Lewis Hamilton ON: Why You Should Stop Chasing Society's Definition of Success & How to Be More Intentional With Your Goals

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
My dad like, never let me cry as a kid.
He said, there's a sign of weakness, like don't let
me ever see you shed a tear. So I remember
just holding back through those difficult times as a kid,
holding back most of that stuff. In twenty twenty, I cried.
I hadn't cried for at least I think at least
ten years, maybe more so. I remember kind of being
on my knees thinking, now, what is happening in the world.
I've got to be outspoken. I've got to take that chance,

(00:22):
because if I don't do it, then no one's going
to do it. I don't care if my partners want
to drop me, because I don't want to be associated
with this narrative. Hey everyone, welcome back to Our Purpose,
the number one health podcast in the world. Thanks to
each and every one of you that come back every

(00:42):
week to listen, learn, and grow. Now I know that
our community is dedicated to living happier, healthier, and more
healed lives. And I am so excited to be talking
to you today. I can't believe it. My new book
Eight Rules of Love is out and I cannot wait
to share it with you. I am so so excited

(01:03):
for you to read this book. For you to listen
to this book, I read the audiobook. If you haven't
got it already, make sure you go to eight Rules
of Love dot com. It's dedicated to anyone who's trying
to find, keep, or let go of love. So if
you've got friends that are dating, broken up, or struggling
with love, make sure you grab this book. And I'd

(01:23):
love to invite you to come and see me for
my global tour Love Rules. Go to Jasdy tour dot
com to learn more information about tickets, VIP experiences, and more.
I can't wait to see you this year. And I
love sitting down with people who dedicated to their own happiness,
their own health, their own healing, and doing that for
the world through their work. And I have to be honest,

(01:46):
it's not every day that you get to sit down
with someone you admire, you're inspired by, you look up to,
and someone who is truly the definition of the word goat.
I'm talking about the one and only Sir Lewis Hamilton,
even time Formula One World champion, someone with over a
hundred race wins, considered the most successful F one driver

(02:09):
of all time, and Lewis's willingness to embrace what makes
him different has defined its values and outlook on life,
and in twenty fourteen, those values saw him win BBC's
Sports Personality of the Year, followed two years later by
a position in Time Magazine's hundred Most Influential People list.
Lewis received both accolades for a second time in twenty twenty,

(02:33):
in a year that saw him become a leading voice
in the global fight for racial equality. In doing so,
he was recognized as British GQ's Game Changer of the
Year and Power Lists most Influential Black Person in the UK.
And further to this, Lewis won the twenty twenty Laureus
Sportsman of the Year award and most notably was formally

(02:54):
recognized with a knighthood in twenty twenty New Year's Honors
for his outstanding achievements and contribution to motorsports on the
track and off the track. Lewis is also passionate activists
for so many underrepresented groups and communities. His Mission forty
four is doing incredible work. Please welcome to On Purpose Lewis,
Hamilton Lewis, thank you for being here. Thank you so

(03:17):
much for having me. No this honestly, is a special
one for me. It's been one of those ones that
you know, when I first launched the podcast, there are
a few names that I wanted to sit down with
and you were one of those names. So for me,
it's a very special moment. And for this to be
your first ever podcast, which you just told me I
didn't even know, and you literally toot me it's like
ten minutes ago, and in my head, I'm thinking, wow,

(03:39):
thank I'm so grateful to have that. Honest mind, I'm
really so grateful for everything you do. And so I've
been following and listen to you, and you sent me
the book a long time ago already, so I really
appreciate everything you're doing today. Oh well, thank you man,
Thank you. And I'm excited to unpack your journey because,
as we said, because it's your first podcast, people have
heard parts of you, but we don't really understand the

(04:02):
depth and the texture of Lewis Hamilton. And so I
guess I want to start in a different place and
we'll kind of go through on this journey. I want
to ask you, what do you feel is the hardest
thing you've had to do in order to be who
you are today, I think, continue to have the belief
in myself and not letting that veer off. Since I

(04:23):
was young, since I've been told from my teachers that
I would never amount to nothing the bullying or the
things that you face at the adversity, you face the
discrimination and just continue to keep your head up, continuing
to march on ahead towards your dream and never losing sight. Now,
I think that's definitely for sure. The most difficult thing

(04:43):
is keeping keeping your goal and your eyes set on
that and not being distracted, not giving up. I think
the easiest thing in life is to give up on
whatever you know, whatever you're focused on, or whatever you're
hopeful for. The hardest thing is to continue to keep are.
But we have to, like, we have to continue to

(05:03):
hold on, and I would imagine for so many people
out there that is that is probably the most difficult thing. Yeah,
I think that's a great answer, because I think people
look at you and they assume that you never have
to make their choice, right. They see someone in your position,
someone who's achieved what you've achieved, and the assumption can be, oh, yeah,
but he's the greatest. He was. He was just always
that way. And he doesn't have to make that choice

(05:25):
every day. But as you said, since the beginning of
your life, whether it's childhood, whether it's breaking into a
sport that wasn't set up for you, there have been
so many moments. Let's let's go back to school. Let's
talk about some of that more in depth, because I
feel like a lot of people struggle at school, but
you kind of went through a lot of altercations and

(05:45):
adversities at that time. What were some of the things
you were hearing, some of the bullying, some of the racism,
the experiences that you had that felt limiting or made
it feel like it was easier to give up. I
think for me, school was the most probably the most
traumatizing and most difficult part of my life. I already

(06:06):
was being bullied at the age of six. I think
at the time that particular school, I was probably one
of three kids of color and just bigger, stronger, bullying
kids were throwing me around a lot of the time.
I was always the last picked in the you know,
when you're standing the playground and you're in the line

(06:27):
of when they're picking teams for football. I was always
the last one chosen or not even chosen, even if
I was better than somebody else. And then the constant jabs,
the things that are either thrown at you, like bananas
or people that would use the m ware just so relaxed,

(06:49):
people cooling you, half cast and you know, just really
not knowing where you fit in. That for me was difficult.
When you then go into like history class and everything
you learn in history, there are no people of color
in the history that they were teaching us. So I
was thinking, oh, well, where were the people that look
like me? And I mean for me in my school,

(07:11):
there was only around I think there was around seven
maybe six seven black kids out of twelve hundred kids,
and three of us are out put outside the headmaster's
office all the time. The headmaster just had it out
for us and particularly for me, I would say, so
like just juggling all these different emotions that you're feeling. Plus,
I struggled at school. I didn't find out till I
was sixteen that I was dyslexic. Fortunately, I came across

(07:34):
a teacher that was actually caring and took me down
that road and helped me discover a little bit more
about myself and how I can better myself through education.
But I think that for me was that was tough.
Also because I was racing every weekend. I would leave
on the Thursday night, we would travel, you pack up
the motor home. We would travel around the country to

(07:56):
race on the weekends, and no one else knew. When
I'd got back to school, all the kids have done
normal things on the weekend, and I'll come back and
say I'm I was racing and people would be like, oh,
I've done that before, you know, like at at the
theme park or something. But no one really knew what
my goal was and could really they thought we would.

