Lewis Hamilton MasterClass Review

Heard about the Lewis Hamilton MasterClass and wondering if it’s worth it? We’ve got you covered.

Lewis Hamilton is one of the biggest names in Formula 1. He has a wealth of historic sporting achievements under his belt and a net worth of 55 million to boot. He’s also the first, and currently only, black driver to race in the Formula 1 series. 

Hamilton and MasterClass have teamed up to deliver a course teaching you how to gain the winning mindset that’s gotten him where he is today.

Coming into this review, I had a few reservations: is it really possible to teach a winning mindset? And whilst Lewis Hamilton is a remarkable athlete, does he really have the teaching skills to do a class like this?

Now I’ve taken the course, I can say with confidence that Lewis Hamilton’s MasterClass has a lot to offer the budding athlete. But there are a few things you’ll need to know in advance to decide if the course is for you.

If you’re in a rush, here’s the abridged version:

This Lewis Hamilton MasterClass review will cover:

• About Lewis Hamilton and MasterClass
• A sneak peek at the content
• What I liked about the course and thought could be improved
• Who the course is for
• How much the course costs
• Alternatives and uniqueness
• And finally, is it worth it?

So, let’s get started.

About Lewis Hamilton

How do you describe the significance of Lewis Hamilton’s legacy to a layperson? 

Hamilton has achieved more or less every Formula 1 title you could ever dream of obtaining. He holds world records for the most wins, pole positions and podium finishes. And he also holds the joint record for the most World Drivers’ Championship titles with none other than Michael Schumacher.

Plus Hamilton is unique for being the first and only black driver to compete in the world series. 

He’s received racist abuse throughout his career, but has persevered and used his platform to promote equality within the sport, as well as supporting civil rights causes.

Hamilton’s story is one of resilience, dedication, and overcoming a prejudiced establishment to achieve his goals. It’s an inspiration to any would-be athlete. 

And if you haven’t seen the trailer for his MasterClass, here it is!

About MasterClass

Masterclass is an online learning platform that offers tuition from globally acclaimed experts in a wide range of fields of endeavor.

The site has over 150 celebrity-taught courses available right now, featuring world-class experts like Simone Biles, Stephen Curry, Serena Williams and many more. 

Having taken a number of MasterClass courses myself, I can report that many are fantastic, and give you a great insight. That said, some are better than others, and it’s important to do your research first to make sure the course you’re choosing is the right one for you.

If you want more detail on MasterClass and some of its most popular classes check out our Masterclass review and best MasterClass article.

Inside Lewis Hamilton’s MasterClass

Lewis Hamilton’s MasterClass consists of:

• 12 video lessons totalling 2 hours and 12 minutes of content (average video lesson length is 10 – 12 minutes)
• 37-page class guide featuring stylised writeups of the video lesson content

The lessons in this MasterClass aren’t strictly categorized. They’re designed to take the viewer on a journey through the different aspects of Lewis Hamilton’s career and the tenets by which he approaches his work and life as an athlete. 

For this review, I’m going to group lessons in terms of their general themes. This way you can break down the course into four sections:

• inspiration
• discipline
• exercise, and
• growth

With that in mind, let’s go into more detail about what these sections entail:

Lessons 2, 3, 4: Inspiration

In these first lessons, Hamilton talks about what inspired him to get into Formula 1 racing and recounts childhood idols and stories from his early racing days. 

These classes are where we start to get to know Hamilton. We learn why he’s so passionate about racing, and pick up some tips that we can apply to pursuing our own ambitions.

The section even ends on a class detailing the internals of Hamilton’s car to help get further inside his mind. That’s sure to stoke the interest of any F1 fan.

In this section you will learn:

• How Lewis Hamilton began as a racer
• Pursuing your passion in the face of adversity
• The importance of idols and role models
• How Hamilton’s car is constructed around him
• What it’s like to race at the highest level

Lessons 5, 6, 7: Discipline

The next few lessons are focussed on how Hamilton maintains discipline and deals with adversity. We get pointers about dealing with failure, maintaining good relationships with your team, as well as how to be self-disciplined.

The content here is based around how to keep yourself on track to pursuing your ambitions, and recover from setbacks.

You will learn:

• How to learn from your mistakes
• Dealing with hard times and burnout
• Working and growing as a team
• Keeping composed under pressure
• Maintaining self-discipline

Lessons 8, 9: Exercise

Lessons 8 and 9 are centered around how Hamilton keeps his body and mind healthy ahead of a race. You’ll hear stories about his training methods in the gym, as well as how he keeps his mind sharp and remains focussed on the task at hand.

Hamilton also gives some salient advice on pre-game prep, how he stays calm before a race and gets himself in the right headspace to perform at his best.

You will learn:

• The importance of sport-specific fitness and how to build it in the gym
• How physical training can increase your mental focus
• Why nutrition and recovery are so important
• The connection between body and mind and how to strengthen it
• How to develop a pre-game prep routine

Lessons 10, 11, 12: Growth

In these final lessons, Hamilton turns his attention away from racing and towards his other interests. The content speaks to how to grow as a person, and how developing other interests can boost your creativity and success in your main passion.

Hamilton also includes some community-minded videos about the importance of social awareness and using your platform to make positive change.

