Сър Люис

by Michael Sawyer, Майкъл Е. Сойър, Сибин Майналовски (Translator)

Седемкратен световен шампион

Легенда на Формула 1

Плейбой и модна икона

Дами и господа, СЪР ЛЮИС!

-----------------------------------------------

Може да ме клеветиш в историята,
нагло да усукваш, знаеш как,
и в калта може да ме стъпчеш,
но като прах аз ще се вдигна пак.



Дразни ли те мойта дързост?
Затуй ли погледът ти потъмня?
Че пристъпвам, сякаш нефт
извира в мойта гостна.



Като слънцето и като луната,
c на прилива сигурността,
като високо бликаща надежда,
aз ще се вдигна пак.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, Biography, Biography Memoir

272 pages, Hardcover

Published March 15, 2025

Reviews

[marioncoin | coin.reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

« 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑑𝑠 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒, 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 »

bon, qu'on s'le dise j’ai avant tout acheté ce livre pour l’objet en lui même qui fera une très belle décoration mdr

en tant que grande fan de Lewis, sans grande surprise, ce livre ne m’a pas appris grand chose sur lui.

le récit n’est pas d’une grande utilité, Lewis n’a même pas été interviewé, l’auteur retrace seulement des bribes de son histoire que l’on connait déjà, j’ai trouvé la chronologie brouillon, de plus certains passages ne parlent même pas de lui (un chapitre entier sur l’explication du déroulement des qualif ou encore des passages sur d’autres athlètes noirs) et deux des huit photos choisies ne sont pas des plus pertinentes mais bon...

ce livre met tout de même en avant les difficultés que Lewis a dû surmonter pour être le premier pilote noir dans un sport très blanc et met en lumière son éducation et la façon dont il a dû briser les barrières d'un sport dont la résistance à la diversité est profondément ancrée.

je le recommanderais à la rigueur pour quelqu’un qui ne connait ni le sport, ni Lewis (et encore, autant directement lire son autobiographie du coup…)

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, where do I even begin?

Let’s just say I was thrilled to get my hands on an ARC of Sir Lewis!

I’ve been a fan of Lewis since before Drive to Survive made him a household name. But once that show dropped, my admiration only grew. The man is not just an icon on the track—he’s an icon, period. His relentless drive to be the best, both as an athlete and as a human, doesn’t go unnoticed. Lewis Hamilton is a living legend, one of the greatest athletes of our time, and without a doubt, the best in his sport.

"I’m not trying to be the best black driver, I’m trying to be the best driver, period."

So, naturally, I wasn’t surprised when someone decided to write a book about him. But what did throw me off was discovering that Lewis wasn’t actually interviewed for this one. And honestly? I think that’s where the book fell a bit flat. As a die-hard fan, I didn’t feel like I was getting anything new. Without his personal input, it felt like a retelling of stories I already knew inside and out.

On the plus side, the book does take us on a deep dive into Lewis’ upbringing. Hearing how he rose from such humble beginnings to break barriers in the sport is always inspiring, and I loved that Sawyer gave us a peek into his life off the track too. It was a reminder of what a true trailblazer Lewis is, both in and out of the racing world.



But at the end of the day, Sir Lewis was a bit like rehearing the same stories you’ve heard many times before. It’s enjoyable—but I just wanted something a little more, something a bit more fresh.

Thank you Grand Central Publishing for the ARC.

[♥Milica♥]

GIVE IT TO MEEEEE

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting read

[Madison Boyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

*received an advanced copy via NetGalley* As a F1 fan that came to the sport following watching the Netflix series “Drive to Survive”, I was excited to see a new biography about the prolific world champion Sir Lewis Hamilton on the list to be published. As I dove into the read, I did remember several of the historical points of Lewis’ career from either the Netflix series or watching most F1 races live since 2020. However, I feel like I did not come away from the read satisfied that new material had been presented, nor was Lewis interviewed specifically for this work to bring any new insights to the events discussed. I think had this author waited for Lewis’ career to complete, this may have been a more complete work to document a truly inspirational athlete.

[Mai H.]