(08:17):
Maybe it was a joke. You missed that a lot
of that social interaction. Also, I was putting all the
lowest sets at school and told that if you do well,
you can progress, and then never ever let me progress,
no matter how hard I tried. So I really felt
that the system was really up against me, and I
was kind of swimming against the tide. But I'm so
grateful for that that journey, because that's what built me

(08:38):
to the person at AM today. But there were a
lot of things that I suppressed because I couldn't go
home and say hey to my I didn't feel I
could go home and tell to my parents that, you know,
these kids kept calling me the mware today, I got bullied,
I got beaten up at school today, or I you know,
I wasn't able to defend myself. I didn't want my
dad to think I was not strong, and so I would,

(09:00):
you know, if I had tears, I would hold them back.
If I had emotions, it would be in a quiet place.
And it wasn't really till I started racing that I
was able to channel this emotion that I had into
my driving. And it's like when I put this helmet on.
Superman was my favorite. I loved how he fought for

(09:21):
the people, and I loved how he did the right things,
and he was a really inspiring character for me. But again,
no superhero was of color, so you know, but you
can still aspire to be someone that's if they don't
look like you, you know. And so I remember going
to karate. I remember putting this helmet on and racing
and it felt like it was my cloak, you know,
that my superpowers could come out when I was driving

(09:42):
and I was battling with these kids and I was
doing able to do things that they seemed to not
be able to do as well, and that was my love. Wow, yeah,
I mean it's my mine was opposite. I was bullied
a lot at school as well. I was one of
five people of color in my primary school and I

(10:03):
was also overweight, and so I was bullied for that.
And obviously, you know, my parents are from Indian backgrounds
and so they'd gone through it much worse than I
did when when they'd moved to England. But the difference
was that I would go cry to my mom and
then my mum would come try and save the day
in school, and that was the worst. That's so embarrassing,

(10:24):
Like your mom's like telling the teacher what happened, and
then I'm like, oh no, mom, don't do this, and
then it's even more embarrassing because the kids pick on you,
going oh mom came to say. So that was my
version of it. I wasn't scared of crying to my mom,
but then it had it had different things. But yeah,
that's so hard as a kid when you're going through

(10:45):
that and you're trying to find yourself. You're trying to
figure out what confidence is. You don't even know what
that means. You feel like not going to school. But
then even though you're saying you found it in racing,
I mean racing was similar because you were working class.
You're still to this day the only working class black
driver to do as successfully as you have. So not
only do you have it at school, you also have

(11:07):
it in your passion, like in the thing that is
your cloak, is your Superman. So how does it feel
when you're also dealing with it in that area where
you've discovered what your passion or your interest is at
that age? What does it feel like when you're getting
in that space it's inescapable, you know, you're use that

(11:27):
as an escape, but then you're confronted with it also.
And so I was just grateful that I had this
amazing figure in my dad. You know, I got my
best one of my best friends, like his dad was
never there. I know, there's not many people that have
separated parents, and being shared between parents is not an
easy thing. You know, some days with your moment and
some days with your dad. My mom was the soft,

(11:50):
loving parent, So that's where I really I feel like
I learned a lot of compassion and empathy. That's where
I feel like get it from her and my dad
was at that strong like kind of stronger rock and
also just someone that looked like me on and just
he would say, do you're talking on the track, don't
be distracted by it, don't listen to what they're saying.

(12:11):
Do you're driving on the track and show let's just
be quiet and walk away as well as you know. So,
but you know, again, like your parents, my parents went
through what particularly, my dad was someone that also face
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

(12:34):
the things that I've encountered and through my through my
journey and so but I think for me it was
also difficult having by racial you know, I'm by racial,
So having a white mother for example, and a black dad.
I knew my dad would understand the racial slurs that
I was thrown at me. My mum I couldn't understand it,
So I couldn't really speak to my mum about it.

(12:56):
She was loving, but she had never been educated within it.
She didn't know anything about black history and slavery, and
so it was a very difficult. But I had loved
there which was the most important thing. But in the
racing it was like, you know, like kids, you just
want to enjoy yourself. You want to be included, and
you know when you're kind of outcast a little bit,

(13:17):
it's it's difficult for kids, you know. And so that's
why today, like I'm like, if I'm posting something, I
hope that when I do click that button, I hope
that it is the positive wave for some of the
kids out there that are being distracted by all the
stuff that's going on around the world. Yeah, I mean,
I was. I was telling you earlier, I was so grateful.

(13:39):
Came up towards you and Austin a couple of weeks
ago and got to meet your dad and I heard
you talk about your dad in that way before, and
so when I met him, I was it was I
was just, you know, it was nice to share that
with him, and I was just saying, how beautiful it
is to see your relationship and how it's evolved. It's
always been that way. Yeah, yeah, that's what I thought. Yeah, yeah,
to walk us through wherever you feel. My dad has

(13:59):
been like the leader in getting me. You know, he
had four jobs at one stage just to keep us
co kinding because when we always started go kind, most
of the people were majority of the people were from
working class families, so but then thereof of course a
few wealthier kids that have slightly better access to equipment
and mechanics and all those sorts of things. And my

(14:22):
dad was my mechanic. So it was just me and
him on the road and my stepmom Linda, she would
be their supporting making sure that we're fully clothed, making
sure that we we've eaten and we've hydrated, all those
sorts of things, to the weekend, preparing my kid. So
it was very much a family out and it's a
family kind of family weekend. We did it as a family.

(14:46):
We'd traveled together. My little brother would be on the
road with us as well, who's a meager inspiration. You
definitely got to speak to him one day. Born with
SERAPALSI when I was seven and is a speaker today.
So he's racing, he's done, he's defined all the odds
and even though he's seven years younger than me's still
very much an inspiration. But the thing with my dad

(15:08):
was he was he was my manager all the way
till I was like twenty I got we got to
Fall one, and he was here. He worked so hard
his work ethic for me was that that was inspiring
for me, seeing how hard he worked at the time
he gets up in the morning, the little sleep that
you would have, end of his day in the garage,
working on the go cart, preparing for the weekend, packing
up the truck and getting us to where we are, mechanicing,

(15:29):
learning to be a better mechanic, and and still weighing
all these different things. It was quite phenomenal to see um,
but I think it was difficult for him to then
show me love. And sometimes you just want to hug
from your dad, you know, or when you're facing these things,
you want to be able to be embraced. But when
I think I got two when I was twenty two
twenty three, it got really intense when I got to

(15:49):
Fall one, because all of a sudden you're thrown into
you go through karting and cars. You don't go to
school to learn to speak to the media. You literally
thrown into the pit. And at the time I didn't
have management other than my dad. I sent my my
book Flights and Trips, but I didn't have pr I

(16:10):
didn't have anybody to help protect me or prepare me
for things. Driving I was good, I was saying, but
in these things is where a lot of mistakes happened.
You've got the the kind of all the media tension
and you have to so you're just learning on the go,
which was really difficult for a youngster. I think, yeah, absolutely,
And also I just you wanted to try and live

(16:32):
some sort of normal, normal life, but nothing is normal
for you at the time. And I think for me
and my dad, we're just we're really bumping hairs at
one stage. It's like, I really just want you to
be my dad, so we can let's go and have fun.
Let's go and have a laugh. We hadn't had that
for a long time, and so eventually I decided to
set part ways from my dad, and I was like,

(16:53):
I'm going to start making some of the decisions for
myself and the mistakes that I'm going to need to make.
And there was definitely a period of time where we
spoke less, but we both have worked so hard to
come back together and we have one of the greatest
you know, he's the first person I want to call
when I finish a race because I know he knows

(17:13):
what it's like. He was there from day one, and
so you know, he's been to the last two races
with me. He's probably gonna come to the next one.
There's days where I do feel like I'm not enough.
There's days where I don't feel like I'm good enough,
and people will be like, yeah, but you've won seven
world titles. I'm like, yeah, but still there's days where
I question, you've still got it? You still can you

(17:36):
still be the best? Yes, you can, And so I
have to just always I'm having that conversation with myself often,
but my dad's also there. Sometimes I'll say something that's
maybe not the most positive, and he'll be the one
they're just reaffirming, No, you've got this believe in yourself.
And it's so important for people to have people like
that around them. And I support myself. I surround myself
with other positive people as well, and we continue. I

