Nic Hamilton: “I didn’t always feel like racing loved me, to be honest”

Imagine being Nic Hamilton. At the age of 12 and 13, you’re in the paddocks of Europe, cheering on your brother in the Formula 3 Euro Series as he races against future world champions including Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg. You’re passionate about the sport…

But there appears to be no way you can compete yourself. Hamilton has cerebral palsy, and the odds on him even walking are remote. But with passion comes determination, and he is hell-bent on becoming far more than just ‘the disabled brother’ of a man who will go on to become a global superstar: seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton.

Now, for the sixth time, Hamilton is gearing up for the start of a British Touring Car Championship campaign. Not all the stories from the series over the almost-finished off-season have been positive, but this is most definitely one of the feel-good tales to have peppered the past several weeks.

For the first time, he is set to line up with Un-Limited Motorsport, the new-for-2024 team that has expanded from one car to three with its stable of Cupra Leons.

It’s a measure of Hamilton’s acceptance by BTCC crowds over the years, since his part-season in 2015 and his ‘most-of-the-time’ participation from 2019 to mid-2023, that his famous relation is irrelevant in a BTCC context; his popularity is derived from admiration of the overcoming of his disability to compete.

But compete is what he has not done since he emerged from his Team Hard Cupra at Oulton Park in June 2023. And the last sighting of Hamilton had been the few who spied him leaving the Croft paddock on the Saturday morning of the following round. What happened then?

“Unfortunately, Team Hard were in a position where they were overly stretched for what they could do, and I made a personal decision to walk away from that outfit at Croft,” he explains. “I believe it was the right thing to do. I went through a real difficult period after then, just personally, mentally struggling with, I don’t know…

Hamilton's last BTCC outing came at Oulton Park in 2023

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

“Just the world of motorsport is like a shark pit, and I felt like I couldn’t trust anybody, especially when you have a surname like Hamilton. People expect you to have a shedload of money. I felt like I was being mistreated where I was and I’m an honest dude, I’m trustworthy, I pay my bills on time, and I work so hard to find my budget.

“I was just going through a lot of mental struggles throughout the rest of 2023 and it took me to a place where I was ‘that’s it, I’m done, I’m not going to race anymore, and I don’t even want to try and find the budget’, because finding half a million pounds per year to go racing in BTCC is not easy, and it puts a lot of pressure on you. I ended up finding the budget eventually and then had to walk away, so it was a tough decision for me to make.”

Un-Limited’s Cupras, of course, were built and originally raced by Team Hard, which eventually collapsed at the end of the 2023 season. The car Hamilton is campaigning this season is not one he raced before; instead, it’s a chassis that was last driven by Daryl DeLeon in 2023. Work needs to be carried out in order to fit the systems with which Hamilton can race against able-bodied rivals, but, in our chat a few days before he takes to the track for the first time in a test at Brands Hatch, he sees no problem.

“It’s been a while but I feel like I’ll be up to speed pretty quickly,” he predicts. “Brands is a shakedown, specifically for my pedal modifications and my hand clutch and everything. We have to think outside the box with the disability, so we’re just making sure that everything’s all good to go and comfortable, and the legs are good.”

“Have I fallen back in love with racing? I’ve always been in love with racing!” Nic Hamilton

After this, Hamilton took part in the first official pre-season BTCC test – two days at Croft in early April – before the upcoming season launch at Donington Park on 15 April and the opening round at the same venue on 26-27 April.

Hamilton’s mission is to highlight motorsport as an environment in which disabled people can play a part. “This year I really wanted to use my platform to help inspire the industry to bring more disabled people into the sport,” he declares. “I’ve worked with a charity called We Are Beams, who provided me with some disabled individuals to stand next to my car [for the PR shoot], and I think it’s a powerful image to bring disabled people to the forefront. At the end of the day I am a disabled athlete; I think a lot of people forget that, but I really want to this year shout out about that and make people feel comfortable with their condition.

“I’m an ambassador for Scope as well, the disability equality charity, so through motorsport I’m just trying to raise more and more awareness around disability. At the end of the day I want to get as many disabled people into the sport, whether it’s being a member of the hospitality team or the design team or whatever it is. It’s about a disabled person hopefully looking at me and going, ‘You know what? Motorsport is an accepting sport and it’s a sport maybe where I want to start to have a career and be a part of a team.’”

Hamilton in Croft test action for Un-Limited Motorsport

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

But clearly, any inspiration Hamilton can offer also comes from fulfilling his own dream of racing. Ask him about the removal of hybrid from the BTCC for 2025, and he’s as enthusiastic as anyone else about the lighter cars that entails. But you get the impression that he’d be happy to be on the grid even if you stipulated that each car had to carry a family of four, their luggage for a two-week holiday, and tow a caravan.