Memoir March TBR

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Legacy Lit

[Mar · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars

I really thought (when I decided to pick this one up), that this was an autobiography but turns out that although the research for this book was done amazingly, it didn't add to anything new that we -Sir Lewis fans- already know about him.
This is more for people who are curious and have no prior knowledge.
Still, it was nicely written.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Mishy Moo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointed. Huge Lewis fan. This was just someone’s thesis and opinion. It was a collection of information that is accessible already.

[Lance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lewis Hamilton has won seven F1 driving titles and yet, some don’t consider that to be his greatest accomplishment. Being the only Black driver on the F1 circuit, he had to overcome many barriers and challenges that many minority people face whenever they are striving to succeed, in sports or otherwise. He has done gracefully, with great success and has become a strong activist for equality. How he came to this point, in both his racing and his activism, is portrayed in this excellent book by Micheal Sawyer.

If there is any downfall to this book, it would be that for readers who follow F1 or Hamilton closely, there won’t be much new material in the book. As one who would be best considered a casual fan of F1 and only knew about Hamilton’s success with his championships, I found the book to be full of new information that I did not know about him and came away with even more respect for the man than I did before I picked up the book. The many post-race interview transcripts helped formulate this impression, but I can understand where this may be redundant for those who follow Lewis closely.

Because the book deals mostly with Hamilton’s racing and his activism, I did find it to not quite be a “biography” as it is marketed, despite covering most of Hamilton’s life. It is clear how not only the book will read, but also how Hamilton’s life will be shaped when Sawyer writes about the sacrifices and hardships his father makes so that Lewis can race, starting in go-karts and extending until the McLaren team decided to take a chance on the young but talented driver. Even in the go-kart level, it takes a lot of money to dedicate the proper resources to the sport, something the Hamilton family did not always have. Add in the elitism and the racism endured by the family and it makes Lewis’ accomplishments even more astounding.

There is also a great deal of racing material in the book, especially when Lewis’ rivals such as Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso. The latter was his teammate when Lewis was with McLaren racing and the tension between them is covered quite well. The same can be said for the rivalry between Hamilton and Verstappen and what is most impressive is the class and humility for which Hamilton handles himself when faced with questions about his rivals. This is true even in the case of the controversial finish of the 2021 F1 season when some questionable ruling on the final lap gave Verstappen the title over Hamilton.

Lastly, the sections that describes Hamilton’s activism, his quotes about events such as the police shooting of Breanna Taylor and his calm demeanor that makes his statements even more powerful. He handles this topic as skillfully and masterfully as he does a race car. In the same manner, Sawyer handles this topic well. While his text when interjecting his own thoughts with Hamilton’s can come across as much stronger, it is written even-handedly and fairly. For all of these reasons, this reader who wanted to learn more about Hamilton believes this is an excellent book for that endeavor.

I wish to thank Grand Central Publishing for providing a copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.


https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...

[April · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not a good book as a biography. I’ll freely admit that I come to F1 from drive to survive, but even I can pick out massive errors in Sawyer’s work that either he or copy should have caught. One of the more egregious examples is his inability to even check Wikipedia to see that Alonso had never driven for Williams, and won the 05 and 06 titles in a Renault and returned to Renault in 08. The other thing about this book is that it’s a terrible biography. This is not about Lewis Hamilton or his career. This is about what Lewis Hamilton means to Sawyer, and as suck he has to ignore things like Barcelona 2016 because they don’t fit his narrative. He needs Hamilton to be a paragon, but I think the story would have been more impactful if he’s allowed Lewis to be a human being who makes mistakes and learns from them. So yeah, this is great if you want sawyer’s opinion of what he thinks Lewis is, it’s great. If you want any sort of objectivity, you’re out of luck.

Also, I am not a fan of anything that uses literal pages of quotes or plays some sort of high school game of calling out twitter users for saying mean things. The former because it’s not a very pleasant read and to me says the author can’t write very well and the latter because it makes this grad studies professor look like a child.

