Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has revealed how he coped with bullying during his journey to Formula 1 in the early 2000s.
Lewis Hamilton is Formula 1’s most statistically successful driver in its history, with seven titles and 106 Grand Prix victories since his debut in 2007. Those totals also include 104 pole positions and 206 podium finishes, spread across 385 race starts for McLaren, Mercedes and now Ferrari — a career that has already produced more wins than any other driver the sport has seen.
While his achievements have catapulted him to the top of F1’s greatest drivers, like all, he had to start in the feeder series, an ultra competitive world. Hamilton progressed through British Formula Renault, British and European F3, and GP2, winning championships at each level before McLaren fast-tracked him into F1 as a 22-year-old in 2007 — a debut season in which he narrowly missed the title on the final lap in Brazil.
Hamilton has never shied away from detailing the bullying and abuse he received as a driver in his junior career, which followed him for most of his life pre-F1. He has previously described being one of only a handful of Black children at his school in Stevenage, and has spoken of racial abuse alongside the physical bullying, saying he was targeted by “bigger, stronger” kids from a young age.
Now, he has revealed one of the main coping strategies that he employed, citing discipline as the main factor behind choosing this particular pathway.
“Karate, it was a really important part of my life,” Hamilton told media.
“Actually, it’s where I learned a lot of discipline, I was just a normal kid with lots of energy, bouncing off walls, climbing trees.
“I needed that energy directed into something and otherwise I would have probably gone off the rails with where I grew up.
“I asked to go to karate when I was six because I was being bullied, and that lasted for a long, long time, the bullying, all the way into junior school, into high school.”
Hamilton has said elsewhere that he trained intensively enough to earn a black belt by his early teens, and later took up Muay Thai as his interest in martial arts continued. He began karting around the same period, at the age of eight, balancing school, martial arts and circuit racing as his father worked multiple jobs to fund his early career.
Lewis Hamilton reveals lessons applied from karate
Detailing the legacy of his lessons, Hamilton outlined increased confidence and a continued use of the mindset that was instilled into him.
“Karate really gave me that confidence to be able to handle myself and handle those bullies,” he added.
“And then when I got to the racetrack, the same thing.
“Bullies are there, so I think it just enabled me to understand myself, understand the power that I have within, and how to utilise it for good rather than negative.”
Hamilton has spoken about these experiences on multiple occasions over the years, including in interviews and social media posts, using his platform to campaign against bullying and to push for greater diversity within motorsport — an issue he has continued to champion since founding his Mission 44 charitable foundation.
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