To Hamilton Snr’s credit, he declined the money, saying: “I never asked Lewis
for a penny. When he won the World Championship in 2008, he thanked me and
that was all I needed for 18 years of graft.”
But the man who worked several jobs in order to help launch his son’s career
couldn’t resist a gentle dig, adding: “Maybe he was feeling guilty and
wanted to say thank you to everybody.”
He did, however, gracefully accept his son’s reasons for wanting to go their
separate ways professionally, saying that his son thought, “‘You know what
dad, I am fed up listening to you’. He decided he wanted to be his own man.
I was comfortable with that.”
The split is now well in the past, with Hamilton Jnr now
telling the press: “I remember when I spoke to you a few years ago
when I parted with my dad as manager. I said to you, ‘I can’t wait for the
day that he’s here just as my dad,’ and that’s what you’re seeing. That’s
one of the greatest feelings.”
So whilst his life may be on a different planet to most of his fans, his
family relationships are just as important. After everything they have been
through in public and in private, he values his father most just for being a
normal dad.
From this we can extract Lewis Hamilton’s three top tips for getting on well
with your father:
1) Always be grateful;
2) Learn to be your own man;
3) Never, ever, offer to give your dad $4 million.