[Ashley (she/her) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful storytelling and a great up to date summary of Lewis Hamilton and his career. This book is meant for everyone. It’s for fans of F1 and Lewis who want an updated biography on him and for people who want to learn more about F1 and its only black driver. I know quite a few people that are aware of Lewis because of his star power but don’t necessarily watch F1 or know the difference between F1 and Nascar. This book does a really good job of Telling Lewis’ story and centering his blackness while also contextualizing the sport of F1 for those that might not follow it. I also appreciated that this book compared Lewis’ presence as a black driver in Formula one to that of Tiger Woods in the PGA or Simone Biles in gymnastics. Formula 1 really is a whole other world and nobody really expected black people to be apart of it. Racism has never gone away but in this political landscape blatant racism is becoming increasingly normalized in spaces where it used to be quiet, and we are continuing to go backwards as a society, this updated biography on Lewis that chronicles his entire career and centers his blackness post 2020 where we saw Lewis take a knee and stand in solidarity with BLM against police brutality is incredibly poignant.

[Colleen · Rating 1 out of 5]

The introduction to this book is so poorly written that I have put it down for now.

I can't get over the author's poor syntax and unnecessarily graphic depictions of how certain events could have panned out

[Mel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and Grand Central Publishing for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

100/5 ⭐️ for Lewis Hamilton
2/5 ⭐️ for this book

I will preface this by saying I went into this book as a huge Lewis Hamilton fan (and still am). I believe their are 2 kinds of people who will pick up this book: big fans of Lewis or folks who are curious about the "Sir" and want to know who this man is that was knighted. Unfortunately, I don't think this book was written for either audience.

At its best, Sir Lewis highlights the specific experience and struggle Lewis had to overcome in being the first Black driver in a very white sport. This is particularly important because so many try to erase Hamilton's Black identity and claim his (and many folk's) struggle to get into Formula 1 is a class struggle. While it's true the sport of by no means a meritocracy and rewards vomit-inducing amount of wealth, there is a specific struggle that Lewis Hamilton has gone through that no other F1 driver has to-datw. The egregious amount of racism, specifically anti-Blackness, he has faced and continued to face is both alarming and unsurprising. Despite this, he has proven himself to be one of the greatest athletes of all time, certainly the greatest in Formula 1.

The biggest weakness of this book is the lack of any new information or access to Hamilton. While the book is meticulously researched, I would recommend folks read Hamilton's autobiography over this book (it is quoted extensively). On top of that, the book is extremely repetitive and over-explains everything about Formula 1. There is an entire chapter dedicated to explaining what qualifying is. This made the book drag so much for me. If you want to give a little primer on F1, do a single chapter at the beginning so folks can skip it if they want. I do believe most people reading this will already know quite a bit about the sport.

Sadly, this was a miss for me.

[Derin K · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm new to the world of motorsport, especially to the world of Formula 1, but it's something I want to learn more about. I saw this book on display at my library and immediately checked out the audiobook (absolutely loved this narration, which felt like a massage in my ears). The book did a great job introducing newbies such as myself to the sport, and by the end I was seriously impressed by Lewis Hamilton's history as a driver and as a person. I was expecting a bit more explanation about who Lewis is as a person, what motivates him, what makes him a true GOAT beyond the numbers and his commitment to advocacy, etc., and the scenes shared in this book helped me scratch the surface. I would like to read Lewis's autobiography now, as my interest has been piqued and I'd like to hear about some of these events from his own brain.

[Kristiyan Velkov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Люис Хамилтън е легенда във Формула 1! Независимо дали го харесваш или не, той е феномен и първият чернокож човек спечелил 7 пъти световна титла. Определят го като един от най-добрите ако не и най-добрият състезател на всички времена. Аз харесвам Макс Верстапен, но определено Люис даде на този спорт нещо, което никой не беше правил преди. Шанс от нормално семейство, въпреки всички трудности по пътя и това, че е първият чернокож да стане символ за всички останали хора, че всичко е възможно! Ти си велик Люис!

[emmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty eye opening at the hardships that Lewis has overcome throughout the years and makes you have more of an appreciation for him, if you didn’t already.

[Gessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

eu esperava algo mais, essa biografia parece ser um grande compilado de coisas que nós(fãs do lewis) já sabemos sobre ele

[Camille Hoad · Rating 5 out of 5]

very insightful and beautifully poetic

[Annabelle Khoury · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was my first F1 driver Biography and I loved it. I loved reading about everything Lewis has been through since his karting days all the way till F1. I loved hearing about his struggles and how he got to be as we know a 7 time world champion (should be 8 time world champion). I loved hearing about how he dealt was the racism he would get and everything that happened to black people at the time. I loved hearing about the decisions he had made in the F1 world and the teams he has been with

[Teodor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not the most stylistically polished or well-structured book you’ll read, but it delivers a solid amount of detail about Lewis Hamilton’s personality and life — both on and off the track. As someone who has read many sports biographies and followed F1 closely since 2005, I can confidently say that most of the facts here are accurate and easily verifiable.

The book’s real strength lies in how it reveals the enormous challenges Hamilton has faced — not just as a driver, but as a person breaking barriers in a sport that wasn’t built to welcome someone like him. It shows his exceptional character and his ability to face adversity with dignity — whether it was dealing with Alonso, Nelson Piquet, or Michael Masi.

Hamilton succeeded in overcoming challenges that most drivers — especially those who grew up on the decks of their fathers’ yachts — couldn't even imagine existed. That alone makes his journey remarkable.

The book also subtly exposes how the F1 system has always struggled to accept the idea that Lewis could surpass Michael Schumacher as the greatest. I hope he proves them all wrong by taking his rightful 8th world title and continues living with the same integrity outside the sport. Sir Lewis Hamilton is bigger than this sport! “Still we rise”

[martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

THIS WAS SO GOOD.

however.

the author is definitely bias and while that was to be expected, at times it was overwhelming. especially when the lewis and max silverstone ‘21 crash was written about- i feel like it was really glossed over that lewis nearly killed max… but their crash in italy (where max was at fault dgmw) was written about in much more detail.

other than that i really enjoyed reading this!! the author did so much research and i learned so much especially about spygate and i didn’t know how tense alonso and lewis’ relationship was?? that was so tea.

ANYWAYS I LOVED THIS BOOK IF YOU LOVE LEWIS YOU WILL LOVE THIS. (as a 3344 fan i was holding on for dear life at some points but it’s okay)

[Melina]

DNFing at chapter seven for the line "The Spaniard, Fernando Alonso, had already notched two World Drivers' Championships with Williams Racing". If this basic fact is wrong in both the eBook and audiobook how can I trust the accuracy of the rest of the material?

[Libby Riedl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ripped through this mostly on the audiobook. There wasn’t much that Lewis fans wouldn’t know already but it was nice to have it all put together.

I need Shane Jospeh to narrate all audiobooks.

[Emily Van · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve never understood the Lewis Hamilton hype in f1 (besides the fact he won/ wins a lot) but there is SO much more to it

[sonička · Rating 5 out of 5]

fuck michael masi

also i love how me reading this book on a beach at mallorca caused a whole ass italian family to frown at me everytime they walked by

[Cassie Handford · Rating 3 out of 5]

This might have been good if I had never heard of Lewis Hamilton or known what F1 is.

[Teresa Wechsler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sir Lewis is the GOAT, but I don’t think this book did him justice

[Natalie (booknerdalie)]

Being a huge Lewis fan, I didn’t know what to expect from this one — Lewis isn’t actually affiliated with this book nor is he interviewed for it. But the 7-time world champion for Formula 1 has a very public life so his story is very out there. This book does a deep dive into his career and life, pulling from many sources and providing context so that even the non or new F1 fan can keep up.

My biggest takeaway is something I already knew but thoroughly enjoyed being reminded of — Lewis’s legacy exceeds what he’s done in his sport. He will forever be known as a great driver — the GOAT, in my and many’s opinion — and a great person. So few athletes get to be both, and this book explains that perfectly.

I really enjoyed this one on audio (would have enjoyed it more had Lewis read it lol oh well)

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I adore Lewis Hamilton. I wanted to also adore this book but at times, it wasn’t even about Lewis. I didn’t love the writing but that might be on me because I normally don’t read biographies. Maybe I would’ve liked this more as a audiobook. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc ebook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

[Annabelle]

apparently i don’t have a dedicated dnf shelf. i guess i should make one.

dnf’ing this, might try to come back to it later. the author keeps saying things and then being like “anyway let’s ignore that.” ??????why’d you say it then??????? word count?????????

it’s just not well written and talks about golfers way too much. if i wanted to read about golfers i’d read a book about golfers.