(17:58):
think it's all our job to lift every as many
everyone up right. I want everyone around me to win
and yeah, and to become the best versions of themselves.
So now, thank you for sharing that as well, thank
you for opening up about that, because yeah, I think
the relationships we have with our parents are just so
significant when it comes to achievement and success. And when

(18:19):
you start doing sport at your level, even at an
early age, wins and losses starts becoming so important. So
winning loss is important in everyone's life in the sense
that everyone has it in exams and school and things
like that, which we'll talk about in a second as well.
But for you, you're having it in a very over way,

(18:40):
like you have one, two, three, and then you have
everyone else. And how have you kind of worked with
that since you're young, because I can imagine that your
psychology can become very much like if you win, things
are great, if you lose, things are bad. How have
you kind of processed that as time's gone on? And
was there a time when it was unhealthy and difficult?
And has it got better or is it something you're

(19:01):
always working on? So on one side of things, you know,
I struggled at school, as I said, so the teachers
would write these reports that I was not focused or
I wasn't doing well, and I remember the fear of
that report every year, and I'd try so hard to
do well and then these teachers. I don't know if
teachers out, they realize when they write those reports, what's

(19:23):
happening back at home, whether you have an abusive household
or you know, the stress of that was was difficult.
I feel em racing if I if I would win,
I could see a smile on my dad's face, and
it was really like, Okay, if I do work at this,
I know that I'll be accepted, you know, but I've
got to work double hard to be I've got to

(19:44):
always be first. I always laugh about the whole If
you're not first, you're last, because I'm literally whilst that's
obviously I'm not been first my whole life. First was everything, Yeah,
in order to be accepted, in order to fit in
and maybe to be appreciated not only within my relationship

(20:05):
perhaps with my dad, but then also around my friends.
And it wasn't until I got older I realized it's
about the bigger picture. But when you have success, it's
so short lived. It's like it really is really short lived.
You win a race, then you go back home and
you have as a racing driver, you know, the weekend's
so intense. You've seen it. There's so much energy, so

(20:27):
much it's really really a stress way environment for everyone
that's working within it. Then you go home and there's
a huge come down, like one or two days later,
and you're trying to balance those emotions of that emotional
roller coaster. And learning to kind of channel that and
figure out ways to keep it balanced with your routine
and those sorts of things has been really key for me.

(20:48):
But I think during the last couple of the last
few years, really understanding that it's about the bigger picture.
I'm fighting for something far greater than winning a race.
I'm really fighting for change in the world. You know,
we're more divided than ever. I would say, it's devastating.
I can't watch the news. It's devastating. Ever there's so
much happening, But there are so many great people out

(21:10):
there that are doing really great things, and I want
to be one of the I want to be a
part of that inspirational energy bubble that people like yourselves
are part of because we want to create we need
to create a brighter future. We need to create better
future leaders. And look how many look how bad our
leaders are that are in governments. You know, like we

(21:31):
need to be inspired in the next generation of thought
leaders that are positive and um yeah, so I I'm
trying to be a part of every day. I'm so,
I'm really trying to focus on my intentions as you
were talking about, like setting your intentions each day. I'm
trying to learn new tools that I didn't have when
I was a kid. I didn't I didn't know about yoga,

(21:52):
I didn't know about meditation. I didn't have podcasts to
listen to, good people to listen to and aspire to
kind of help me put on the right path. So yeah, yeah,
We've got a lot of work to do, and there's
almost not enough time here on this planet, right We're
here for such a short time reading the scale of
the universe this year, create positive habits that make you

(22:14):
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(24:02):
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When we first connected, that was one of the biggest
reasons for me that I saw you using your platform
for a bigger purpose. I was like, Oh, that's fascinating,

(25:27):
Like that's so interesting to me because that's a choice too.
I think today we kind of assume that if someone
has a platform, or if someone's you know, number one
in their field, or if someone's got followers, that they
should talk about stuff. We kind of assume that anyone
who has follows should talk about stuff. First of all,
I don't think that's the case. I think a lot
of people choose not to. But you were someone that

(25:49):
stood out to me massively where I was just like, Wow,
this person's really not just winning on the track, but
it's thinking about how winning on the track transfers to
what you can do off the track because of the influence,
because of your network, because of your impact. And I

(26:10):
find that to be really the missing link for so
many people. Because I always say that your purpose is
something not just that makes you happy. It's when you
use what makes you happy to serve other people, like
when you use it to impact other people's lives. When
did that drop for you? Like? When did that click
for you? Like? Were you ever? I guess what I'm

(26:32):
trying to say is there's a transition when you're saying that, well,
you know, winning, like maybe get the nod from my dad,
and obviously I was bullied and then I'm winning, but
then I'm number one. It's something like, was there a
point at which number one didn't satisfy you? Or was
there a point at which the success that came from it,
or you didn't actually have to get dissatisfied, you just
found that there was a better way to be successful.

(26:54):
Does that make sense? The part that was striking when
you're just saying that. For me, it was like, I
feel like we often live in fear of what people think,
how you're going to be judged, how you're going to
be received. If you're free, outspoken, you're gonna lose your job,
You're gonna be fired. I've always been an outspoken person.
I think that's just been a quality. I've never been

(27:15):
a follower. I don't like to conform to how people
expect people of what people expect from you. As I said,
I was having a success and I was like, oh, okay,
now I'm on that, I'm at the top. What can
I do with it? Yeah? And there are so many causes.
There's so many problems out there, and there's so many
amazing causes, and which one. You know, there's only one

(27:36):
of you, So like what where do you put the focus?
And that's take It took a long long time to
really find what that was for me. I think for me,
education was something that I felt extremely passionate about because
I've been out to India. I've been out into some
of the really poorest places like Manila and seeing young
kids who are like us, but begging for food, not

(28:00):
having the same opportunities. And for me, that was that
broke my heart and realize how privileged we are and
how fortunate we are. It was like, I want to
be working with people out there that are trying to
create more. You know, there's over a one hundred million
kids that don't have access to school education, So how
can I get involved in that? So aligning yourself with

(28:20):
people that do but I think I was. I was winning,
and it was giving me that tip of happiness. But
then I would kind of drop back down to normality
and there was something missing, and it was that purpose really,
or understanding what that purpose was and understanding what why
you've been put here? Why are you beginning the platform

(28:41):
that you've that you've been given. Why were the only
people of color this whole time? Through it all? And
when I started speaking about diversity, people like, oh, you
want to get more people of coloring as as racing drivers,
only twenty of us. So as I know, it's there's
forty forty fifty thousand jobs, there's thousands of engineering jobs

(29:02):
in the background, and there's such a lack of diversity
coming through. I want to be a part of shifting
that narrative and shifting that conversation and having people be
question themselves and have those difficult conversations with people. So
I first I just started by having those difficult conversations
with my boss. And one of the things he brings

(29:22):
up that he said that hit him hard. I said,
have you ever thought of as a white person walking
into the paddock, into the race weekend paddock and being
the only white person there. He's like, He's like, I
hadn't even thought of that, And I said, well, that's
what it's like for someone like me when I'm in
the room. You noticed, you noticed it. Out of fifty
people in a meeting, you're the only person, the black

(29:44):
person there. And it's not because we are less. It's
because there are these barriers within society through education that
are limiting people to be the best they can be.
So my job is to be empowered and improvement representation.
I'm really really passionate like black equity as well, So

(30:04):
that's why I'll go involved with the Denver Broncos. Yeah,
and usually when I'm in conversation with sponsors or companies,
I'm like, hey, so, what how diverse is your team?
What are you doing about diversity inclusion? How are you
creating a better work workspace for people? That's what I
want to be a part of. The success can come later,
and that's that would be along the way. But if

