Wednesday 13 June 2007

Lewis Hamilton - Past and Present - and a Lover


Lewis Hamilton's life has changed for ever. He can now never remain in annonimity. Media, and indeed the whole world of motorsports, are going to watch his every step, bring under scrutiny his past deeds, his love life and family, and every microscopic detail.


Home


Home was a small flat in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, where he lived with Anthony, who split from Carmen, Lewis’s mother, when he was 2. Anthony once held down three jobs to keep the money coming in. When McLaren stepped in to finance the young racer’s career, Lewis, his father, Linda, his stepmother, and Nicholas, his younger brother, who suffers from cerebral palsy, moved to a house in Tewin, a village near Stevenage. Linda and Nicholas followed Sunday’s victory on television, although they sometimes go to Lewis’s races.


Lewis now lives mostly in a £1 million mansion in Woking, Surrey, to be near the McLaren factory. Will he follow the advice of accountants and move abroad to avoid the long arm of the British taxman, to a harbour-front apartment in Monaco alongside Jenson Button and David Coulthard, or to Lake Geneva, along with Fernando Alonso, his team-mate? Or will he want a vast Swiss farmhouse like Michael Schumacher’s, complete with health centre, cinema and petrol station?


The Women


The first kiss-and-tell has appeared in a British tabloid as a schoolmate from Stevenage breathlessly told of their first romantic encounter in the back of Hamilton’s Mini. But he proclaims himself in love with Jodia Ma, the teenage sweetheart he met at Cambridge Arts and Science College. The drawback is that she is from Hong Kong and he travels the world. Hamilton has ordered a £10,000 diamond bracelet for Ma, but Formula One is awash with beautiful women and he would not be the first racing driver to have his head turned.

Lewis Hamilton is next Michael Schumacher says Derek Daly


According to Derek Daly, former Formula 1 and Indy car driver, Lewis Hamilton has the potential to replace Michael Schumacher as the next greatest driver in Formula 1 racing."He can have the same effect here as he's had elsewhere, very much so," said Daly. "Without a doubt.


"He has managed that Mansell touch and become the people's favourite almost overnight. Add to that that he's the first black guy and that he appears to have the whole package and he's a potential replacement for Michael Schumacher. He's that good."


"I expect similar scenes at Indy as there were in Montreal. He drives with such flair, and confidence and the way he sits in the car is like Mansell.
"Gilles Villeneuve had a similar impact but the promise was never fulfilled. He wasn't as well prepared as Lewis is.


"(Juan Pablo) Montoya had the impact with all his flair but he was not the complete package in terms of discipline and preparation that Hamilton appears to have.
"There's still a long way to go but he's so well spoken, he's got his Dad with him all the time and he looks to have the whole thing."