Lewis Hamilton has revealed he suffered a racist attack where he was kicked and told to “go back to your own country” by a dad and son.
Hamilton, 37, has cemented himself as one of the best F1 drivers ever having picked up a joint record seven world championship titles to date.
But his work off the track to tackle social equality has also been at the forefront of his career.
And Hamilton said those battles have led him to revisit events that have happened in his past.
Lewis Hamilton
Bradley Collyer
Hamilton has recalled an incident where he was racially attacked as a teenager
GUGLIELMO MANGIAPANE
The British driver said: “There’s a lot of feelings that I suppressed at the time that I didn’t even realise that I suppressed.
“Emotions and feelings that I had when I was younger, and it all came up.
“[Go-karting in Italy and France] There was a lot of the N-word going around,” he told Vanity Fair.
During one specific incident, when he was aged 11 or 12, Hamilton was in Newcastle visiting family when he was racially abused and attacked on his way to the shops.
A dad and son knocked him to the ground before kicking him and saying: “Go back to your country”.
Recalling the incident, Hamilton said: “Even today I remember how terrifying it was. I really, really couldn’t understand it.
“It was like, ‘Are they talking to me? I’m from here. What do they mean?’
“I could never understand it. When you’re being attacked, there’s this fear - there’s fear and there’s anger as well because you want to get them back for the pain that they’re causing you.
“I never spoke about it to my parents. I didn’t speak about it to my mum - I didn’t think she’d understand.
“And my dad, I was probably too scared to tell my dad, because I didn’t want him to think I was a wuss.
“I didn’t want him to think I couldn’t defend myself. I just remember a lot of times just being alone, just in tears in my room.”