(30:26):
you're not asking those questions or you're not tackling those issues,
then we're not lighted. And so all of them. Pretty
much every partner that we have and we have a
lot of partners within our team I've asked these really
difficult questions and they're like, oh, you know what, but
we can do more. I'm like, well, let's do it,
you know. So I think I've grown very close with

(30:49):
my like Mercedes's dam and they've been so open that
we changed the car from silver to black in twenty twenty.
As again I said to them, like, the car has
been silver forever. It's always been the silver arrows us
And I was like, imagine if we changed the car
to black, what that could you know? Us turning it
up and arriving. It's how you show up, and it's how,
you know, imagine the message we can send. And we

(31:09):
had the black car for the whole year and we
didn't even really talk much about it. We just let
it be and we won with it. And that's when
I won my seventhealth title with that car. So that's
beautiful now. That must have felt special. It was honestly
my whole life flash by mine that last lap in Turkey,
My whole life, like all the struggles questioning whether you

(31:31):
were going to make it or not, just all those doubts,
all those fears kind of flash by, 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, you know.
So that's why I'm trying to, like every day, just
try to be encouraging of kids. Yeah, do you do

(31:54):
you sometimes feel that we were talking about this a
bit earlier, that you know, in other sports, we get
to see the emotions and the expressions of players that
we love or you know, anyone who's on the court
or the field or the pitch, whereas with you, because
we don't get to see that in your eyes in
your last lap like that, we can only hear it today,

(32:15):
Which is why I'm so grateful to have this moment
because obviously, whenever I'm sitting down with someone who's a
high performer like you, it's obvious that there's so much
emotion and preparation and power. But with racing specifically, you
just don't get to see that. Do you sometimes feel
that the only people that can truly relate to you

(32:36):
are the people you compete with, because I feel like it's,
like you said, there's only twenty of you that are
racing anyway, it's lonely anyway, Nine people in the world
have no idea what it feels like to drive a
car as fast as you do in the way you
do in any comparison, do you sometimes feel that the
only people you can relate to the people that are
racing against you? And then do you kind of feel

(33:00):
is there a loneliness in that experience or is that
kind of like a power in that as well? Definitely
the other drivers, I do feel that there's more. We
have a lot more in common than we think, but
with so competitive and a lot of us have bid defense,
Like you want to beat the guy, but then you
like the guy. You might like the person outside the car,
but you can't show that. Like there's this whole psychological

(33:22):
battle you're having with yourself and getting the wave of
yourself a lot of the time. So I really feel
like as an older driver, I'm trying to be more
like reaching out to youngsters and because they're the future,
you know, and I'm excited to see some of these
younger drivers are coming through are so so talented. I
don't know if they've got the best structure around them,
like I may not, Like I didn't necessarily have the

(33:43):
ultimate structure that I perhaps have now, So just try
to be a kind of a positive light to them.
But naturally, none of them are black, and none of
them have necessarily faced the same as me. But they've
faced their own challenges and thinks about respecting that within everybody.
And I've tried to be create allies necessarily in having
the difficult conversations with some of them. I mean, I'm

(34:07):
so grateful for I've had a couple of them that
really took the knee with me in twenty twenty, just
on that, you know, my dad was going back to
the my dad. My dad like, never let me cry
as a kid. He said, there's a sign of weakness,
like don't let me ever see you shed a tear.
So I remember just holding back through those difficult times

(34:27):
as a kid, holding back most of that stuff. In
twenty twenty, I cried. I hadn't cried for at least
I think at least ten years, maybe more. It was
there was a lot of bottle up stuff that came
up that I had not realized that I don't even
know about suppressing a pain or a feeling. So I
remember kind of beaning on my knees, thinking, now, what
has happened in the world. I've got to I've got

(34:48):
to be outspoken. I've got to take that chance, because
if I don't do it, then no one's going to
do it. If I don't, if I don't take the knee,
if I don't let people like me know that I
care and I hear you and I'm with you, and
I'm going to do something about it. I'm going to
risk it all. I don't care if my partners want
to drop me because I don't want to be associated
with this narrative. I don't. I'm like, and I literally

(35:11):
let go of all the fear and that's why I
went came so forward with it. And I know it's
not easy for everyone to do that, but I just
want to really and try to encourage people out there
too to be themselves, to speak out if they've got
a problem, if they see in something within the work
working environment or experiencing something, You've got to be outspoken

(35:32):
about it. And there's a right way to do it.
But the first day I was going to take the knee,
I remember, I didn't feel like I could tell my team.
I was like, because I felt that they wouldn't understand
how important it is for me to do this. This day.
So I remember I had my Black Lives Matter a
shirt hidden and I just wore it out there and
I went ahead with it, and so no one knew Wow,

(35:55):
but everyone the sport had built had made all these
T shirts like we races one slogan, and they gave
these T shirts to all to everybody. I was like,
I'm not wearing that, That's not what this is about.
And so this is what I'm doing. And this was
around George Floyd, right yeah, And afterwards my team was like, well,
why if you just told us, we could have prepared

(36:15):
a better But I had this fear that they would
try and stop me. Perhaps, but that was just a fear.
They have been massively supported through the whole thing. In
My hope was that you know, kids would be watching
me like what what is that? Why is he taking me? What? What?
What does that shirt mean? What is going on? Dad? Mum?
And then the parents being in an open position having

(36:35):
to explain it. Maybe. But I think what was really
encouraging for me. I think when we started really getting
into the whole diversity inclusion. We did the research, there
was only three percent out of two thousand people in
the team. There's three percent diversity. So since then we've
been on this mission, the team have started new projects.
We've discovered that they the sport generally highs from one

(36:58):
group of universities which is not diverse, and if there
are any young black students that go there, that twice
as unlikely to be hired when they come out compared
to the counterparts, and also paid less. So that I
said all these things that perhaps people didn't know that
commission right, Yeah, and that just was interesting to experience that.

(37:21):
Now now I'll be working on like a diversity charter
that all the teams have to be a part of,
and it's not mine, it's for the sport, and it's
to encourage those teams because there's still not any diversity
within you know, you look at Ferrari that I don't
have hardly any there's most teams don't. But when I
go back to my team to the factory, normally in

(37:42):
our marketing department wasn't very diverse initially. And I walked
in after the pandemic and I started seeing such a
more diverse group of people. I was really quite emotional
because I was like, oh my god, there's I'm starting
to see change. But you don't see that on TV. Yeah,
So when I talked to the to the bosses of
the sport, I'm like, hey, you know, there's all white
men facing and me facing the camera at the start

(38:04):
of the race. Where are the women? Where are the
people of color? We've got to be showing. Some young
kids are watching and they're like, Oh, there's a place
for me there. I can be there. I can be
an engineer, I can be a mechanic or whatever it
may be, and even for young girls, or I can
be a racing driver or an engineer or strategist or
whatever you know. So representations so so key to inspire

(38:26):
in the young youth, especially in these industries that they
already have less access to, right, Like, that's the point
that it's not just it's not just representation because you
want them to even have the opportunity. It's the fact
that there's just no access point, which is what you're
trying to create. I think what I find really beautiful
about you doing it is you're doing it though when

(38:48):
you're like I'm having all my emotions come up at
the same time. It's trying to be a voice for
other people. And when you're saying like I'm taking a
knee because I know I have to make a stand externally,
but internally, you're taking a knee because so much of
your own stuff from years ago is coming back up.
Like that must be quite hard when you're That strikes

(39:09):
me as something that's really inspiring about what you did
is that you were going through your own healing at
the same time it's trying to do healing for the world.
There is so much healing to do, right, and I
was completely oblivious that that I needed healing. I needed
to really peel back some of those layers. I think
for people that turn into tune into race and you
mentioned earlier on but when you we arrive, everything is

