Nick Hamilton hits back at critics: 'Lewis has never put a penny into my racing'

The 31-year-old currently races in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) despite suffering from the condition cerebral palsy.

It impacts his movement, particularly how he walks, however it’s not halted his desire to race.

Hamilton scored his best career-result in BTCC back in April, finishing sixth at Donington Park - where his older brother, Lewis, was present watching from the sidelines.

In an interview with The Independent, Nicolas revealed that Lewis hasn’t had any influence in terms of funding for his motorsport career and spoke about the challenges of being related to F1’s most successful driver ever.

“Lewis has never put a penny into my motorsport,” he said. “There’s people who still don’t believe me when I say that, but that is literally the situation.

“I’ve had a lot of online trolling and bullying where everyone says I’m only in BTCC because of Lewis. A lot of the criticism is unjust – I don’t deserve it. But to finally shut the critics up on April 23rd was the best thing I could ever wish for. It was a load of relief and a lot of weight off my shoulders.

“When you’re slogging at it for so long, you feel like it’s not going to come. Every time you do something negative, you feel like you’re proving people right. So it was a telling day.”

Nicolas conceded that the comparisons to his more successful sibling has made it challenging at times.

“Ever since I’ve started racing, it’s been hard because people compare me to Lewis and say I’m only there because he’s a multi-millionaire,” he added.

“He’s still a massive reason why I’m as strong as I am and why I’m out of my wheelchair. I’m still his No 1 fan. Lewis and my dad [Anthony], he has been the anchor for the whole family.

“But it’s been really hard being related to Lewis and trying to carve my own career in motorsport.”