Lewis Hamilton: The Definitive Biography Of The Greatest Racing Driver Of All Time

by Frank Worrall

The biography of the record-breaking world champion After equalling Michael Schumacher's records in both race wins, and world titles, in 2020, Lewis Hamilton became the joint-most successful racing driver of all time - and the most dominant and successful Briton ever to drive in Formula 1. Hamilton's debut season in 2007 won him fans around the world, and his place in Formula 1 history was sealed the following year when he became the youngest ever world champion. In the years since, he has created headlines on and off the track with his rivalries with Max Verstappen, Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel and relationships that have landed him on the front pages of the tabloids. However, despite the media glare, he has continued to prove his incredible talent and tenacity and remains utterly dominant in his sport. In this insightful biography, bestselling sports author Frank Worrall traces the slipstream of Hamilton's incredible career as the fastest driver on the planet. This is the story of the young man who went from being the rookie Sir Jackie Stewart said 'has rewritten the rule book' to a world champion many times over, and become Britain's greatest ever sportsman in the process.

Genres: Biography, Sports, Nonfiction

450 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2021

Reviews

[Wojtek Paprota · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have never seen such a one-side-only book. I’m Lewis’ fan and I believe he is the GOAT but an author goes too far. He describes Lewis as a near-God creature who is always right and almost makes no mistakes.

The cover says it’s a complete biography but he completely missed a 2016 season when Nico won the championship. There is no single word about it. This chapter is just skipped like it never happened.

What is even more ridiculous is the way this book is finished - in the middle of season 2021, after the Hungarian GP. Just like that. No summary, nothing.

I’m disappointed by the quality of this guy’s work.

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! Specifically because it’s not biased or written with tunnel vision; it’s a honest book about Lewis, his career as a racing driver and about other drivers as well. It made me love this book even more: that also his “faults” and the “criticisms” about Lewis are mentioned and that human side of him. And that it’s not only about how great he is as driver (i mean: it’s pretty obvious that he is: 7 times World Champion).

The second thing i liked about it is that it talks a lot about Lewis’ personality, perspectives, character, mindset and his determination, from different point of views: people who either worked with, raced against him and also from family & friends. It shows an image of Lewis close by and it gives more of an insight in who he is as person. Also something that is mentioned abundantly is that Lewis is a lovely, humble and kind person with zero arrogance, i love(d) that. I am madly in love with his mindset and his positivity, where he holds on to, even in the very difficult circumstances and situations.

My favourite quote is this one:
“For Lewis, the money was never the key motivation. No, this was a man who lived for motor sport, whose life from an early age had been built around it and who now wanted to leave a legacy that would be remembered forever.” - In my opinion, i think that it perfectly sums up who Lewis is as person.

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

[Olga Konczyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me it's a good lesson about Hamilton's history. The book describes His childhood, environment where he grew up, his family. It's very detailed description of his carieer. Especialy season 2007 is well described, with lots of details. This book helps to better understand Hamilton's personality and his behaviour. Im sad that this book had finished too soon in the middle of the most controversial F1 season.

[notzuza · Rating 5 out of 5]

kocham go. kocham lewisa hamiltona. dzięki tej książce mogłam poznać lepiej życie i sukcesy jednego z moich największych idoli obecnie. patrzenie na to jak rozwijała się kariera tego człowieka jest po prostu piękne i wiele dla mnie znaczy. cieszę się, że mogę utożsamiać się z tak cudowną osobą. dziękuję lewis🫶make it 8 before u retire bro..

[a.court.of.pages · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Ich finde es schwer, eine Biografie zu bewerten, da ich das Gefühl habe, auch immer das Leben der Person zu bewerten, aber hier nur zum Buch an sich)

Wow. Die Einstellung von Lewis Hamilton ist unfassbar interessant. Ich finde es bewundernswert, wie viel er in seinem Alter schon erreicht hat und was er schon alles erlebt hat und dass er noch so bodenständig dabei ist.
Die Biografie hat sehr gute Einblicke in Lewis Leben und Mindset gegeben und es passte auch zu dem, was ich schon kannte (Netflix Doku (sehr zu empfehlen), Interviews und Social Media). 
Leider werden dort auch viele andere Rennfahrer aufgeführt, zu denen Lewis zwar aufblickt (was ihnen natürlich eine Daseinsberechtigung in Lewis' Biografie gibt), aber dennoch sehr lang gezogen wird. Ich hätte mir teilweise mehr von Lewis gewünscht.

Ich bin sehr gespannt, was er noch erreicht und erlebt.

[Jimmy O’Donnell]

Disappointed by how rubbish this book was. I would steer people away from wasting their time with it. Hamilton was not involved at all with this and it was a bit laughable the use of instagram posts used to include quotes from him.

Clearly written following the 2007 season, and then a boring rushed version for the rest of his career. The depiction of other drivers was also very disappointing and not accurate.

[Aki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Diejenigen unter uns, die den Motorsport schon seit Jahren und darüber hinaus verfolgen, kommen an Lewis Hamilton kaum vorbei.
In Zusammenarbeit mit Frank Worrall ist dabei dieses Einblick in das Leben eines Ausnahmetalents entstanden, das von Höhen und Tiefen durchzogen war. Und auch noch immer ist.

