The Story of Lewis Hamilton | Documentary

Imagine being in a Formula 1 car. A fantastic performance! A first-round racing drive. At times, he was five or six seconds a lap quicker than men. Must be very powerful, that. All those years ago, we were sitting in the back of a trailer, and, you know, a little Cavalier and everything. We could never have imagined being out here. For me, you know, growing up, being bullied at the age of six. Parents telling you, there's no way you're going to be a racing driver. You ain't got what it takes. I'm going to prove them wrong. Obviously, my ambition is to be in Formula 1 and to eventually win the World Championship. Lewis had taken himself to the very brink of the World Championship, and then it was all snatched away. Is this the end of the World Championship dream for Lewis Hamilton? This has been my dream since I was a kid. And it started going away, lost. Just slipped through my fingers. I'm going to come back fitter, more relaxed, more experienced, and keep my head high and look forward to next year. I came from a council house in Stevenage, and like everyone, I grew up a relatively normal life. My parents were split when I was two, so on the weekends, I spent with my dad. And my dad was a tough dad. My mum was super soft. She was the one that, you know, the great, great mum, the softer one. My dad was someone that also faced adversity through his life, and he's like, I want to do everything in my power to create a better life for my kid, so that they don't feel or experience the things that I've encountered through my journey. Anthony Hamilton loved his sons, but like your typical 90s dad, he wasn't always sure how to show that love. I'd spend weekends with my dad. He had no idea what to do with me. He's like, you know, what do I do with this kid on the weekends? And we would watch the Grand Prix, so I started watching Grand Prix from, I think, five, fascinated with cars, and he bought me a radio control car. Lewis Hamilton is only seven years old. How long have you been racing cars for already, Lewis? About a year. So you must be pretty good at it. Is it easy to do? No. I bought the car to keep him out of my hair, actually, because he was forever wanting to do different things, and it turned out that he was extremely good at driving this little car up and down the driveway. So I ultimately then decided that, you know, the next best thing to keep him busy would be to take him to a remote-controlled car club. I was the youngest there by at least 10 years, maybe 15 years, and so I had like two, there'll be two crates of, like, beer crates for me to stand on to look down on the track, and I was beating all these adults. While most overlooked it, Anthony saw something special in Lewis, a rare gift that only a few possess. Able to drive this car backwards and forwards, tight turns, whatever, and I just thought this kid has got something extremely special just in his hand-to-eye coordination. Someone said to him, he does have such hand-to-eye coordination, how about getting him a car? And he bought me a go-kart from the newspaper. It's been owned by like five or six families. I bought this old go-kart. It's probably about 10 years old, been bent and wrapped around a post three times, but I remember I got that chassis home and I went down the local car shop, got some paints and everything else, and I refurbished that car. I made it look like brand new for his Christmas. I remember I used to wake up and spend Christmas Day with my mum and then go to my dad's in the afternoon. I got to the house and no one was there. I think they'd been out shopping or something, and I looked through the letterbox and I could see all the way down the hallway to the dining room table and there was this massive present on it. And I kind of knew that might be it. My dad just put so much pride into making this car look brand new. It was fifth hand, so it was out of the newspaper. It was a fifth-hand car, wow! And we arrived at the first practice. But when they arrived at the track, the welcome wasn't warm. It was a cold stare of disdain. Formula 1 and motor racing has always been a predominantly white-dominated sport. So when we arrived on the scene, people were like, what are these guys doing here? And it wasn't an area that was diverse. We were the only black family on the scene, so we experienced a lot of racism, a lot of pushback. And so just trying to fit in and struggling with that acceptance was a big, big obstacle to overcome. In the past years, I've had racist names being called to me. The first time it happened, I felt really upset. I told my mum and dad, and I felt like I needed to get revenge on them. Lately, if anybody had said anything to me, I would just ignore them and get them back on the track. Parents were not happy that we were there. They were definitely not happy when we beat them. Yes. Which I don't mind. Yes. You know, my