How Lewis Hamilton inspired his brother Nicolas to achieve his racing dream. Nicolas Hamilton shares how brother Lewis Hamilton inspired him to overcome disability.

Nicolas Hamilton is grateful to his brother Lewis Hamilton for helping him achieve his dreams and for raising awareness about disability. Born with a rare form of cerebral palsy that affects leg movement, Nicolas, 33, had once been told that he would never walk. Despite this, he refused to give up and in 2015 became the first disabled driver to compete in the British Touring Car Championship, where he returned to race again this year. Nicolas stated that the support of his older brother was crucial to overcoming the challenges he had to face: “Lewis normalized my disability. What I mean is that, just as my parents never treated me differently as their son, my brother never treated me differently as his brother,” he said on the High Performance podcast. “I was literally like his crash-test dummy. Anything that looked dangerous, he would have me try it first, to see how dangerous it was. Lewis always told me, and maybe he has already said this in other interviews, that he always wanted a little brother. His wish was finally granted. Of course, I ended up with this disability, but for him it wasn’t like, ‘Oh, now I have a little brother who is disabled.’ It was more like, ‘I have a little brother and I’ll tease him and treat him just like I would with any other little brother,’” he added.

The most precious gift
Since childhood, the seven-time world champion has helped his brother in his motorsport career, teaching him the tough challenges of life: “I remember him pushing me in a go-kart and trying to make me take corners really fast, but I would spin out and end up in a bush. He would say to me: ‘It’s all right, get back on!’ He taught me to handle pain and to keep going. That’s what I have done for my whole life now, so my pain threshold is very high and I continue to push forward.” Together they have reached many milestones: from Lewis Hamilton’s world titles to Nicolas’s personal achievements, they have always been there for each other: “No matter what’s happening, I’ll deal with the pain later. I’ll never have that conversation with him where I say: ‘Do you realize how much impact you’ve had on my life?’ Because it’s not his fault. He was chosen in life to have this talent and this opportunity to make the most of it, and he has done it. I’m not saying life is terrible, because it isn’t. Life is fantastic. We are a great family. We have reached great goals. Lewis is happy and doing amazing things. That’s all we could ever wish for,” he concluded.