Lewis Hamilton organized for his brother Nicolas to expertise Mercedes’ System 1 simulator in Brackley after the season completed.
Nicolas, who’s seven years youthful than his seven-times world champion brother, is a racer in his personal proper in touring automobiles. He began off in Renault Clio Cup UK, then moved as much as the British Touring Automobile Championship the place he has been racing full-time since 2019.
To accommodate the difficulties offered by his cerebral palsy, the youthful Hamilton races a modified automobile within the BTCC. Mercedes additionally made changes to the cockpit in his full-motion rig to make it extra accessible for him.
Following the session, which occurred round two weeks in the past, Hamilton posted a number of pictures of his brother at Mercedes on social media and defined how the day took place.
“Earlier this 12 months Nicolas and I requested my staff if we may make today occur and right here we’re,” Hamilton mentioned.
“Time within the sim is extremely uncommon, and never one thing that’s accessible for somebody like my brother. It took customized modifications to the seat, steering wheel and pedals to make this attainable.
“He spent the entire day in it, and is the primary disabled individual to ever achieve this. He’s all the time been a fighter and seeing him have today is an honour. The smile you see right here by no means left his face. Can’t wait to share extra of this special occasion, thanks Mercedes for the time and work put in to make this attainable and make my brother’s dream come true.”
The method for disabled drivers to accumulate race licences was significantly tough till 2019, when a number of proposals from the FIA’s Incapacity and Accessibility Fee had been carried out that included a brand new Certificates of Variations for automobiles of disabled drivers.
These guidelines have made it simpler for the likes of Hamilton, Robert Wickens and Alex Zanardi to race in high-level touring automobile championships.
On the finish of 2017, Billy Monger labored with the FIA to take away the ruling that prevented disabled people from driving any single-seater automobiles. He went on to race in System 3, successful the Pau Grand Prix.
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