dad didn't know anything about mechanic-ing a go-kart. So he would go around and say, hey, can you give me some advice? And got turned away a lot by a lot of people. As Lewis began to win, the fact that he was the only black face on the track became an issue. Other drivers' parents would come up to me and say, you don't belong here. Go back to wherever you came from. And they'd beat that. Parents would come up to me and say, you just don't have it. But no matter what was being thrown at us, my dad would say, just always do your talking on the track. Yeah. So I'd go out there and I'd hustle my way through to the front of the field. And then we could just walk away and didn't have to say anything. We don't get involved with people who have problems about whether we win or what colour we are. Or whatever the issue might be for them. The fact is that, you know, we're here to race. And so, you know, we go out on the track and we do our best. Racism was a challenge for the Hamilton family. But there was an even bigger issue that could have interrupted Lewis' career even before it began. You know, you did not come from a background which made it easy for you. Financially, your father famously took on all these jobs to make it possible for you. The crazy thing about racing is it's not like tennis or football, which are also very hard to get into. But there's only 22 of us in Formula 1. So it's the pinnacle of the sport. It's very hard to get there. It's very expensive. I used to earn, if I remember rightly, let's say it was probably about $30,000 worth of income back then. What I got in go-karting was probably $60,000. After his first race, I knew I was in trouble and I needed more money. So I then picked up some other jobs, some odd jobs. One of them was dish washing. One of them was putting up signboards for a local estate agent, which didn't pay much, but it all helped. My dad would wake up at 5am, take the train down to London, and then get on an underground to wherever you're going. And then he would get back after a long, long, hard day and he would quickly eat something and he'd be in the garage working the car till 2am. So I didn't understand how my dad would function on three hours of sleep every day. But this guy just worked and worked and worked. You know, what he did for me, I can never pay him back. The only thing I can do is make sure that every time I'm in the car today, with the opportunity that he's helped create, I'm going to grab it with both hands and never take it for granted. Lewis started strong in karting, winning most of his races. But Lewis Hamilton takes the flag! And the applause of the crowd here brilliantly judged Lewis Hamilton at his end. But his defining moment came in 1995, when he claimed the British Kart Championship, a feat that led to a chance a few could ever imagine. In 1995, I'd won the British Championship and I was invited to the Autosport Awards. And I was only 10, I was the youngest ever to win it. I went to the Autosport Awards and I went around asking for everyone's autographs and then I met Ron and I went up to him and I was very confident and I said, you know, Hi, I'm Lewis Hamilton, I won the British Championship and one day I want to be racing your cars. He was probably only three or four feet tall, so he was well out of my sight. I said my name, I looked down and there was this young chap with his hand out. When I met Ron Dennis, I asked for his autograph in my autograph book. I asked for him to put his address down and his phone number. And he wrote in the autograph book, phone me in nine years and we'll sort something out then. And then the second year, Ron Dennis brought out the McLaren Mercedes Champions of the Future Series and I entered that and won it my first year and I won it the second year. And it was, I think, three years after that because I'd gone there every year. Ron called us and I remember I got home from school, I was 13 years old. My dad said to me, Ron Dennis called today and he's offered you a sponsorship deal. Very short and sweet, just said, look, you know, interested to try and help Lewis and, you know, I think he's got a bright future and, you know, let me know how much you need and work out a schedule for the next few years and we'll talk. That, to a degree, changed, if you want, our whole lives because, you know, all of a sudden Lewis has got an opportunity that we never expected to make a career in motorsport. He's not yet old enough to drive down the street, but a 13-year-old schoolboy has already been signed up by the Formula One team McLaren. My ambition is to get to Formula One, definitely. I enjoy the speed. I like to be with all the big guys and I like to be making lots of money. It was a dream come true. But with McLaren came immense pressure. The active knew week after week that it was worthy of their faith. I won everything in karts and then I went to cars and difficult times. You