During Thursday’s media activities in Monaco, inside the Ferrari motorhome, Lewis Hamilton shared a series of personal memories that went far beyond the usual Formula 1 press conference routine. ScuderiaFans.com was present as the seven-time world champion revisited the places, people and moments that helped shape his extraordinary journey.
The first dream, Nico Rosberg and discovering Monaco
Hamilton began with a story he revealed he had never shared publicly before. He recalled being a 13-year-old karting driver who had just been signed by Mercedes-Benz and McLaren before moving to Italy to race in Europe.
At the time, Nico Rosberg was widely regarded as the next great talent, and Parma became the setting for one of their earliest battles on track.
“When I moved to Italy to race, Nico was the wonderkid at the time,” Lewis Hamilton recalled.
He explained that during one race he spent 22 laps glued to Rosberg’s rear bumper before making a decisive overtake on the final lap. That moment, he said, marked the beginning of a friendship that would last for years.
From that point onward, life seemed to accelerate rapidly. Lewis Hamilton remembered being invited to the Rosberg family home, experiencing his first-ever private jet flight, and discovering a world he never knew existed.
He still vividly recalls seeing a helicopter parked next to the aircraft and thinking it looked like something straight out of a James Bond movie. The journey eventually brought him to Monaco, to the very building where Nico Rosberg’s father lived—and where Hamilton himself now resides.
Walking through the Nico Rosberg apartment as a teenager, he was stunned by the view overlooking the Principality.
“I just remember thinking, ‘I’ve never seen anything like this.’ That became my dream.”
A helicopter. A home like that. A life like that.
“It was like saying that one day I would have a helicopter. One day I would live in a place like this. And that’s exactly where I live today.”
For Lewis Hamilton, Monaco is not simply a racing circuit. It is proof that dreams can become reality when you are able to visualize them clearly enough.
Karting costs, freedom in junior categories and the struggles that shaped him
The conversation then shifted to a more serious topic: the growing costs of karting and the barriers they create for young talent. The Briton spoke about children as young as eight years old spending more than one million dollars per season to compete. He reflected on the sacrifices made by his father, who remortgaged the family home and exhausted credit cards to support his son’s racing ambitions.
According to Lewis Hamilton, modern karting increasingly rewards privilege rather than talent.
“I think today it is highly unlikely, if not impossible, for someone from a normal background to compete against people spending a million dollars. It shouldn’t be allowed,” he said, suggesting that the FIA should seriously examine the direction the sport is taking.
The reflection extended beyond motorsport itself, touching on broader questions of opportunity, accessibility and merit.
When asked for his favourite Monaco memory, Hamilton surprised many by not mentioning Formula 1 victories, podiums or championship battles. Instead, he spoke about his days in GP2—or perhaps Formula 3—when almost nobody knew who he was. During one Monaco weekend, thanks to Martin McMush, he managed to get hold of a scooter and spent much of his free time exploring the Principality.
“That weekend was so much fun because I was riding around on a scooter. Nobody knew who I was,” he recalled.
He also remembered sharing dinner with Felipe Massa when both drivers were still young prospects and experiencing a unique sense of freedom while driving on the most famous street circuit in the world.
The bullying, the criticism and finding perspective
The most emotional part of Hamilton’s story came when he spoke about the difficult experiences that shaped his character.
With remarkable calmness, he reflected on the bullying he endured as a child, the times he was knocked to the ground and struggled to get back up, and the adults who repeatedly told him he would never succeed.
“Grown men… saying, ‘You don’t have it. You’ll never make it,’” Lewis Hamilton remembered.
He then noted that he eventually beat the son of one of those men in competition and admitted he does not even know where that person is today. Lewis Hamilton also reflected on the visits he has made to hospitals throughout his career, meeting seriously ill children and families facing unimaginable hardships. Those encounters, he explained, profoundly changed his outlook on life.
They taught him that whenever people feel overwhelmed by their own problems, there are often others dealing with challenges far greater than anything they can imagine: “Whenever you feel like you’re going through a difficult time,” Hamilton said, “in the bigger picture of things, it’s really insignificant compared to what so many other people are dealing with.”
It was perhaps the most powerful message of the entire conversation—not a lesson about racing, but a lesson about perspective.
A full-circle journey with Ferrari
When Lewis Hamilton finished speaking, a different kind of silence settled over the Ferrari motorhome. It was not the silence of a routine media day, but the silence that follows when someone has genuinely opened up and shared a deeply personal story.
For the Briton, Monaco is far more than Formula 1’s most iconic circuit. It is the place where everything began, where ambitions first took shape, and where a 13-year-old boy caught a glimpse of the life he dreamed of living.
Today, as a Ferrari driver, he returns to the Principality with the perspective of someone who has completed the journey he once imagined from afar. Monaco remains the place where the dream started—and where the reality of that dream is impossible to ignore.
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