(39:31):
set up. There is work that we're doing in the background.
Naturally people don't see. They just see a show, but
there is an unbelievable amount of work that goes on
in the background. When I talk to people that talk
about how much weight you lose, and but they're like, yo,
you just sit in the car and you drive. There's
this huge psychological and emotional roller coaster that you're going

(39:52):
through that it will be really hard for people to comprehend.
And you would mention about all these other athletes, you
see their faces in other sports you can't see because
we've got helmet on. But you go through this roller
coaster ride in the race, and then you get out
and the cameras right in your face. You're not prepared
for that. Your emotions are shot, particularly if you failed
or feel like you failed, and you don't always answer

(40:12):
the right way. If you wear your heart and your sleeve,
people don't necessarily like that necessary always people take advantage
of that. So then you build up all these protection mechanism,
mechanisms that's not necessarily you and at the core, but
what'll be the safest thing for you, you know what
I mean? Like I read something the other day about

(40:33):
it's like three steps of you. And there's one the
one of which you present who you present. There's you
and your who you are to you and your family
and friends. And then there's one the part of you,
the real you that no one ever gets to see.
And I think just today in today's world, it's so
vicious on social media. It's the media can be you know,

(40:55):
can really tear you apart, and you build up, you know,
like you make a mistake in something you say in
the media, and your ridicule fear, you never do it again.
So you build up and you got more and more
on your shell, and you become harder for people to
really relate to. I think for me, what I've realized
in his last few years is really pilling back those
layers and you know, letting people know that I grew

(41:18):
up in the council state. I you know, I've lived
on the sofa with my my parents. We've had those struggles.
There's successful people out there, you see, they too have
had those things where we need to show that young
kids who are going through that same thing that, oh
I if he can get there or they can get there,

(41:39):
then it must be possible for me to h And
like being showing your vulnerability, that's something that I really
struggled to to do for a long time, and like
today that's something I think. I'm a lot more open
than I've ever ever been. I'm not living in fear
every day, and that's like the most that's the most

(42:02):
impowered thing I think for me personally, I'm living a
much happier life because I'm I'm a lot more open.
Yeah it's libery, yeah, absolutely, Yeah, it's libering when you
finally feel like you're not trapped or you're hiding held
or yeah, or hiding yeah or hiding. My favorite quotes
is from my Angelo when she said we are all

(42:22):
powerful beyond measure, and that really hit home also for
me that that's my favorite quote because and I have
a tattooed because really we are so we do limit ourselves.
We get in our own way right along with the
other things that get in our way, But a lot
of our fear stops us from driving forwards, from progressing.

(42:43):
And that's why I do the craziest things. I jump
out planes. Yeah, you've done what eight jumps? Yeah? Like
I just just I love challenging myself and doing things
even though there's maybe fear there. But overcoming that fear
is like it's the best feeling when you overcome it
and you realize that she was all a bunch of
nonsense in your head. I want to encourage So all

(43:03):
all of my friends, I'm like, he just go and
do this today they're like, are you crazy? My dad
don't mean I think as a kid, my dad was
like is he really my son? Because I wouldn't do
any of these things. And even still today, I still
find that he's actually done skydiving movie my dad. He
said he would never do it, but he did it. So,
but driving two hundred miles per hour, it is probably

(43:23):
one of the scariest things that you do all the time.
Like that's well for you anymore, no things. I never
had that fear as a kid, and I was just
never you know, I think if you go on a
ski slope and you see these kids coming fight, kids
are generally fearless, right, Yeah, But I think as you
go get older, yes, you start, you hurt yourself a
little bit, you start protecting yourself more and more. But

(43:44):
I just don't have that. I think I feel like
that was something that just wasn't necessarily put in me.
I'm terrified as spiders, Yeah, that's the only thing. But
when I'm doing two hundred miles an hour, that's actually
when I'm most at peace. I would say, Yeah, it's
like I'm like flowing. It's like my that's my element,
and that's like I love doing what I do. It's
could be really really hard when I stop racing. I've

(44:05):
been doing for thirty years. I'm thirty seven. They've been
racing thirty years. And when you stop, Like, what's going
to match that. Nothing's going to ever probably a match,
being in the stadium or being at the race and
being at the pinnacle of the sport, being at the
front of the grid, or or coming through the grid
that motion that I get there. When I do stop,
that will be there will be a big hole. Yeah.

(44:26):
So I'm trying to generally focus on things, find things
that are going to replace that that are also could
be just as rewarding. And that's like mission forty four
for me, meeting kids at schools, having these conversations with
families and parents who clearly are going through difficult times
and want to create the best opportunity for their kids,
encouraging them and there like, Okay, I've been there too,
look where I got, so you can get there. It's

(44:47):
just going to work through it. That's for me, that's
way more rewarding then winning the race, so much more. Yeah,
that's I'm so grateful and I'm so happy that everyone's
going to get getting to hear this. I felt you're
the only and I know you know you're talking about
when that happens, But it's brilliant that you're planning already
because you can see how so many athletes mentally when

(45:11):
they know their career has somewhat of a shelf life
or a somewhat of a time span, like it's so hard,
it's it's just completely But I remember, you're reminding me
of when I had the fortune of sitting down with
Kobe Bryant, And I said, sat down with him when
he'd already retired, and I interviewed him so great, so jealous.
He was one of those people that was not upset

(45:32):
being retired. He loved it because he knew that his
mission for him was to make these short movies and
make all these sports based content to inspire kids to
tell their stories and to help them find better stories.
And so it's exactly what you're saying where he wasn't
He's one of those people that I've met. He was
not sad about He was so happy. He was so pumped.

(45:56):
That's what I'm working to us. Yeah, because he knew
that he had a mission and he had a ups
and he'd gone and won an Oscar for a short
movie that he'd made, and you know, he was creating
content to inspire kids and that's where his heart was.
And of course watching his daughters play, and so I'm
super inspired by him. Yeah, but yeah, like when you
said that, that's what I remembered. And he was in
the same boat. He was like, I always wanted to

(46:17):
script write and never had time to script, right, he said,
I was always playing basketball, and he goes, but then
I started scriptwriting and I got a coach, and then
I was writing and getting better as a writer. And
because well, I think when I've spoken to other athletes,
that we focused so much on that being the best
you can be and that one thing that the other
things that you also love, like if it's playing an
instrument or if it's writing scripts, like they all falls

(46:40):
everything falls away, And yeah, how can you can't compartmentalize
staying in the in the zone and the focus lane,
but also building up some of those other skills and
discovering other passions. You know, people's You've heard people tell
Labron shut up and dribble, like, yeah, that's there's a
lot of people put you in the box and say this,

(47:01):
you can only do one thing. But as I've seen,
I'm spoken to some people that are active and retired,
a lot of them say, when particularly when they retired,
that they everything kind of fell apart, like everything fell
to the ground. They had nothing to back it up with,
and they hadn't discovered what they're doing next. So then
they go through this emotional journey of discovery. But it

(47:23):
takes time. So I'm like trying to learn from those
things and applying them and find the other things that
I'm passionate about. So I generally feel today that I
have lots of things in the pipeline that when I
do stop, it's going to be like so grateful, but
I have something better that I'm moving on to. But
I have no doubts that I, oh, me and my

(47:44):
dad will always have to go to the go cart
track or something. You know, I'm always going to be competitive.
I can't. That's literally a strain in my DNA that's
just never gonna gonna shift. We're competitive at everything. I'm
happy to hear that. It's it's it's I'm sure that's refreshing.
It's great for people to also he that, even to
inspire young people or inspire anyone who's gotten to a
place in their career where they know that there's a

(48:06):
certain moment where things are going to wind down, but
then they're going to transition. I think I don't think
we celebrate the transitions enough in life, and life is
made up of transition, absolutely, and people think that it's
maybe less or something, but it's yeah, it's not about that, yeah, exactly.
So it's fascinating you found that. What are some of
these like you said, like, I'm you know, I've been
doing jumps to be doing this with my friends, What
are some of the routines that you've put into place

(48:28):
to help you manage your mindset? Because I feel like
you're You said that being at two hundred miles per
hour for the duration of a race is like being
in flow. For you, that means you're extremely comfortable with
your own thoughts, extremely comfortable with being in a high stress,
high pressure environment, but being just with your own self.

