Lewis Hamilton: My brother Nic conquers them all
AS HE sat in his Mercedes rain jacket chatting with the UK print media, following his victory in the British Grand Prix, his proud, beaming mum seated between us making sure we didn't step out of line, Lewis spoke glowingly once again of his brother, Nicolas Hamilton.
The question has been asked hundreds of times but became particularly relevant because, on June 28, Nicolas, 23, became the first disabled driver to compete in the British Touring Car Championships [BTCC].
The question was how proud, how much of an inspiration Nicolas is to Lewis.
For Nicolas is conqueror of cerebral palsy, role model for thousands and he touched this cynic’s inner feelings during a chat last month.
“I am really proud of my brother,” said Lewis. "I always have been proud of him. He is an incredibly special young lad.
“It takes a lot of guts to go into a series like that [BTCC] when you've had no testing, no practice, no career. Unlike me who did go-karting and all the classes in the world.
“Not having all that and being told you're never going to walk, can't play drums, you'll never be a driver, never do this, never do that – and he conquers them all. So naturally, I'm very, very proud of him.”
“But how much inspiration do you take from him?" I asked.
“I am the older brother,” said Lewis. “As a kid, I always felt inspired by him when we were playing basketball, or football, or computer games, he would do it with much more difficulty than me, but he kept doing it.”
“But Lewis," I continued. “In terms of difficulties you face during the season, do you look to him and think, 'if he can do it [cope with things], then I can do anything’?
“It's not really the role of an older brother to be looking at your younger brother saying, 'if he can do it, I can do it’,” said Lewis.
“So it's not really like that, but what Nic stands for is that whole never-giving-up scenario. If you fall, you get up and keep pushing. He'd fall over, he would never complain, he would just get back up.
“Nic is a very inspirational young lad for many kids that are out there who are being told they can't do things.
“It's impossible for them, he has shown – and we've shown as a family – that you can make a little bit of difference in the world.”
It was an incredibly poignant tribute and one which made you believe that any one of us could conquer anything life ever throws at us. Older sibling or not.