The triple Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton says he has “very serious” ambitions to become a musician.
In an interview with the CBS News show 60 Minutes, the sportsman took a camera crew to his private recording studio in which he played clips of his R&B-inflected tracks J’Adore and Lookin’ at You.
“Music has been a huge passion of mine since I was really young,” Hamilton said. “I started playing guitar when I was 13. In here, I can be me, I can be vulnerable. I can show a side of me that people don’t get to see.”
He added: “The plan was that it always started as a hobby but it’s got to a point now where it’s very serious … If I’m not training, getting ready for the race, I’m here.
“I never thought I would have people following me. You know, fans. I want to share it with them, I want to see what they think. My work ethic is exactly the same here as it is on the racetrack. But it’s just here I can be me.”
Hamilton has no firm plans to release his music, although fan Tinie Tempah has urged the racer to make his music public. “It doesn’t even sound like Lewis Hamilton,” Tempah told Total Access. “It’s really, really good. It’s interesting. I’m curious to see how people will react to it.”
Hamilton has said he is influenced by artists including Michael Jackson, Prince, Kodaline and Jay Z and his ex-girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger.
In 2013 he said: “I built the studio (in my home) for Nicole, so she didn’t have to leave the house to go back to LA, and now she can hardly get in because I’m always in it.”