(48:50):
Talk to us about how you I mean, it sounds
like that's always been the case. But what have you
done to become more and more comfortable with that? Yeah?
I think naturally there's a natural ability, right, But like
being out to focus for an hour and forty five
minutes without making mistakes, and that's that's literally insane. It's unbelievable.
Dealing with the pressures A friend actually asked me last
night because I talk about we lose a lot of race,

(49:12):
a lot of weight in the race, yes, like sometimes
you can lose up to ten pounds like four key lows,
and people like, whoa, I need to be a race
particularly in America, They're like, oh, I need to be
a racing driver for the weight loss. But with this questions,
there's my friend asked me on the day, there's like
where does the where does the weight go? Like, yeah,
because my suit doesn't because afterwards I weighed less. But
the I'm like, so it must evaporated somewhere. I've got

(49:34):
to figure out where all that weight actually truly goes
because it obviously is in sweat. But that's like messed
my mind up now. Um, but the suit definitely is
obviously a little bit heavier. But um, it's about gaining tools.
And I think as when I was younger, I didn't
have I knew how to arrive at the race. I
channeled the so this emotion that I had through whatever
those difficulties were into my driving. So it's laser focus.

(49:58):
Like if you watch a video for me when I
was five years old and blue pizza that you see,
I'm just laser focused, but being able to control emotions,
being now to be calm and present, staying centered. There
are loads of obviously different methods that people can use.
The things that I try to that I've started to
incorporate over the years more in my life. It's things

(50:18):
like stretching, things like yoga and meditation has been a
real that for me was something that I never thought
that that I kind of turned a blind eye to
it when I was younger. I thought that's not gonna
be helpful. But being able to sit still for a
second and listen to the noises around you and understand

(50:42):
you want to tap into that kind of in a
child or whatever it may be. That's for me being
taking that moment for yourself each day, treating yourself with
love and being kind to yourself, you know, because I
think for a long time I wasn't kind to myself.
And that's been a process doing things that being purposeful
and having real setting intentions each day, no matter how

(51:06):
big or small. And you know, I wake up and
looking in the mirror brushing your teeth, then stop for
a second's sake, this today is going to be the day.
Today's going to be great. And no matter what you're
faced with, you know, just wherever you come out with. Yeah,
talking to yourself. Also speaking to people, I think is
very important. I think as a kid, as I said,

(51:26):
I didn't feel like it could speak to people. I
didn't feel like I could tell my mom about these experiences.
I felt embarrassed. I can't tell my dad, so I
thought he would think less of me. I couldn't talk
to any of the teachers, can tell my most of
my friends, most of them weren't particularly of color. So
but finding learning to be open and speak to people,

(51:49):
find someone to speak to, whether it's a therapist or whatever,
that's that's been a huge help. I don't not necessarily
have a therapist as such, for someone that I'm able
to then just have shootership with basically, yeah, and confide
in and trust Like trust has been something that I've
never had and didn't trust anybody through those experiences I

(52:09):
had as a kid, and it's been very very hard
to build trust for people. But creating allies, finding things
that are that you have in common with people like
my boss, for example, him and I just breaking each
other down and then just having realizing that was similar
in many many ways but also very different. But that's
not what should divide us. We can then be allies.

(52:31):
And so that's why we're working being the most diverse team.
We're working on pushing we have. We've studied Ignite, which
is about getting you know, improving that pipeline of into
motor sport for people from underserved communities, and there's so
much work to do. You're doing it though, Man, I'm
trying to. I'm trying to, you know, to the point

(52:51):
you were asking earlier, has enough been done? Absolutely not
in the industry. Yeah, it's like you don't feel that. Yeah,
And it's not only another industry, it's everywhere. And is
that your goal just just sort in the industry and
then expand out or you're starting you're starting across the
board anyway. Yeah. Yeah, Well, with the team where it's
we started an organization which called Ignite, which we both fund,

(53:12):
and that is focused on the sport motor sport in general.
But Mission forty four is focused on a much you know,
societal challenges and barriers and education and um. That's focused
in the UK at the moment, but I want to
bring that over to the States absolutely, Um, you know,

(53:33):
hopefully by at least twenty twenty four. Um. Also just
been to Africa and there is so much beauty there
and I really really want to have an you really
want to help there as well. So yeah, UM, we
will continue to expand. But we're one of the one
of the few black founding nonprofit organizations in the UK,
and with black CEO for example, a very diverse group

(53:57):
of people. UM, and just having a conversations with people
are just what a diverse workforce means and how that
band can benefit you when you have people from different
backgrounds or coming up with a diverse, diverse thought and creation.
It's that's how you have more success. Yeah, it's a
it's a no brainer when you hear it and you're
just like, wow, that makes so much sense, and creativity

(54:18):
is better and you'd be able to come up with
far more innovative ideas and you've got so many more
cultures now being celebrated involved, and I feel like it's
it's interesting to me that the world hasn't cough on
with that yet, Like it's it's interesting that even despite
their being progressed, there's not enough progress. But what is

(54:39):
the block? Like, what is the stop? Is it a mindset.
Is it just habits and laziness? Like what is the
actual Like if you got to the core of it
from everyone you've been speaking to, like, what are you?
What is the issue? Is the issue that? Yeah? Is
the issue just laziness and just this is the way
things have always been? Or is it? Or is there
actually like a set up? I don't have the answers

(55:00):
to it. I ask that question all the time, and
I come up lots of different theories in my mind.
Sometimes I'm like, maybe people don't just don't care. Maybe
people's problems are so big that they don't have time
to focus on other things. And it's hard enough just
to do the thing that you're focused on, or just
overcoming the issue that you're overcoming. So how am I

(55:20):
going to have more time to to speak about these things?
Why should I take the risk and risk my next step?
And so I feel like it's about learning to be selfless, right,
and which is difficult to do if you're not being
loving yourself and not in a good place. So I
think it all comes to us at hopefully at time,

(55:41):
at a certain point in our lives. But also, you know,
we live in a time where like social media is
so it's such a dangerous. It's such a powerful tool,
but it's also can be so dangerous and so dividing.
And I see people out there today, and there's people
that I admire that I'm that I would follow, and
I'd be like, how are they projecting something that's not

(56:04):
necessarily helpfully for you? For people out there? How are
they projecting they're not using this platform to be more
inspirational or be more positive, And there's loads of that
are But then I don't. You can't judge you. So
that's their journey. All you can continue to do is
try to you know, with that Mariangela quote is about
being shining in your light as bright as you can

(56:24):
possibly get it, and hope that by doing it you
I think you automatically encourage the people around you to
want to do the same. And I never truly understood
that till I see the team that I work with,
how we all inspire each other. How with this year,
for example, we've had the twenty twenty two has been
one of the hardest years for us as a team,

(56:49):
as we didn't build a great car and we've had
our struggles as many people do, and how we've had
to all come closer and the relationship I've had with
people that I've worked with this team for ten years,
and there's conversations we've had this year. People have opened
up like they've never opened up before. People have cried
like it's been It's been beautiful to see and I
feel like it's some a far better team than we've

(57:12):
ever been before because we're living with intention, we're actually
talking about impact. That everyone in the team's going to
had diversity inclusion training. No one's been kind of like,
I'm not I'm not going through that class. Why do
I have to go and learn diversity and inclusions about
it and why it doesn't impact me? Now people like
I understand it doesn't I wouldn't necessarily notice it, but

(57:33):
I want to understand it more so I can be
better in my working environment. It's been unbelievable. That's amazing. Also,
leaders within our sport are now where we are on
the road to being a more diverse and more inclusive sport.
But I think my job is to continuously make sure
that that that same the effort that we're putting in

(57:54):
now doesn't kind of fall away and become kind of
you know, just because it was trending. Yeah, yeah, that
is actually something that's on the top of the list.
Sustainability is on the top of our list. And like
real true core values, we don't go out of our way. Well,
you know, because a lot of people are. It's very
easy to kind of be led by the money or success.