Frank Worrall schreibt über die Anfänge des Rennfahrers, der inzwischen zu den Besten gehört. Angefangen in der Kindheit beschreibt der Autor den Werdegang des Mannes, der aus der Formel 1 inzwischen kaum noch wegzudenken ist.
Er hat sich den Rekorden vergangener Fahrer genähert und sie gebrochen. Alte aufgehoben und neue aufgestellt.

Gut fand ich auch, dass der Autor sich nicht nur ausschließlich Lewis Hamilton widmet, sondern auch seinem frühreren Rennclub McLaren. Und auch darüber spricht, wer Ron Dennis ist. Der frührere Teamchef des Rennstalls wurde zu Lewis' Mentor und einem langen Wegbegleiter.

Vielleicht hätte ich mir noch ein wenig mehr private Einblick in das Leben Hamiltons gewünscht, anstatt nur über seine Karriere zu lesen. Aber an sich hat mir das Buch einen guten Eindruck darüber vermittelt, wie Lewis Hamilton überhaupt siebenfacher Weltmeister geworden ist.
Um das Buch und due Ausführungen von Frank Worrall zu lesen, muss man übrigens kein großer Formel 1 - Kenner sein, aber vielleicht ist man es ja danach.

[Adelina · Rating 1 out of 5]

While I'm a massive F1 fan, I'm not a die-hard Lewis fan. I like the guy, and I admire his racecraft, so I decided to read this biography. I have read several F1 drivers' biographies, including some about drivers I do not necessarily admire, but this was the weakest of all.

First, it annoyed me how one-sided this book was. Yes, Lewis was and is a great driver, an undoubtedly multiple world champion, but the author makes him sound like the second coming of Jesus Christ while he treats all the other drivers as unworthy. You can praise Lewis and still admit that Schumacher, Alonso, Button, Vettel were/are great as well.

Second, I wanted to read a book about Lewis, about his upbringing, about the man that he is, but this book was more of a summary of various news articles and included an extremely long number of testimonials and comments said/left by various people (journalists or fans) about him at times. If I wanted to read random people opinions I would have checked the comments of a social media post, but I care little about what other think and more about Lewis. Yes, the fact that he impressed so many people is notable, but it's not something worth reading again over several pages. There was very little insight into Lewis life and the only new things that I learned from this were the names of his ex girlfriends.

I wish it would be more focused on how Lewis managed to overcome various setbacks, how he worked tirelessly to become a several-time WC, the ups and downs and less about 'oh, he is sooooo great, he is the best eveeeer'.

Finally, there were several misogynistic affirmations (like ladies never care about f1, they only care how drivers look, they don;t understand why their husbands watch cars going in cricles) and a complete ignorance of mental health (when drivers shy away from media and want some time for themselves they are 'whining'), which I a pity considering LH is a strong advocate for human rights and mental health. Further, the author didn't do proper reaserch and said various silly things (Angela, Lewis PT is describes as a man, Masi is 'Austrian') and 'defended' Lewis mistakes even when some moves were not in line with the sporting regulations (and even LH admitted those mistakes).

[Emi · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a big Lewis fan, I was expecting a much better book. It's a decent history lesson, but the chaotic writing style makes it really hard to enjoy sometimes. It ends very unexpectedly, halfway through 2021 season 🤷‍♀️ sus
The story is told weirdly, the rookie seasons are described very detailed and slowly, then we go one chapter per season, then few seasons smashed into one short chapter, few seasons not mentioned by even a word, when they all obviously have potential. Loved the quotations from drivers, Lewis himself, directors, and specialists, I would skip tho some anonymous f1 fan forum opinions, for real, who cares.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 round up to 4
This was really information heavy in the first half (Hamilton's first 2 seasons in F1), which made it slow and hard to read but once it got past that, it was more of an overview of each season and a lot easier to follow without having to decipher all the lap.times.
Grammar was a bit of a pain with this, too. Some wrong form of a word (too instead of to) but a number of incorrect spellings - adjust-ment, resent-ment... Weird...

[Cameron Burns · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book

[Ece Harput · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a big f1 fan and I like Lewis. I think he is an amazing driver and very talented but thia book didn't meet my expectations.

[☆ Iga ☆]

powstań, Sir Lewisie Hamiltonie - Największy - oto twoje życie
.
still we rise
.
for all the kids out there who dream the impossible
.
30082022

[MJ Cunha · Rating 4 out of 5]

3am reads while waiting for the Australian GP.

[Oliwcia <3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dużo subiektywnych opinii autora ale tak to g

[Luke Buxton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great biography, first biography I have ever read and it's amazing as I like hamilton and its nice to see what he's been through and that makes his achievements much more impressive

[Triin · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a fan of Lewis there weren’t many surprises or news, however, it was still an enjoyable read. The hardcover version also has some photos. I hope for more wins in Ferrari

[Federica · Rating 2 out of 5]

when im in a glazing competition and my opponent is frank worrall

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author me is obviously a fan of Hamilton (as am I!) but this makes the book less than an object telling.

[Piotr Bugiel · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,25

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5
Completely biased and unaccurate

[lily-ella mcenhill · Rating 4 out of 5]

as a big big big f1 fan, i loved this book! it really talked about lewis and his progress, i enjoyed it a lot!

[Lin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely no shade to Lewis Hamilton. This was simply not a good book at all.