Nicolas Hamilton, the brother of seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis, has opened up on his sibling’s behaviour towards him when they were children.

Lewis Hamilton and younger brother Nicolas

Nicolas is grateful to older brother Lewis (Image: Getty)

Lewis Hamilton’s brother Nicolas has paid tribute to his Formula 1 legend brother for normalising his disability. The 33-year-old was born with cerebral palsy and was initially told he’d never be able to walk.

But Nicolas hasn’t let his disability hold him back. Like his seven-time world champion brother, he took up motorsport and in 2015, he became the first disabled driver to compete in the British Touring Car Championship. Nicolas, who returned to the Touring Cars grid this season, has revealed his big brother treated him no differently when they were children, helping to meet adversity head-on.

He told the High Performance podcast: “Lewis normalised my disability. What I mean by that is that, just as much as my parents didn’t treat me any differently as a son, my brother didn’t treat me any differently as a brother.

“I was literally like his crash test dummy! Anything that looked dangerous, he would get me to do it first to see how dangerous it was. Lewis always said to me, and he might have said it in interviews already before, but he always wanted a little baby brother. His wish was finally granted.

“Obviously, I ended up with this disability, but for him it wasn’t like, ‘Oh, I’ve now got this baby brother, he’s disabled.’ It was, ‘I’ve got a baby brother and I’m going to pick on him and I’m going to treat him just like I normally would with any baby brother.’

Lewis Hamilton and younger brother Nicolas

“That actually has been a real big part of how strong I am internally. Falling over doesn’t bother me at all. Hitting my head, if I’m bleeding or whatever, I’m not bothered about it.

“I remember him pushing me in a go-kart and trying to get me to go around corners really fast, and I would flip out of it and end up in a bush. He would be like, ‘You’re all right, get back in!’

“It taught me to deal with the pain and just carry on. That’s what I do my whole life now, so my pain threshold is super high, and I just continue.