(58:18):
But making sure you stick to your core values is
so true. So it goes back to what you said though,
that that's what real leaders do. Like leaders don't follow
what's trending. Leaders have focused on transformation and then they're
dedicated to transformation and they're going to keep doing it
until they see a change, whereas followers follow trends and
oh it's not trending now, it doesn't matter, we'll focus

(58:39):
on something else. But you know, obviously it's so clearly
just listening to you today, and it's amazing because and
that's why I'm so glad I've had this opportunity to
talk to you, because I can hear just how deeply
dedicated you are to this and how it's at your core.
It's like it's everything that comes out of your pause
today is just you know, which is which is really
special to see a value being embodied. Like to empower

(59:03):
other people, you have to embody the value first. It
doesn't just you don't just go around empowering people. And
so to hear how your soul and heart is like
completely a sponge for this stuff and then to wanting
to go and share it with the world, it's really
remarkable man. Thank you. Yeah. Well, I mean I'm by
far perfect, No, yeah, I know, And I think that's like,

(59:23):
it's not about being perfect. It's about just every day,
one step at the time, trying to be better, trying
to do more, and learning a lot about myself. I've
had to break myself down in order to be able
to be better. And what do you mean by breaking
yourself down? Well, just when you when I told you
about like all those barriers you put up over time
to protect yourself and then kind of like knocking those

(59:44):
barriers down. And it's enabled me to connect with more people.
It's enabled me to realize my place in the world.
And I don't feel like I don't belong anymore. I
feel like, you know, I've got a place and I've
got a purpose. And that's I think a lot people
are struggling to find that purpose. But it's okay, you
will find it. Do not give up, keep getting up,

(01:00:06):
you know, like just keep saying those things to yourself,
and you will eventually find it. And you know, you're
already living in your purpose and having such a huge
impact on so many people, you know, telling stories, which
is it's amazing to see. I started this production company
inspired by like Kobe and somebody out there, but stories

(01:00:26):
for me, storytelling. I watched a lot of movies. I
don't know about you, but yeah, I love movies, especially
sports movies. Yeah. Like when I go home, I'll like,
you know, order to take away or make myself and
past or something like that, and then I put the
plate in front of me and I can't eat till
I found something to watch, Like my escape is watching
the movie. And I always like to find something hopefully inspiring. Ye.

(01:00:49):
But the reason I created this production company because you know,
until recently, we didn't have any people of color of superheroes.
We I think these Sori's storytelling is so so important
for people out there, for inspiring people, and and I
want to make sure that in and everything that I do,
every project that I work on, is with a diverse workforce,

(01:01:11):
like I'm doing this for one movie with Brad Pitt
and Joe Kazinski and um, but my job is to
make sure that that is diverse behind the camera as
it is on screen. The story is empowering and uplifting. Um,
it's not. There's no bs in terms of the racing,
and hopefully one kid will watch it and more and

(01:01:33):
feel empowered to go and do something great. Absolutely, I
love that, man. I'm so glad you're doing that, because
when you said do I like movies, the movie that
came to my mind was Race? Have you seen Race?
Because yeah, so like that. The story is unbelievable. But
when you watch the movie as well, it's unbelievable to
see what Jesse Owens did, like to think that he
had to go. I can't even imagine. I can't, you know,
you just can't imagine. If everyone's not saying the movie

(01:01:55):
you have to go. It's just one of those movies
that's like, how do you do that? Like how do
you go and race in Nazi German? Like I haven't.
It must have been terrifying, terrifying, And you know, there's
there's so many great stories like that that are out
there that need telling. Um, continuously telling yeah, yeah, forty

(01:02:15):
two is also um. But yeah, there are therese these
really unique people out there. I think for me being
in this sport, being the only one and being the first,
is that is that has been lonely, and that has
been really really a difficult thing to kind of understand
and through my life. And there are many many people

(01:02:37):
like Jesse for example, being the first and only at
the time, you know, I've taken huge inspiration from him.
Nelson Mandela was like, oh, he's one of my biggest,
biggest inspirations. Um. It was so so fortunate to get
to meet him when I was I was like twenty
three or something. Oh wow, what was that like? Yeah,
it was mind blowing. I mean when you when you

(01:02:58):
then I've got to fone one and you have this
sess all these things come and you don't even You've
dreamed of being a racing driver, but you didn't dream
that all the other things, of all the other things
that come along, like meeting other unbelievable people. I went
to Nelson Mandela's ninetieth birthday in London and I was
sat on his table in this huge room full of
like Bill Clinton was there, like Denzel Washington was there

(01:03:20):
open wind fruits, sat right next to me, Like all
these people that you would never ever in a million
years dream of think you would ever get to meet,
and then you discover they're also just human beings with
feelings and with emotions and with their own challenges. But
I was so young at the time. It was I
don't even recognize myself. When I look back at me
seven years ago, I see a shell of me. And

(01:03:44):
I think I looked today and see myself and know
myself so much more. And that's again, that's an empowering
experience to be in. But I walked into the room
and met him, and he sat his chair and it
was like walking into I was like or like a king,
you know, in his silk shirt was his aura was

(01:04:05):
something you could see his aura, his smile, he was beaming.
That was the most probably the most impactful day for
me as a as a youngster. Wow, Lewis, it's unbelievable
talking to you. I mean, what you've achieved on the
track after track, and now I'm even more excited to
see you continue to achieve as your journey continues. Because

(01:04:27):
I'm going to say this and I don't say this often,
and I genuinely my team can vouch for and everyone
else can listen back to any episode. I think you're
one of the most on purpose people I've ever interviewed.
I appreciate that, and I genuinely like it. Just there's
nothing else that comes from your being apart from what
your purpose currently is with Mission forty four, and it's

(01:04:49):
it's really remarkable to meet someone who's so on purpose.
I don't I genuinely don't have that experience. And the
only person you reminded me of was Kobe. He had
it too. When was around him, there was no there
was nothing else. It wasn't like he missed anything. He
was at peace. It was it was peace with purpose,
you know. And you have that same aura in spirit

(01:05:10):
from from at least my experience. Thank you so much,
so kind of you. Yeah, and I really mean that.
I really mean that. It's incredible. So we end every
episode with a fast five, which means every question has
to be answered in one word to one sentence maximum okay,
And we asked these same questions to every guest that's
ever been on the show. I should be prepared for
that because I've seen you well, the first question is

(01:05:33):
what's the best advice you've ever heard or received. I
think it was literiely my dad, never give up. That's
been like the slogan in the back of my mind
every single day. The other one would be just that
you will always be learning, and that's what I learned
from Nelsmandella. He was like, I'm nineteen, I'm still learning today,
and like, I was like, what can you tell me?
It's like, I'm still learning today, and it's okay to
be learning. You're always going to be learning something new

(01:05:55):
and growing. So wow, that's beautiful, very like wow, but
like that was pretty basic. But it's not. It's it's
powerful knowing he said that. Yeah, as in the fact
that he said that on his ninety Yeah, it's like
a lot of people. I feel like a lot of
people feel by nineties, especially him. He has so much
wisdom to share. Yeah, but the fact that his wisdom

(01:06:17):
was I'm just learning that, yeah, I'm still learning. That's
pretty cool. All right. Second question, now, what's the worst
advice you ever heard or received? Give up? The opposite? Yeah, yeah,
literally the worst bit of advice and it wasn't I mean,
it wasn't necessary advice. But when I was younger, there
was other parents of other racing drivers I was racing against.

