Lewis Hamilton advised not to 'cry too much' about lack of support by Perry McCarthy: "He had something that a lot of people would’ve dreamed of"

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Lewis Hamilton at the Mercedes GP Team Photo ahead of the 2023 F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)

I Lewis Hamilton was criticized by former F1 driver Perry McCarthy for complaining too much about his struggles while moving up in motorsports.

The F1 fanbase is well aware of Lewis Hamilton's humble beginnings. McCarthy, however, does not believe that the seven-time world champion was completely helpless.

In an exclusive interview with EssentiallySports, Perry McCarthy said that Lewis Hamilton should not "cry too much" for not getting ample external support to move up the motorsport ranks. The former racing driver said Hamilton had a lot of support that other aspiring drivers would only dream of, one of them being Ron Dennis, McLaren's ex-CEO.

“Lewis shouldn’t cry too much about lack of support because he had something that a lot of people would’ve dreamed of having. That was something like Ron Dennis, the head of McLaren, coming and believing in you,” said McCarthy.

McCarthy further spoke about how Lewis Hamilton took every opportunity that was given to him in the past and made full use of it. However, he still came back to his previous point and claimed that, despite grabbing opportunities brilliantly, the Mercedes star should not mention the lack of them.

“Now what Lewis did do is he repaid that belief at every single stage because Lewis is and was brilliant, that was it. So Lewis had the chance and he strangled that chance with every shred of his soul, so he repaid. But Lewis shouldn’t talk too much about lack of opportunities,” he concluded.

When Lewis Hamilton was dreaming about becoming a professional racing driver, his father, Anthony Hamilton, also helped him in his early years, working hard for his son to compete in karting.

Anthony Hamilton was, of course, the first person to help his son, after whom Ron Dennis came to the scene in 1998.


Ron Dennis shares Fernando Alonso's reaction when Lewis Hamilton got his first crack in F1

Ron Dennis was a key personality in Lewis Hamilton's career. In 1998, Dennis offered the young British a contract to join McLaren's junior program. Fast forward to 2007, the team CEO decided to offer Hamilton a seat alongside defending World Champion Fernando Alonso.

When the Spaniard got to know about Hamilton joining the McLaren F1 team, he asked Ron Dennis whether he wanted his team to win the Constructors' Championship or not. Reminiscing about his conversation with Alonso, Dennis said:

"I turned to Fernando and said: 'By the way, I've decided to put Lewis in the other car.' He thought about it for a while and said to me: 'Don't you want to win the Constructors' Championship?' He didn't think that Lewis would be a threat or that he would score many points, but it's something that I remember and that makes me laugh because it was clear from the first moment how wrong Fernando was."

Lewis Hamilton started his journey as an F1 driver in 2007, and the rest is history. In his first season, he was just one point away from the top of the drivers' championship table. Later on, the Brit went on to win seven World Championships with McLaren and Mercedes.

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Edited by Shubham Banerjee
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