get into a new big car, crashed my first day, crashed the second day. I was getting really nervous because I was thinking, jeez, they're going to drop me. I'm not really doing too good. I remember there was a time we got home one day from a test and we sat in front of the garage and we were wondering, you know, is this it? For Lewis, the pressure only grew worse as his first year in Formula Four turned abysmal with him finishing outside the top three in fifth position. I was nervous every day. I'd wake up. I didn't know whether I was working on always trying to make sure I kept my deal with McLaren. I wanted to always stay in the good books with Ron, so I had to make sure I won every race. So I made sure I just won everything I could. I won every championship really, you know, because I was like any time, any second place or anything below would be, in my mind, was a failure at the time and I might lose my job. I might lose my opportunity. This was just an early setback. The next year, Lewis bounced back, finishing third. But his true breakthrough came in 2003 when he dominated, winning 10 of 16 races and winning the championship. This performance brought Lewis one step closer to his big dream, racing in Formula One and becoming world champion. Hi, I'm Lewis Hamilton. I'm racing in GB2 this year with ART and I just hope that, you know, I can win the GB2 championship this year and step into Formula One next year. If Lewis won the championship, his path to Formula One was set. But what he didn't expect was a fierce rival. For Nelson Piquet Jr., his second GP2 career victory and a very dominant one indeed. Everything started as we as we wished, as we dreamed of a pole position, a first win in the future race. And I'm really, really, really happy. And it's going to be for sure a very important year for me. The year that I'll prove that I'm prepared to go to Formula One. The prize was clear. Whoever won the championship would earn the chance to partner Alonso at McLaren for the 2007 Formula One season. Everything was on the line. Neither could afford a mistake. Every race was a battle. Lewis Hamilton coming through to collect his first win at this level then. A fantastic and really dominant win by almost 20 seconds. If you consider, he also had a drive-through penalty. That's one of the most dominant wins we've had at this level of motorsport. Both were determined to win at any cost. The battles went like a pendulum. Shifting between Hamilton and Nelson with their very race. Here he comes for win number four of the season. Lewis Hamilton wins at Silverstone. A fantastic victory. And there is his very proud mentor and his even more proud father. What an amazing performance by Nelson Piquet. Exactly what he needed this weekend to try and get himself back on championship terms. Two for pole position, ten for the win and one for fastest lap. We'll see that lead halved with a sprint race still to come tomorrow. A wonderful victory. Started the weekend 26 points behind Hamilton. He has now cut that right back to just 11 points with two rounds still to go. Fantastic performance by Piquet. The fight was neck and neck when they reached Turkey. With Monza ahead, this race was everything. A win here meant the upper hand in the final showdown. Neither could afford to lose. So how will this one resolve itself? Will Hamilton be able to gain some ground back on Piquet? 23 laps begin now. And on that scene, you know the Formula One teams are watching you. So it was like just every single movement that I do, I know Ron, who was my boss at the time. He's sitting on the wall watching and he's off his watching. So made that mistake. Oh, Hamilton spun. Lewis Hamilton has spun and he's got to wait for everybody. In my mind, I was like, that's veered me off of getting to Formula One. And so I drove back from, I think it was like 20th or something like that to second. Still 21 laps for a classic Hamilton fight back through the field. Hamilton's on fire here. Look at him. He's overtaking car after car. He's going to try something. You know he's going to try something. And here we go down the inside of Lopez. What a beautiful pass. He's up to eighth now and flying. Can he let him through? Hamilton is through into third place and Klopp is going to have to give way. Oh, he is going to try it for second place. What an amazing pass by Lewis Hamilton. That was an absolutely spellbinding performance by Lewis Hamilton. Against All Arts, he achieved the impossible, winning the GP2 championship in his rookie year. We've had a long season and to come away with a championship is what we aim for. It could have been done in a slightly better way, but I'll take it as it comes. Next stop Formula One. We'll see you in F1 next year. That's the next task, to win the world championship. I won the championship in GP2 in the first year. And Ron invited me around his house and I sat with him and said, you're