Lewis Hamilton’s Career So Far

It has been reported in the Sun that Lewis Hamilton’s dad begged the Prime Minister to save his son’s Formula 1 dream after he was expelled from school.

Lewis who was said to have been preparing to take his GCSEs and already attached to F1 giants McLaren and was excluded from lessons after he was accused of kicking a fellow pupil.

The superstar driver was totally innocent of the attack in 2001 which left a 15-year-old schoolmate suffering two fractured fingers, bruising and an injured arm.

In the sponsor-driven world of F1, being thrown out of school for a violent offence could have spelt the end of Lewis’s career before it had even started.

So dad Anthony, 47, fired off a letter to then PM Tony Blair to try to clear his son’s name.

Speaking exclusively to The Sun Lewis said that “My career nearly ended before it had started because of a case of mistaken identity. I was not involved in the attack but knew the boys involved. My career was on the line for something I didn’t do. I’m so careful not to ruin what I’ve got.”

After an agonising two-month wait which disrupted 16-year-old Lewis’s GCSEs — he was finally reinstated at the school.

An inquiry concluded the youngster had been wrongly identified and he received an apology from education chiefs.

Lewis began this year’s Australian Grand Prix known only to motor sport fans.

Just seven months later he has emerged as a global superstar bringing millions of new fans to F1 in the process.

His astonishing rookie season ended with his car’s gearbox malfunctioning in the final race in Brazil. Despite leading the drivers’ championship for most of the season, he missed out on the F1 crown by just one agonising point.

Lewis said that “I’m very, very competitive. I want to be the best at everything I do. It’s not driving — it’s everything — it might be playing my guitar, I try to be the best at it as I possibly can.”

Lewis who could soon earn as much as £50million a year is living every young man’s dream and it seems the only thing missing from his life is a steady girlfriend.

Lewis said that “I’m single at the moment and it’s a sacrifice I’m happy to make. People say I’m one of the world’s most eligible bachelors but I don’t feel like that. I can’t complain, for sure, but it’s not as everyone imagines. I haven’t particularly had any girls approach me. I might get a few more looks but that’s all. I’m a normal guy, so meeting someone is bound to happen eventually.”

Lewis’s desperate push for the F1 title led to a split with his beautiful long-term girlfriend, 22-year-old Jodia Ma, in March.

Currently Lewis is said to be on a relatively modest basic contract for F1 of £340,000 a year. Thanks to a reported £7,000 bonus for every point he scored this season, he has crashed through the £1million barrier.

But that is dwarfed by the £15million that team-mate Alonso is rumoured to earn annually.

Amazingly Lewis insists he could have made it in pro football if his F1 dream hadn’t come true,

He played alongside Aston Villa and England under-21 star Ashley Young in his school team and said: “I think I would have been a footballer if I hadn’t become a driver. I had more pace than Ashley at the time I was bigger than him but he was more skilful. I was a midfielder and I could go into a tackle so hard that I risked breaking my leg.”

Those close to Lewis during his ten years at McLaren are convinced that fame and bundles of money won’t change him.

Lewis insisted: “Dad and I are worlds apart from where we started. But our perception of life is the same. You need your family with you. I’m just very grateful for the opportunity because it’s a dream.”

Lewis said that “I’m ranked No2 in the world and that’s pretty good in the world, It exceeded my expectations.”

Lewis Hamilton: My Story by Lewis Hamilton, published by HarperCollins on the 5th November 2007.

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