Austin Way Magazine - GreenGale Publishing - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
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both 2014 and 2015. Along the way, he's broken record after record, putting himself in the company of F1 super- novas like Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Niki Lauda, and Michael Schumacher. We got to see him win the US Grand Prix here at COTA in the track's inaugural year of 2012, and then in 2014 and 2015, with Hamilton sport- ing a black Stetson and a silver sheriff's badge given to him by Italian-American F1 virtuoso Mario Andretti. Especially in the dominant Mercedes car, no one sees Hamilton's chances at World Champ ending soon. B orn and raised in Stevenage, England, Hamilton was a child of divorce, and his father famously worked multiple jobs to finance his son's career. Hamilton's mother is "white British," and his father's par- ents came from Grenada in the 1950s, making his dad "black British." Even though F1 is composed of drivers of many nationalities, Hamilton's identity is often boiled down just to race. Early in his career, Hamilton was reluctant to talk pub- licly about being the first black man to win F1, but he's reevaluated the burden of speaking about race that falls onto trailblazers like Venus and Serena Williams, Tiger Woods, and now Simone Biles and Simone Manuel. After watching Biles and Manuel in the Summer Olympics, Hamilton says: "I was so happy. That's going to change things. They broke down the wall." Talking about being black has become "a blessing," Hamilton says, explaining that he's come a long way in his outlook. As a black family in the racing circuits, "we weren't wel- come, not even when I was finally at the beginning of my F1 career. We were maybe tolerated. We kept our heads down; we did the right thing. Now I'm part of the founda- tion of the sport." Hamilton now speaks proudly of opening the gates in Formula One. "A beautiful African lady came up to me recently and said: 'My son's now racing. He wants to be like you.' That's so special. I'm not perfect, but I hope that I shine the right light in the right direction." This candor and visibility are attracting a passionate Hamilton fan base in the United States, where Formula One is still a niche market. "I'm trying to help it grow [in America]. When I travel, I do see it growing. People rec- ognize me." COTA's success is obviously a huge step in making F1 a household event for Americans. "We didn't know what to expect in Austin," he recalls, but he became a big fan of the city and the track. "It is amazing to be back. This track enables a real race-—and overtaking." Can the United States tap into the long-form rivalry that fuels this sport? Can we feel the power of the massive investments—financial, emotional, national—that go into a team? In September, Liberty Media, owned by US media mogul John Malone, announced it will take over Formula One from a private equity group in a deal that values F1 at $8 billion. What this means for F1 in America-—Liberty has stakes in everything from cable companies and the Atlanta Braves to TicketMaster and SiriusXM, is still up in the air. Hamilton believes F1 could engage more of America if it would up its enter- tainment. "The Super Bowl is amazing, with the planes doing their shows, and Beyoncé and Bruno Mars. We have a lot to learn from the Americans." COTA seems to agree; it has snagged both Taylor Swift and The Weeknd to perform after this year's F1 races on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. 80 AUSTINWAY.com Soaring: Lewis Hamilton—shown leaping for joy after winning the US Grand Prix at COTA for the third time in Austin last year—is the first black man to win an F1 world championship. It was a far cry from his youth, when "we weren't welcome" as a black family in the racing world. Hamilton is now a proud trailblazer: "I hope that I shine the right light in the right direction." PhotograPhy by Mercedes aMg Petronas ForMula one teaM