going to be our second driver for next year. And that was just, you can imagine the smile on my face now. It was just an unreal moment. Proud to be there and proud to be finally a driver for McLaren. I began watching Formula One when I think I was six years old. At the time, I think it was Ed and Senna and Prost battling it out. So I knew at that time I wanted to drive one of those cars. Hopefully, I'd like to get loads of sponsors by Ron Dennis and hopefully let me drive one of his cars. Now I've actually got a car that's been built for me and it's a crazy feeling. It's fantastic. I'm really excited and can't wait to get out in that car. When Lewis arrived in Formula One, he had no intention of playing second fiddle. He was there to win. But from the start, McLaren made one thing clear. There was a pecking order. First thing is we should welcome this man, double world champion. 180 miles an hour around the outside of the 130R corner. I've never seen anything like it. Enormous bravery by Alonso. Here he is. Fernando Alonso will cross the line to become the youngest ever Formula One world champion. Well done, Fernando Alonso. Alonso gets his world championship back-to-back titles. It's such a hard thing to do. He's the youngest man ever to be a double world champion and one of only six in the history of the sport to win back-to-back titles. That's how hard it is to do. I'm 25 years old and I started with three. I only had 22 years experience in racing and three out of racing. So all my life has been behind a steering wheel. The first time we met was last year in Turkey. I was in the hotel and he was having dinner. He had finished dinner and he came over and introduced himself. I was really surprised. I was taken aback. The world champion has recognised me and came over to say hello. He was up against a two-time world champion. The odds were stacked against him. He just won the championship in 2006. In 2007, he's got number one in his car and I'm number two. That's how it goes. I've got to make sure that I somehow will match this guy. Despite being outmatched in every way, Lewis didn't back down. Instead, he shocked McLaren and the world by showing just how far a rookie could go in Formula 1. Stunning start by Lewis Hamilton up into third place. Alonso now has to get past Hamilton. What an amazingly composed start by Lewis Hamilton. They were a bit cautious and I wasn't. Then I just slotted in just in front of Fernando. That was a huge boost of confidence for me. Hamilton leads in Australia on his Formula 1 debut. He looks comfortable. He looks composed. He is lapping at exactly the same pace as his team-mate, Fernando Alonso. Just 12 laps to go in the opening round of the 2007 Formula 1 World Championship. The race leader, Kimi Räikkönen, has a 14-second lead over Fernando Alonso who has leapfrogged Lewis Hamilton at the second round of pitstops. Really a case of experience winning out, really. But Hamilton is on target at the moment for a podium on his Formula 1 debut in the McLaren. Across the line he goes and Kimi Räikkönen wins! Fabulous performance all weekend from Räikkönen. Across comes Alonso in second. Where's Lewis Hamilton? There he is. A wonderful podium for the new rising star of British motorsport. So much to be proud of there. I remember seeing my dad and we just couldn't believe it. Kind of pinching ourselves, you know. There was such a long journey and there were so many times where we doubted ourselves. There were so many times where we didn't know whether it was going to happen. There were so many times, there were so many tears and emotional outbursts and then just so much perseverance and determination from us as a family. Lewis Hamilton coming across in second place. One step higher up the podium than he managed in Australia. And look at the kid. Absolutely loving every second of it. And Lewis Hamilton collects yet another trophy. And he looks like he was born to it, doesn't he? Another one for the trophy cabinet. He's already got four. Another second place to enter this extraordinary debut season of Lewis Hamilton. I was up against a two-time world champion. They were putting all their money on the champion that was racing for the team to take them to the championship, but I was quick and I was fierce and I was hungry. There he is. Well, he's rewriting the book of what is possible in Formula One. If he can do this after six races, what might he achieve in the future? Lewis Hamilton wins! Surely the first of many for Lewis Hamilton. The world is at his feet. And I remember standing on the podium, the happiest that I'd ever been. And I remember looking down and seeing my dad smile. And that was the day that I knew that we had made it. That's the day I knew that I solidified and justified all the sacrifice that he had put in. I hadn't had a lot of embraces from my dad. He was a very tough father and he found it generally quite difficult, I