Formula 1 legend Lewis Hamilton originally envisaged career in a different sport before he went on to win seven drivers’ titles.
Hamilton is the most successful driver in F1 history with 105 Grand Prix wins to his name and seven drivers’ titles, the latter figure putting him level with the great Michael Schumacher.
Hamilton won his first title with McLaren in 2008, having made his debut with the team a year earlier in 2007.
He left McLaren at the end of 2012 to move to Mercedes, with whom he went on to win another six drivers’ titles with.
Hamilton nearly won an eighth championship in 2021 but for a controversial end to that year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix which saw Max Verstappen claim his first crown.
Hamilton stunned the sporting world when it was announced last year he would be leaving Mercedes at the end of 2024 to move to Ferrari.
The move ended a long association he had with Mercedes-Benz, after the German company’s engines had powered every single one of his F1 laps before this season.
Though there were huge expectations for Hamilton’s move to the Scuderia, the Briton’s first season with Ferrari looks like it will end disappointingly with Hamilton yet to register a win or even a podium for his new team.
One of the few high points so far for Hamilton with Ferrari has been his victory in the sprint race in China towards the start of this campaign.
Lewis Hamilton. (Image: Getty)
But F1 was not the only sport a younger Hamilton had an eye upon achieving in once upon a time.
Hamilton, a boyhood Arsenal fan, once revealed he wanted to be a footballer in his younger days and even trained until he was 14 as he sought to try and play for the Gunners‘ youth set-up.
He said: “I played in a local club and my goal was to try out for Arsenal’s under-16 team.
“I love how football unites people from all over the world, and how anyone can play. Especially when you see children playing on the streets and how it brings them closer.
“As Nelson Mandela always said, sport can really change the world.”
And before playing a game of five-a-side against some Gunners legends, he told Sky Sports: “I started supporting Arsenal when I was five. I haven’t played for like 15 years so it could be really bad on my behalf, but still just to play, I’m just going to be passing it every time it comes to me!
“This is a cool day, I’m grateful that these guys came down, real legends of the sport and legends of the team that I’ve supported for so many years.”
