“For me, school was the most traumatizing and difficult time of my life,” said the seven-time world champion in an episode of the podcast “On Purpose” published on Monday. As a six-year-old, he was one of only three black children in his school, and “bigger, stronger, bullying kids” would often push him around.
Children threw bananas at him and racially abused him, Hamilton said. At the time he suppressed many of his negative experiences and didn’t tell his parents about it because he “didn’t want my dad to think I wasn’t strong”.
Lewis Hamilton is still the only black driver in Formula 1. A foundation he set up takes care of members of minorities, and together with his Mercedes racing team he is also committed to more diversity in racing.
Regarding a future life after the end of his career, the 44-year-old said it would be “really, really difficult” to find something that came close to the emotions on the racetrack. In order not to fall into a “deep hole”, he is looking for things that could replace racing and fulfill it. (AFP)
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