would say, to show affection. Because he had to be the strong one. And at the time, probably it was like any vulnerability is weakness. Damn, I needed the help from my dad so bad. So I remember it like it was yesterday. As the final race approached, the world championship was within Lewis' grasp. But in racing and in life, things rarely go as planned. With two rounds to go, Lewis was in control. A strong finish in China, beating Adam So or winning, would crown him the first rookie world champion nearly. But fate had other plans. China was a tough weekend. And I guess for me, the mistake was believing that it could have been done that weekend. I led the race and due to my tyres getting pretty bad, I wasn't able to keep Kimi behind me. But at the end of the day, it wasn't really too important. And he's not too worried about Raikkonen winning this race. If Hamilton finishes second as long as Alonso finishes behind him, he's still going to be the world champion. And we stayed out for as long as possible. I was on the radio saying, I've got to come in. These tyres are completely finished. I'm going to come off if I don't come in soon. He just looks, I don't know if it's a piece of paper stuck in his right rear or if it's down to the canvas. Hamilton getting very, very wide in turns one and two. He's struggling for grip out there. He's got to come in. I think he's got some delamination on that right rear tyre. Surely the team have seen that. And coming from the dry track to the wet pit lane, I hadn't taken it into account that the pit lane would still be wet. And I came in attacking too much. Here comes Lewis Hamilton. He goes straight on into the gravel track. Can he keep the wheel spinning? Can he get some momentum going? No, he can't. It's all going to get away from him. And, well, the chance to leave here as the world champion seems to have gone away. He was struggling like mad on those tyres out there. And they didn't bring him in, the McLaren team, any earlier. And this is the result of it. I remember my heart just dropping, sinking to the lowest point. And almost stopping when I was in that car in the gravel. And I was just hoping that the guys would be able to push me out, but there was no way. They were pushing my wheels and it wasn't going to happen. And even though I could have probably sat there for another couple of minutes, I knew I'd be a lap too down. And so I had to sort of give in. That's a mistake. Let's move on. So I kept my chin up, as always. Because that's a lesson my dad's always taught me. And, you know, I sucked it in and came back to the next race. So here comes Kimi Räikkönen to record his 14th career victory. His fourth, his fifth of this season. And a very important one that takes him through with the World Championship fight to Brazil in two weeks' time. Fernando Alonso is going to come through and finish in second place. He too still has a very real chance of taking that World Championship crown away from Lewis Hamilton. It all comes down to this. A season in one day. Three men, 71 laps. A World Championship for one of them at the end of it all. Here we go, Massa goes across. Hamilton covers and Räikkönen looks like he's got around the outside of him. Mark Webber has had a wonderful start. Alonso side by side with Lewis Hamilton. And Alonso pushes his way past. That was a hesitant start by Lewis Hamilton. I kept pushing and pushing, but then all of a sudden the car just stopped. Shifting down, I think I was in fifth gear. And the thing just went into neutral. Oh no, is that Hamilton slowing? It is, the top of the screens. Lewis Hamilton's in trouble. What's happening? His car is grinding to a halt. Is this the end of the World Championship dream for Lewis Hamilton? There was never a point in that race that I thought, my championship's over, I can't win. And for me, that's the most important thing because anything can happen. But at the end of the day, I was last by a good 30 seconds. Most people would give up, but I didn't. And I pushed right up until the chequered flag. But even after trying his level best, Lewis couldn't make up for the time he lost. Hamilton's seventh now, just under 10 seconds behind the BMW. It's been a heck of a storming drive back, considering how much he lost to be just 10 seconds behind Nick Heidfeld. But it's not enough yet. Kimi Räikkönen wins the Brazilian Grand Prix. His first victory here, the 15th of his career by no doubt the most important, massive finishes in second place. Alonso is going to come in third, and the dream is over for Lewis Hamilton. I lost it by one point. I was leading the championship by 17 points down to the second race. And then I had a big disastrous off, which lost me a lot of points, 10 points. And then in the last race, my car just like broke down. And so I lost it by one point. And this has been my dream since I was a kid. And, you know, started to fumble, started to make