grand Prix of Brazil where he leads in championship points. He will be up against Ferrari’s Felipe Massa (Brazil) who is in a close second and will have the hometown Brazilian crowd behind him. Last week’s race, Grand Prix of China, drivers from teams who have been eliminated from title contention were quoted by saying ‘they will do whatever they can to help Felipe Massa win the championship title’ instead of Hamilton. Even with other drivers threatening his chances for the championship Hamilton was still able to walk away finishing first in Shanghai but Massa finished second that race as well.

Hamilton is a race car driver that makes more money (£75million GBP base salary alone from McLaren Mercedes which equals to $119 million USD) than any driver in NASCAR (Dale Earnhardt, Jr.; Jeff Gordon) or INDY (Danica Patrick). If you want to get an idea of what a formula one driver takes home salary wise, lets just say the stirring wheels used to drive these cars can be worth anywhere from $30,000 to $40,000 USD.

He has little exposure to the US because Formula One Racing is not quite as popular as Sunday afternoon football. If he finishes in the top 6 on Nov. 2nd in Brazil he will officially be the first black driver to win the F1 World Championship or of any motorsport.

Let’s see if Obama can pull through on Nov. 4th.

(Lewis, Father & Brother after a win at 2008 Grand Prix of Belgium in Spa)

 

(Lewis & Akon at the 2008 Grand Prix of Bahrain)

 

(Diddy helps the Hamiltons celebrate at 2008 Grand Prix of Monaco)

 

(Lewis and current girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger celebrate win at 2008 Grand Prix of Monaco)

(Hamilton wins 2008 Grand Prix of China in Shanghai)

(Pharrell, Diddy & Hamilton in London)

(Pharrell & Lewis chatting in the streets of London-town)

(Hamilton with ex-girlfriend Miss Grenada World Vivian Burkhardt)

Michael Schumacher (The Mike Jordan of F1 Racing) on Lewis Hamilton after 3 races as a rookie in 2007

Lewis Hamilton’s Rookie Season (2007)

Lewis Hamilton discusses his team McLaren Mercedes & his car the MP4-22

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 at 9:53 pm. It is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.