KEYS TO THE KINGDOM

Lewis Hamilton - the Formula 1 superstar, style icon and entrepreneur - is one of a kind. GQ finds out what drives him

- Chris Heath

WHEN LEWIS HAMILTON BECAME A FORMULA 1 DRIVER, SUCCESS CAME QUICKLY, BUT AN EASY SENSE OF BELONGING DIDN'T.

'I didn't feel like I was welcome, he tells me. 'I didn't feel like I was accepted. God knows how many of these drivers say: "This isn't what a Formula 1 driver is. That's not how you behave. This isn't how you do it. Tattoos? No! A Formula 1 driver doesn't have tattoos! A Formula 1 driver doesn't have a personality - and piercings!"

Hamilton carried on regardless, doing things his way, and it can't be said to have worked out too badly. He's now one of the most famous athletes on earth, even more so since Netflix's documentary series Formula 1: Drive to Survive brought his sport to a new audience, particularly in the US. He's won a record-equalling seven world championships, and when it comes to driving cars like these at around 320km an hour, some would argue he's the best there's ever been.

That's not to say that, even now, everything's always smooth or straightforward There's a tattoo arcing across the top of Hamilton's chest that reads Powerful Beyond Measure. The words are taken from a longer quote by the writer Marianne Williamson: "Our deepest fear isn't that we're inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we're powerful beyond measure. It's our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us." "I read it, and I thought it was one of the greatest sayings ever, Hamilton says. 'We limit ourselves the majority of the time. And where it really hit me hard is: we should never have to dim our light to make others feel... He pauses, gathers himself. 'If anything, we should shine as bright as we can to liberate others to do the same. I live my life by that quote. For so long in my life, I felt like I was dimming my light because I felt uncomfortable.