mistakes. And it started going all the way lost. Just slipped through my fingers. And I take it so personally, the pain that I felt in my heart was just unbearable. And I didn't know how. And straight away you get out of the car and you're in front of the cameras. I'm going to come back fitter, more relaxed, more experienced. And keep my head high and look forward to next year. It's been a fantastic year. We lost it by one point. We'll come back next year. And if we don't win it next year, we'll win it the year after. But one thing's for sure, Lewis Hamilton is here to stay. Look, I mean, I had my first season of Formula 1. And I came second by one point to Kimi Räikkönen, who's been racing for six or seven years in Formula 1. And I beat the world champion, the two-time world champion. So if you look, you've got to take the positives from it and move on. It was a great season. Way better than anyone had expected. And I'm now in my second season. I've got a much better feel for who I am and what I've got to do. And my confidence is higher than ever. So it's still going to be very tough. Every year is going to be tough. But I feel I can do a better job this year. In 2007, Lewis was unstoppable. Everything he touched turned to gold. But 2008 was a different story. It was a fight from the start. Costly mistakes, unexpected struggles. Nothing was coming easy. Lewis Hamilton, who is struggling a little bit at the moment. He had a problem in his pit stop. And he lost about 12 seconds in that stop. And really annoyingly for him, having done everything he needed to on the track to leapfrog Mark Webber, he's come out behind him again. Here comes Kimi Räikkönen, the 28-year-old, the reigning world champion, to take his 16th career victory to equal the great Sterling Moss in the all-time records. Räikkönen, for the second time in his career, wins in Malaysia. And he is right back in the championship hunt now. And the weekend for Lewis didn't start in the best kind of fashion. With that heavy accident he suffered in practice on Friday. Hamilton was pushing hard towards the end of second practice in Bahrain, but he got it very wrong over the kerbs, lost control of the car, and slammed into the barrier. It's a minor mistake, which can be very costly. But at least I found the limit. And the great thing is when you bounce back from something like that, it makes you even more determined to go back out and prove everyone that you're not a wuss. You can take shots like that and bounce back and be even stronger. Fernando Alonso ahead of him. Hamilton tucked up behind the last person on the grid he'd want to be anywhere near. Fernando! Hamilton's up in the air! He's hooked up the front wing! Lewis Hamilton's hit the back of his former teammate and his arch enemy, Fernando Alonso. And his world championship hopes here of scoring good points are going out of the window very rapidly, with Ferrari looking very strong at the front. He has opened his account in the strongest possible way in the third Grand Prix of the year. Felipe Massa, again, wins in Bahrain. The second year in a row, his sixth career victory, all of which have come in a Ferrari. So the race leader comes into the pits, the soft tyres come off, and what are they putting on? Another set of soft tyres, but that's all going fine. The Williams of Rosberg, Lewis gets away, and that looked like a fairly heavy fuel load, I must say. The fuel hose was on for a good eight or nine seconds. Oh, but the pit lane's closed, and Hamilton has hit the back of Kimi Räikkönen. Presumably the red line was on, it's green now. I'd love to know whether it was red when Ferrari stopped, but Hamilton has smashed into the back of Räikkönen on their way out of the pit stop, and can you believe it? Hamilton, who was on target 6.8 seconds clear before the safety car, is now unstrapping his belt. Montreal wasn't as disappointing as perhaps it was for other people. As Lewis walks back, he knows it's his mistake. He knows it's a mistake that's cost him quite dearly. It's also taken out his main championship rival, Kimi Räikkönen. For me, as I said, I do put a lot of pressure on myself, and if you're in a lead and you crash out into the wall or make a big mistake on the track, then you're really ticked off. It was a slightly different scenario, and I was a bit baffled by how it all happened, but that's just one of those things. I got back home, out the window, forgot about it, focused on the next race. Teammate Lewis Hamilton qualified third yesterday but moved his 10th-place penalty for the accident he caused in Montreal. He moved back to 13th on the grid. At the moment, Hamilton is down in 13th place. It's Räikkönen from Massa as Hamilton lines up the Toro Rosso of Sebastian Vettel into the first fast chicane. He runs wide, a bit ragged, but he gets through to be taken advantage from it. Key piece of information. Car 22 under investigation by the stewards