It was already shaping up to be a memorable weekend for the Hamilton family. Then it became something else entirely.
On Sunday in Montreal, Lewis Hamilton climbed onto the Formula 1 podium for the first time as a Ferrari driver, finishing second at the Canadian Grand Prix in what he called the happiest day of his career with the Scuderia. The emotion was clear from the moment the chequered flag fell. But the personal significance of the weekend ran deeper than any race result.
Nicolas Hamilton, Lewis’s younger brother, was also racing that same weekend, and ahead of the grand prix he had shared a message capturing the profound meaning of the moment: “2026 – We both prepare to get into our race cars! Maybe this was the path always set for Lewis, but it sure was not the path I was meant to follow. When I get into my car, I always think of Nic in his chair all those years ago.”
Nicolas, who has cerebral palsy, has built a racing career of his own despite the physical challenges he has faced since childhood. He competes in adapted machinery in the British Touring Car Championship, and during the same weekend as the Canadian GP, he achieved a major milestone in his career by securing his first BTCC podium, claiming the Jack Sears Trophy.
Lewis admitted he could not have been prouder of his brother, describing the emotion on Nicolas’ face during his first podium celebration as a special and deeply moving moment.
Nicolas himself captured the experience in words that were hard to read without feeling something. “Yesterday, I achieved my motorsport dream, to stand on a BTCC podium as the winner of the Jack Sears Trophy. To see what it felt like to walk up the podium stairs, which is a challenge in itself, and hold my trophy high in the air – it felt even better than I could have imagined. From a boy in his wheelchair, told he may never walk, to walking onto the podium.”
Two Hamilton brothers. Two podiums. On the same weekend.
Formula 1 produces plenty of stories about speed and strategy and championship points. Every so often, though, it produces something that reminds you why sport matters beyond the numbers on a timing screen. This was one of those weekends.