“Absolutely yeah, it’s just better for everyone involved,” he bubbles about the kilo-shedding. “To be honest I’m just grateful to be back on the grid. My motorsport means a lot to me and I work super-hard to do it, and there were parts of last year where I thought, ‘I’m never going to be able to get the budget to get back in.’ Thanks to the team and my partners – it’s put me on the grid late, but it’s put me on the grid nonetheless, and I’m just going to enjoy it.”

It's not the latest in the off-season that a Hamilton participation has been announced though. On one occasion, it was the evening before the season launch… “No!” he laughs. “I always like to announce late anyway. But in terms of the deal itself, it’s definitely the latest I’ve done for a long time. It’s an absolute privilege to be on the grid. I’m going to try and maximise my time there, a to do a decent job and see if I can get some decent results, but also use my platform to really help disabled people and inspire the next generation – that’s the goal.”

Hamilton has scored points twice in the BTCC, and the second occasion he describes as “a life-changing moment for me”. This is when he finished sixth in the wet at Donington in the second race of the opening round of 2023. Admittedly, he chose the right tyres for a pitlane start prior to the oncoming deluge of rain, but that was a call that many BTCC stars and their engineers got wrong. It could have been even better: fifth overall, and victory in the Independents class, was snatched away at the very last corner of the race by series debutant Mikey Doble.

“Yeah he did… Oh my God!” exclaims Hamilton when asked tongue-in-cheek about Doble’s move. “Yeah, look, I believe everything happens for a reason, and there’s a reason why that weekend all the stars aligned. Lewis was there, my dad was there, my mum was there, and we had this incredible achievement, and I drove out of my skin.

“I would have loved to have taken home a trophy and have something to remember the day by. But to be honest, if I’d ended up on the Independent podium I wouldn’t have had the pitlane welcome that I got from my team. I wouldn’t have had the emotional moments that I had with my parents and everything like that.

“Maybe at some point in the future, there’s another reason why I didn’t get it and I might actually get one eventually. But to be honest, whatever happens happens and I’m just excited to see where we go this year.”

Hamilton celebrates his "life-changing moment" at Donington Park in 2023

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Hamilton is just one-third of a tidy line-up assembled at Un-Limited by team boss Bob Sharpless, alongside fellow returnee Dexter Patterson (the Scottish youngster was a team-mate to Hamilton at Team Hard in 2023) and West Country rookie Max Hall (the Mini Challenge runner-up has looked a proper talent in testing).

“Obviously the team is under new ownership and a different structure, but it’s got the same sort of team members that we’ve had previously, and to have Dexter alongside me definitely brings some comfort,” reckons Hamilton. “It’s nice to have drivers that you’ve worked with before. He’s obviously a very talented driver and I think we can learn a lot from each other.

“It’s quite interesting because we’ve got Max as well – it’s his first time in touring cars and even though you’ve got a young driver, you can also learn from them. He seems to be a really happy lad and really excited to get going. He’s just going to take it race by race, and I think he’s got the right attitude. He’s going to be a great addition to the team and he’s up to speed pretty quickly, and that’s what I was expecting.”

“Paul O'Neill really understands where I've come from, being the sibling of a well-known celebrity” Nic Hamilton

One thing that is clear from Hamilton is his feeling of acceptance at Un-Limited. He has spoken of the ‘shark pit’ of motorsport, and it puts you in mind of Paul O’Neill – similarly passionate about the sport but who, as the brother of Spice Girl Mel C, felt that people were more interested in his sister’s money until he hooked up with the Tech-Speed squad of Marvin Humphries, who took the youngster under his wing (and is latterly the team manager at the Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai operation).

“He really understands where I’ve come from, being the sibling of a well-known celebrity,” admits Hamilton. “I think the difference between myself and Paul is I’m the sibling of someone that is well known in motorsport, so it’s a direct comparison, and he’s arguably the most successful driver of our generation. So it’s not easy.

“I’m proud either way. I’m proud that I stand on my own two feet, that I get my own funding together, and that I ended up getting on the grid. I feel very proud of myself when I’m sitting in my car, and just having a team around me that believe in me and trust me and work alongside me to help me improve and continue moving forward. I’ve done a good job. It’s been a hell of a journey, coming from wheelchair to racing driver – it’s not easy.”

After those dark days of late 2023, is it fair to say Hamilton is falling back in love with the sport?

“Have I fallen back in love with racing?” he echoes. “I’ve always been in love with racing. I always just found racing hard. I didn’t always feel like racing loved me, to be honest. With Bob and the new team and the new structure, hopefully I’ll be looked after well and motorsport will welcome me back with open arms and care for me. I feel like I need it a little bit.

“Motorsport is always close to my heart, and to be honest without it I wouldn’t be as strong as I am today. I wouldn’t be as physically strong. I don’t know where I’d be without it. It’s a big part of my life.”

Hamilton is determined to make a difference as he logs another pre-season test lap in Yorkshire

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images