for that move, and that almost certainly means a drive-through penalty, doesn't it? Drive-through for Car 22, gaining an advantage by missing the apex of Turn 7, and he's got to have it within the next three complete laps. He's got to drive through what is thankfully a very short pit lane. We start the race further behind, then you're in Turn 5 at Magna Cora, so it's easy to crash with people, manage to stay out of trouble, but then I got another drive-through penalty, so I'm at the back and got no points. Philippe Massa takes his third victory of this season, the eighth of his career. He wins the French Grand Prix, and Lewis Hamilton is going to come through in 10th place, no points for him this afternoon. Were you feeling that they were beating up on you at this point, that it was unfair? When you're receiving penalties and stuff like that, no-one likes to have penalties, for sure, so you always feel the world's against you, but what can you do? You just have to live with it and deal with it. Halfway through the season, Hamilton was struggling. Doubts crept in. Critics began to write him off, but he refused to back down. Instead, he rose stronger, more determined than ever, to prove he was the best driver on the grid. It was very special for me, and then it rained, and that was really a gift, because I've always been strong in the wet. I've won pretty much every race I've done in the wet, except for Brazil. And you can see he's right up behind the rear wing now. It's a lot of work for Hamilton to keep this car pointing in a straight line. On the run down the hangar straight there towards Stowe, up to 190 miles an hour, and this is where Mansell passed Piquet, and now Hamilton has gone past Kovalainen in an equally memorable pass. So many questions asked about his commitment, about his distractions. Could he handle the pressure? Was he man enough? He came here to Silverstone, and he has shown them all with one of the great, great drives at Silverstone. Lewis Hamilton wins the British Grand Prix! A fantastic performance, a mesmerizing drive. At times, he was five or six seconds a lap quicker than men on the same tyres. Stunning drive by Lewis Hamilton. And Hamilton's got a lot of work to do. A certain victory would appear to have been snatched away from him. Yes, if Hamilton wants to win this race, he's got to pass Kovalainen. He's got to pass Massa and Piquet. Here we go. This is it. Surely he's got the beautiful slipstream move there. Massa will have to go inside. He'll have to stay inside, otherwise Hamilton will just speel it. And that's what's going to happen. They're going to touch, but surely he's got it done now. He just pushes him outside perfectly fair, and Massa gave him more space than he needed in the end. And now Nelson Piquet gets the sinking feeling. He's only just over two seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton. OK, Nelson, you've got Hamilton behind you now. You need to keep pushing. Here comes Hamilton then down the inside for the lead of the Grand Prix to take it back. He lost it under the safety car. He steams up the inside. He almost makes contact with his old rival from the GP2 days, but he makes it stick, and Lewis Hamilton is back in the lead of the German Grand Prix. Another brilliant passing maneuver. Lewis Hamilton, who had every opportunity to win it in the early stages, almost had it taken away from him, and he had to go out and win it back again. And he has done so with a fantastic performance. And he will come through now to take his fourth victory of this season. A wonderful victory for Lewis Hamilton and McLaren's first here at Hockenheim for 10 years. The championship fight between Masa and Hamilton was razor thin. Going into the final race, either could take the title. In Brazil, Hamilton needed a top five to guarantee him the world title. Masa had only one option, victory. The stage was set for one of the most dramatic showdowns in Formula One history. Well, Brazil, this is the place where the championships get decided these days. And today, either Lewis Hamilton or Felipe Massa will join them in that elite group. So, the 2008 Formula One World Championship will be decided here. Right here, right now. Masa on the left, Trulli on the right. Look out for Hamilton on the pit wall side. It's a cautious getaway from Hamilton. He's running down, Raikkonen is in front of him. Masa is scampering away at the front. His lead now is two seconds. Lewis Hamilton is comfortable to run in fourth place. He finishes the Grand Prix there. Fernando Alonso and Noreno has got in front of them. And where has that put Lewis Hamilton in the pecking order? It's a disaster. He's behind Vettel. He's behind Alonso as well. He's lost. Yeah, they constantly said to me, you can't let Vettel pass. You need to stay ahead of him. You have to stay ahead of him. So, there was a lot of pressure. And, I mean, I was able to stay ahead of him