- Seven-time world champion is sport’s only black driver
- ‘It’s been tough, it was easy to think it was not possible’
Lewis Hamilton equalled Michael Schumacher’s record of seven world championships on Sunday by winning the Turkish Grand Prix and said afterwards that he hoped his success as a black man in an almost exclusively white sport would act as inspiration to children everywhere.
An emotional Hamilton, who remains the sport’s only black driver, went on to describe what a hard journey it had been to become the most successful driver in the history of Formula One. “It has been so tough. Tough doesn’t even describe how hard it has been,” he said. “When I was younger I didn’t have anybody in the sport that looked like me, so it was easy to think that it was not a possibility. You don’t see any black people on TV in F1 one so hopefully this sends a message to the kids that are watching.