(01:06:38):
I remember this one guy and he's like, she just
you just don't have it. You should just give up.
Their parents say, their parents A grown man in these
forties or fifties told me that, And I was eight,
told you told me to my face. And I remember
just being so like, what am I supposed to do that?
What do you mean give up? What was the reason?
I would imagine because I was beating his kid. Maybe

(01:06:59):
I don't. I never really thought of what the reason
would be. And the same with teachers. You know, what
is this crap? You know you're you're terrible at this,
You're never gonna go to the next set, You're never
gonna amount to anything, and why are you even here?
How a teacher tell me that? And Wow, it broke
me down so much. Question number three, how do you

(01:07:19):
deal with loss? And how do you deal with a win?
I think success is, as I mentioned your earlier short
lived success is there's a lot less leaned in success.
It's like the tip of the iceberg. It's the losses
and it's the failures. And this is the continuoucy, just
the perseverance that you're needed, that you need to do.
Like I love that image of the iceberg where you
see the sea level in the iceberg on the top

(01:07:41):
that everyone sees, but below is what people don't get
to see it, and it's it's relevant for every single
person out there. It's fine in your core. It's letting
yourself know, it's okay to feel the pain, it's okay
to accept that your failures and you know, put it
on you. It's like it's just another another notch on
your belt that is going to make you stronger. And

(01:08:03):
just known that that is the case. I've failed so
many more times than I've succeeded so many more and
that people don't even know maybe necessarily about or see.
And still today I'm making those failure those mistakes and
or making mistakes, but I know that that's that's a
part of the journey. That's that's what I'm then harnessing

(01:08:24):
and that's what's making me stronger. All right, Question number
four out of five. What's something that you thought you
valued but you don't value anymore? Im material stuff at
some stage and you actually realize they're not important and
we live in such a materialistic world, so learning to
detach yourself from that and know that it's moments with
special people, it's moments with your family, with your loved ones,

(01:08:47):
with your friends, that are what you get to take
with you when you stop, you know, when life comes
to an end, right. I truly believe that it's those
memories that are what yeah, memories of you also which lingers,
not what you have or you were able to attain.
So I think that was something that took me a
long time to learn. And whilst I still have things

(01:09:09):
I don't have, I've actually tried to unclutter my life
because I remember my dad used to call me into
the garage and used to go through all the crap
that he would keep. I don't know if you're that
your parents do the same thing, jeez. I remember used
to call me and it was the worst day every
when I to help him clean out the garage. But
we hold on to so many things, right, So just

(01:09:30):
decluttering your life making it more simple. That's why I
love to go and surfing. That's like the most tranquil
kind of thing that I get to do, sit in
the ocean and sometimes just sit and ponder about life,
what I'm going to do next, And that's my getaway.
I think people have to find that balance of work
because if you just work, work, work, work, and you

(01:09:52):
don't replenish your energy with positive things, then you will
just continue to be breaking yourself down. So try and
find that balance. I think everyone needs to do that. Yeah,
that's beautiful, surfing, skydiving. There's yours fifth and final question.
If you could create one law that everyone in the
world had to follow, what would it be? Holy crap? Uh.

(01:10:13):
One of the things that I'm like, I struggle with
every day is and it's just how life isn't It's
been the way for thousands of years that there is
such a disparity between wealthy and the poor. And you know,
you still when you drive around La there's still so
many people living on the streets. There should you shouldn't
be able to have billions, right, I think there should
there should be a limit to how much you can

(01:10:34):
have because there's enough to go around to everyone. So
somehow create a law that creates more equality. Yeah, and
equal access to every for everyone. You know, I don't
know how that you would implement that law. That's all good,
but like, jeez, man, I've met kids that are starving. Yeah, same,
and you think, oh, God, like how we are so

(01:10:57):
so lucky, so many of us. Knowing that and not
taking advantage of your every day is so so important.
It does? What law? Would you change? It does? No?
I think that's beautiful. That's what I mean. We've yeah,
I mean now now you've feel that's where you did that.
If I had to create a law in the world

(01:11:18):
that everyone had to follow, this is at least my
today onser, and maybe it would change as well, is
it kind of? And it's inspired by what we're talking about.
I think I wish at school the law was that
every child had to learn about emotional mastery to understand
how to understand other people's emotions and understand their emotions

(01:11:40):
and take that into consideration when making decisions. And if
every child was given that exposure to emotional mastery, then
people would just have tools of how to deal with
their own pain and someone else's pain, and how to
deal with when your parents are going through pain, because
I feel like pain is the issue we have any
pain today by you. You're so right, it's inspired by you.

(01:12:06):
It's going back to education. That's just why, like when
you go to school, you don't learn all. They don't
prepare you enough for what's to come, not at all.
And and and that stapping into mental health as you
mentioned exactly, that's exactly yeah, And that's kind of where
my purpose is, right, Like, my purpose is that feeling
of you know, when I went on lived as a monk,
that's where I got exposed to emotional mastery, Like that

(01:12:28):
was the goal of what monk training was about. And
I was twenty one twenty two when I did that. Wow,
that's still young. There's a lot about that shows a
lot about you. Yeah, yeah, but it was it was
kind of like a fascination that I had. I was
just like, well, if I can't understand my mind, then
how can you live life like that? That? So, so
anyway it comes from but it comes from what you're
saying that the education that needs to happen at a

(01:12:50):
younger level. So Lewis has been such an honor and
a pleasure talking today. Man, it's a huge responsibility that
you've taken on for yourself for the world, and I
don't think there could be anyone better doing it. And
I really really hope that any help that I can offer,
any help that my communic and offer, please know that
we're right here with you, thank you, right behind you.
So thank you so much. Our on purpose community I

(01:13:11):
know would love to get behind anything that we can. Yeah, dude,
I'm so I'm still so grateful for the time you're
give me today. Yeah, and again for like what you
all you do, because you're having such a positive impact
on so many people, including me, you know, so when
you perhaps don't realize it, you're you know, you're having

(01:13:32):
such a big impact. And I'm so grateful to you
for that, mate. Thank you an it means the world
coming from you, honestly, thank you. Everyone who's been listening
and watching today, make sure you go get educated about
Mission forty four, about the Hamilton Commission. Really incredible initiatives
that Lewis started that are leading the way to make
sure that diversity and inclusion and are taken more seriously

(01:13:53):
across all industries, which I think we would all agree with.
And to anyone else who's watching or listening, make sure
you tag Louis and I on social media with your
biggest insights. There were so many words of wisdom that
Lewis shared. I want to know which things stuck out
to you, which things made a difference in your mind.
And the biggest thing is I want you to pass
this on to someone. Right there's someone who needs to

(01:14:13):
hear Lewis's story that's going to transform their life, and
I want you to pass it on. He shared so
many people that inspired him. We know he's a huge
inspiration to so many. Makes you shared this with someone
because you have no idea whose life you might change.
Thank you so much.

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Host

Jay Shetty

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Dateline NBC

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Lewis Hamilton ON: Why You Should Stop Chasing Society's Definition of Success & How to Be More Intentional With Your Goals