EXCLUSIVE: The time Lewis Hamilton DEFIED Mercedes orders to race

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GPFans Exclusive

EXCLUSIVE: The time Lewis Hamilton DEFIED Mercedes orders to race

Lewis Hamilton has recently left the team

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Friday 7 March 2025 02:00

Lewis Hamilton once defied Mercedes team orders to race karts, a young racing star has revealed.

Hamilton has now left the Silver Arrows after 12 seasons with the team, joining Ferrari ahead of the 2025 season.

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The Brackley-based outfit helped Hamilton to become the most successful driver in Formula 1 history, with the Brit holding the all-time records for the number of race victories and pole positions, and the joint all-time record with Michael Schumacher for the number of world championships.

However, in recent years, the team have struggled to produce a championship-worthy car, prompting Hamilton to head elsewhere as he chases an eighth world championship.

Lewis Hamilton won 84 F1 races with Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton has now joined Ferrari for 2025 and beyond

Lewis Hamilton ignores Mercedes orders

Barbados-born racing superstar Zane Maloney is a Formula E racer, having previously won the British F4 championship in 2019 and claimed two race victories in F2 last season with Rodin Motorsport.

Maloney has revealed that Hamilton ignored his team's concerns to race alongside young stars at Bushy Park when Maloney was just 14 years of age.

Speaking to Jim Kimberley on behalf of GPFans, Maloney said: "Yeah, so that was in 2017, if I remember correctly.

"So yeah, I was 14, racing and karting at that stage. I was racing in the US or just before I actually went to the US, still racing in Barbados. Lewis came down for the Top Gear Festival, and yeah, he brought the F1 car down. He was driving in the F1 car and the Radicals, and it was just like a day for lots of different cars going on track."

He continued: "Lewis was meant to wave the green flag and the chequered flag, of course, because when we had asked his team if he could drive, they said: 'No chance because he has a race coming up in F1 and can't injure his ribs.'

"When Lewis found that out, he came straight over to us and said, 'Do you have a go-kart?' Obviously, we had a spare one, which was decked out in the Mercedes side pods and front of the kart as well. We were ready for it because we knew how Lewis probably could be.

"So he came to us, asked to drive, and the only thing he needed was a rib protector. He kind of told his team, 'I got this, I'm going to be fine,' got a rib protector for him. He came out in the go-karts.

"It was pouring with rain, so he didn't need to do that, and he was driving past everyone, slowing down, racing everyone, waving," he said in a stunning admission about the seven-time F1 champion.

"There's quite a famous YouTube video from a helmet cam of one of the drivers of Lewis coming and speaking to him, and that was very cool. Then he just realised when the last lap was coming, parked on the side of the track - in Barbados, it's very laid back - jumped out of the kart and waved the chequered flag.

"So, generally, it was just an amazing, amazing day. Of course, for me, looking up to Lewis, to think I'd be on the track with him was crazy. You could see the skill straight away from the time he jumped in; lap one, he was on the money in the wet, so it was a very good day."

Maloney was then asked by Jim Kimberley whether he got to race alongside Hamilton: "We were on the track, yeah, we were on the track at the same time. He kept, obviously, someone might have spoken to him saying who is trying to pursue racing and who is just having fun. So he came next to me, he was messing around with me, racing. Yeah, it was very cool."

Written by

Sam Cook - Digital Journalist

Sam Cook is a talented young sports journalist and social media professional who now specialises in Formula 1, having previously worked as a football journalist and a local news reporter for a variety of different brands.

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Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Mercedes Formula 1 Michael Schumacher