for a certain period of time, but my tyres went off quite quick. And then he was all over me. It was impossible. He's a lap down. He's unlapping himself. He would argue he's entitled to do that. Hamilton lets him through. So, he's got grip. Hamilton's lost it. Oh, my goodness me. Vettel's taken the place. And that could cost Hamilton the World Championship. It's now raining hard. And that means Glock is going to be in trouble. He's in fourth place. And with just two laps to go. I felt sick. And the guy was right ahead of me. It was Sebastian Vettel. He was right ahead of me. But there was nothing I could do to get close to him. And the laps, you know, there's five laps left, three laps, you know, four laps left, three laps left. And I couldn't, I couldn't do anything for the life of me, to save my life. I couldn't, I couldn't pull him in or overtake him. Vettel is driving away from him. And we're entering the last lap shortly. Race leader Felipe Massa has just started the last lap. It's all about whether Hamilton wants it, whether he feels he can get back on Vettel. The frustration must be colossal. He can see the back of that Toro Rosso. And that is the situation. Hamilton and Massa will be tied on points. But by virtue of the extra win for Massa, it would give the Brazilian driver the World Championship. And only one lap remains. I couldn't do anything even to save my mother's life. My mum was over there on the edge of the cliff. I had to pass him in order to, I couldn't get past him. You know, I couldn't get past this guy. And for those laps, I just wasn't giving up. But I could see that dream fading away. You can see that the back of Vettel's car is swirling away. Hamilton just doesn't seem to have the pace when it matters. He needs fifth or better to win the World Championship. He is currently sixth. And he runs one of four late on the braking. Now we're expecting Massa. Any time now, he comes through to claim his sixth victory of the season. He has done everything he needed to do. And we wait now to find out who will be World Champion of 2008. Can Hamilton do anything? Can he run it up the inside of Vettel? Only a few corners to go now. And desperation starts to creep in for Lewis Hamilton. And then the last lap, some guy was on sick tyres. I was on wets. He was stumbling. There was quite a few of them were stumbling. I was overtaking cars here and there. I had no idea where I was. I thought they were back markers. Is that Glock? Is that Glock going slowly? It is, it's Glock! Oh my goodness me! Hamilton's back in position again. A million, a hundred thousand local hearts sink in the grandstands. It's handed the place back to Hamilton. He comes through. And if I'm absolutely right, I'm sure that he is going to claim fifth place, which is all he needs to do to become the 2008 Formula One World Champion, Lewis Hamilton. And you will... Well, the Ferrari boys are celebrating. They both think that Ferrari are wrong. Ferrari are wrong. They're absolutely wrong. Hamilton's finished fifth. And Lewis, the father, has just realised that he celebrated a little bit too early. He will never see a more dramatic conclusion to any motor race, let alone a Grand Prix, than that. And the result of it all is that in the most harem square and way possible, he doesn't make it easy for himself, does he? Lewis Hamilton is the world champion. Unbelievable. For so many years, Anthony, just put into words your emotions right now. What can I say? I can't say anything. Just tell us about the tension of those final few laps, Anthony. I really can't find any words. Great. Absolutely great. Absolutely great. Guys, I'm speechless. You did a fantastic job. That last lap, my whole life, like all the struggles, questioning whether you were going to make it or not, just all those doubts, all those fears kind of flashed by me, you know, through my eyes and came across the line. And I was like, I did it. And I want the kids out there to know that you can do it too. These videos take a lot of time and effort to make. I'm a one-man army. And everything you see is done by me. I want to keep it that way. So the style and quality stay consistent. But relying only on YouTube and ad revenue isn't enough. It's just too unpredictable. That's why I started the Bakaish Patreon. Over there, I'll be sharing behind-the-scenes stuff. How I make my documentaries, my process, my mistakes, my wins, and everything in between. So if that sounds interesting, head over to patreon.com slash bakaish. That's two X's at the end. Because someone already took the one with just one. My goal with this channel is to tell stories of some of the best stars of our time. Even the ones most people haven't heard of. And to keep doing that, I could really use your support. If you believe in the vision, I'd be really grateful if you joined the Patreon. But if not, that's totally okay. Just watching and sharing already means a lot.