Hill, now a television pundit with Sky sympathises with his predicament. “It’s
more difficult these days for drivers to appeal to the public,” he told Telegraph
Sport. “I wonder if it’s to do with the way the sport is perceived.
It seems to be existing in its own bubble more so than it did in the past.
Lewis is very popular, the British Grand Prix showed that. It’s just been a
tricky ride.”
Sir Stirling Moss, arguably the finest F1 driver never to win the
championship, is a self-confessed fan, heaping praise and predicting every
British record will fall Hamilton’s way. But, in the public’s eyes at least,
he hits the nail on the head.
“He can be more of a pop idol than he is a racing driver,” Moss said. “But he
is bloody quick – we cannot take that away from him. I think mentally in
driving he is 40 or 50, but in other things he’s 15. But there we are – he
leads his life as he likes.”
Mrs Moss interrupts. “He’s gone off to America more, I think that’s why he’s
not so well loved,” Susie Moss says. “As a young driver, and when he won his
first championship, he was such a lovely guy. Such a gentle, normal person.
Now he’s much more of a superstar, and more volatile.”
Sir Stirling agrees. “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.”
That famous image of a boyish 23-year-old, stood under an umbrella with his
father Anthony on the grid in Sao Paulo, captured all he was then. He was
sheltered – literally and figuratively – both by his father and the equally
overbearing paternal influence of Ron Dennis, the McLaren boss. This mesh of
influences produced a young man with skills behind the wheel which were well
beyond his years, having been groomed for Formula One since he was a child.
Yet there was an immaturity towards everything else, making for a sportsman
who was part open, honest and affable, and part belligerent, guarded and
divisive.
While a less friendly side can linger – one of my fellow correspondents has
been banned from his press briefings all season – Hamilton is a more
level-headed, rounded individual now.
Thirteen-time grand prix winner David Coulthard has been through it all with
Hamilton. From the driver who was followed around by the then-rookie driver,
to friends treating each other with mutual respect. “Lewis has managed to
grow up in public,” the Scot says. “He’s finally comfortable within himself,
and happy with who he is. I don’t think there is a bad bone in his body. He
has continued to learn, grow and evolve. He will continue to need guidance,
but who doesn’t?”
Coulthard suggests that the lack of warm feeling is partly due to the system
which produces modern Formula One drivers. “They can seem like they are
products of a system. People like the underdogs. Lewis was part of the
McLaren system and it was a question of when he got to Formula One, not if.
I don’t think it’s anything of his doing.” As Stewart, a three-time
champion, puts it: “He was picked up and put on a Kashmir magic carpet.”
But the journey from 2008 to now has been a tortuous one. Six years ago, he
had the motor racing world at his feet and a period of total domination
looked inevitable. It has not been so simple: through a mix of uncompetitive
cars at McLaren, and his own drops in form, Hamilton has had to watch others
do most of the winning. He split with Anthony, left McLaren for Mercedes –
questioned at the time but a move that now looks inspired – and joined Simon
Fuller’s XIX Entertainment. He has recently split with XIX as well as
enjoying the father-son relationship witrh Anthony he always hankered after.
Daddy’s boy: Lewis Hamilton has had a rocky relationship with his father,
Anthony
Along the way there have been turbulent times. In 2011, his annus horribilis,
he was thoroughly outclassed by his then McLaren team-mate Jenson Button,
uttering the infamous “maybe it’s because I’m black” quote in Monaco, after
a row with race stewards. This season, again in Monaco, he struggled to
control his emotions after his fallout with his Mercedes rival Nico Rosberg.
“I was disappointed that he didn’t handle that Monaco weekend as he might
have done, with that conflict,” Stewart says.
There are still some baffling moments when, after winning pole position, he
appears inexplicably glum. But such instances on the wane. The sunglasses,
so often a barrier to the audience during interviews, are now taken off. In
Belgium, after being taken out by Rosberg, he gave one his calmest and most
eloquent interviews to the BBC’s Lee McKenzie.
So we return to the original question: who is Lewis Hamilton, and is he worthy
of a place both in the pantheon of British greats but also in the esteem of
the public? Most importantly he is himself, whatever amalgam of influences
he has taken growing up in the public’s glare?
Hamilton’s tastes may not always sit perfectly with the traditional motor
racing community. The bizarre Andy Warhol pendant he wore in Austin was just
one example. His manner of speaking occasionally falls into a strange
American twang. There was a particularly amusing moment in Japan, when he
compared Ayrton Senna’s decision to deliberately crash into Alain Prost as
when “some dude comes and messes with your chick, and you want to kill that
dude!”
Bling king: Lewis Hamilton’s fondness for jewelery makes him stand out in
the paddock
But one fact outweighs the significance any misalignment of his taste with
that of the public: he is being himself. Sincerity and honesty trumps all.
It is not exactly stiff upper lip, yet in a sport where massive corporations
stifle drivers into becoming bland PR machines, Hamilton’s propensity to be
outspoken, say what he thinks, spill the beans on Mercedes internal rivalry,
should be applauded. As Bernie Ecclestone recognised when anointed Hamilton
as his preferred champion, he is the only star Formula One has got. I have
only had the opportunity to observe Hamilton for one season, but even since
the first race in Melbourne, eight months ago, he has visibly relaxed,
despite the tumult of his duel with Rosberg.
As far as the driving goes, there is still plenty to do to be recognised as a
great, worthy of comparison with the likes of Jim Clark, the double world
champion who died at Hockenheim in 1968. “It’s too early for that,” Stewart
tells Telegraph Sport. “It takes multiple world championships, not winning
in the best cars, and carrying with you a sort of dignity and style such as
Juan Manuel Fangio [the five-time champion] had. He projected the sport and
continued in such a dignified manner even after he retired, to represent the
sport in such a blue-chip fashion.”
But if Hamilton wins next Sunday, and keeps winning in the dominant Mercedes
in years to come, the British records will continue to fall. Whether the
public will truly embrace him is far less certain. With careers in music or
elsewhere on the horizon, we should cherish him while we can.