Lewis Hamilton may not have won the F1 title in his rookie year, but that hasn’t stopped him becoming a one-man moneymaking industry as the Christmas cash tills begin to jingle.
It seems everyone wants a souvenir of one of the most remarkable British sporting debuts of recent years.
So, in the spirit of Christmas giving, we present the top five Lewis Hamilton gifts on the market for this Christmas.
The Lewis Hamilton gift bundle for adults, from OnPole.com- This bundle costs £34.95 and is made up of a t-shirt, mouse pad and a team flag (on a fibre glass pole that’s almost 2m long, which is presumably why it’s not in the kids’ pack). The total saving over buying them separately is about £16.
The Lewis Hamilton gift bundle for kids, also from OnPole.com- Another Vodafone McLaren Mercedes t-shirt in this bundle, in kids’ sizes of course, along with a team cap and a Lewis Hamilton beach / bath towel. The cost is £38.95, about £20 less than buying each item separately.
Die-cast model of Hamilton’s MP4/22, from Grand Prix Legends- Good quality models can be quite an investment, especially when they’re tied in to a particular event in a driver’s career – we’re told early Valentino Rossi models have doubled in value. OnPole.com is a bit of a die-cast specialist, but they’re not the only game in town – this 1/18 replica from Mattel is available on Grand Prix Legends for £44.99.
1/12 scale 2007 McLaren MP4/22 nosecone, again from Grand Prix Legends- This looks to us alarmingly like one of those mounted animal heads that big game hunters used to stick on their walls, but there’s no denying that if your interest is as much in the engineering side of F1 as in the people this is a very stylish way to invest £69.99.
F1 2007 season newspaper book, featuring guess who, from Devoted to Sport- At times during 2007 it seemed as if the newspapers had forgotten there were 21 other cars on the grid. But, if that was frustrating during the season, it does have the advantage that this summary of the season in press cuttings also acts as the week-by-week account of how a motorsport star was made.
And don’t forget there’s also My Story, the autobiography – if such a word can be used for so young a person. It didn’t impress F1Fanatic editor Keith Collantine, who called it a “missed opportunity” when he reviewed it because it fails to to give an insight into what makes young Lewis tick. But it is the only officially-authorised account of how he got where he is today and, as such, makes a reasonably acceptable stocking-filler.
Naturally, if you’re sick of the sight of Lewis Hamilton by now and would rather cough up for a Kimi Raikkonen championship commemorative Christmas gift then there’s plenty to satisfy you at our partners’ sites (see the ads on the right of this page). Just don’t expect us to link to them.
Keith was kind enough to stop by in the comments to this page and suggest a couple of better alternative books – ‘The Full Story’ by Autosport’s Mark Hughes and ‘A Portrait of Britain’s New F1 Hero’ by Andrew van de Burgt.