You will learn:

• How developing interests outside of work can benefit you
• Managing time and putting priorities first
• Why Hamilton believes standing up for what’s right is so important
• The importance of helping the next generation 

What I liked about the Lewis Hamilton MasterClass

Learn from the best in racing

The foremost benefit of this MasterClass is learning from a sporting legend. Few online classes give you the opportunity to learn from a pro F1 driver. None feature anyone as high level as Lewis Hamilton.

If your main sporting interest is racing, this class is a rare treat, and gives you the opportunity to learn from the best in the sport.

Peek behind the curtain of Hamilton’s career

Following on from my previous point, this class does a really good job of giving insight into Hamilton’s career and seeing who he is as an athlete.

We get to see Hamilton race from within the cockpit, hear him explain how he works with his team to maximize performance, see him training in the gym before a big race and celebrating wins and mourning losses.

We even get a peek into his origins in the sport, how he got started in racing and what motivated him to pursue it to the highest level.

Practical sports advice

As the aim of this course was clearly to be applicable to as many sports as possible, Hamilton does a good job of covering ideas that more or less any athlete can benefit from.

Ideas like forming strong relations within your training team and ensuring you’re mentally prepared for competition are universal to all sports. This MasterClass covers these by showing how Hamilton applies them to his own sports, then asking the audience to consider how they can apply it to theirs. 

It’s a great feature of this class that it asks the user to think about how they can improve themselves and motivates them to make active changes to their training, which is really what any great course should do.

Encourages spreading positive influence

Lastly it’s worth mentioning Hamilton’s talks on activism. Lewis Hamilton has always been politically vocal, being an open advocate for causes such as Black Lives Matter. 

I was pleased to see Hamilton calling on students of this course to be more politically involved themselves. He encourages you to stand up for causes that you hold dear and talks about his own journey into political activism.

It’s a sincere and heartfelt part of the curriculum and a great way to end the class on an inspirational note. 

What could be improved 

Some lessons lighter on content than others

Whilst I thoroughly enjoyed this MasterClass overall, some of its lessons did leave me wanting more. Particularly with lessons about Hamilton’s training routines and mental prep, the course gives more of a general overview rather than a deep dive.

Additionally, although we get a quick peek of Hamilton behind the wheel, there’s no talk of Hamilton’s competition strategy or approach to driving. 

Honestly this isn’t a huge surprise as Hamilton has gone on record before saying he chooses to be guarded about this sort of thing. But I would like to have heard Hamilton give a bit of context to how he approaches F1 as a sport.

This isn’t going to be an issue for many people who are more interested in developing their own training routines, but for a sports geek like me it would’ve been nice to see all the intricacies that go into training a world-class F1 racer.

Who is this course for?

Lewis Hamilton’s MasterClass is designed primarily for athletes, however the specific sport isn’t as important. 

Most of the content is universally applicable for anyone training in competitive sports. And, honestly, a lot of it carries to other competitive industries like business, music, art, etc.

Also, the Formula 1 content alone gives a lot to any F1 fans who aren’t interested in learning about mindset.

That being said, I think the people who will get the most out of this course are:

• Aspiring athletes at the beginner to intermediate level
• Sporting amateurs who want to take their training more seriously
• Anyone looking to excel in a competitive industry
• People interested in learning how elite athletes live and train

And of course, any and all fans of Lewis Hamilton!

How much does the Lewis Hamilton MasterClass cost?

At the time of writing MasterClass had three subscription offers. The cost of these (per month) is:

• Individual (1 user) $10
• Duo (2 users) $15
• Family (6 users) $20

All are billed annually, which at first glance may seem pricey. 

However, you can considerably reduce your costs by joining with friends or family. And of course by taking as many courses as possible.

With over 190 courses on the platform you’re likely to find quite a few to interest you. Even if you buy an individual membership and find only 10% of the courses of interest this still works out to only $6 a course:

$120 (annual individual membership fee) / 20 courses = $6.

And if you join with friends or family then the cost of each course is drastically reduced. Check out our MasterClass review or MasterClass cost articles to see how.

Bearing in mind that these classes are taught by global leaders in their fields the value is unbeatable. You can pay over $100 for an online course taught by someone you’ve never even heard of, never mind someone of Hamilton’s calibre.

What’s more, MasterClass also offers a 30 day refund if you’re unhappy with your purchase.

You can also purchase MasterClass as a gift.

Alternatives to the Lewis Hamilton MasterClass

The Skills:

The Skills is a rival online learning platform to MasterClass that specializes specifically in sport-based classes. 

They currently host courses from some of the biggest names in sport, including Michael Phelps, Megan Rapinoe, Shaun White, and more. In terms of mindset classes, The Skills currently offers users the opportunity to book 1 on 1 sessions with Sports Psychology PhD Dr. Haley Perlus. 

The sessions are an opportunity to gain advice and guidance on specific sports psychology queries related to mental toughness, motivation, etc.

Currently sessions are priced at $75 for 30mins, giving it a much heftier price tag than the Lewis Hamilton MasterClass. However if you’re a pro-athlete looking for professional sports psychology advice rather than a general mindset class, this could be an option to investigate.

To learn more about TheSkills, you can check out my The Skills platform review.

MasterClass:

Surprisingly, Lewis Hamilton isn’t the only pro-athlete to put out a sports-mindset course on MasterClass.

Wayne Gretzky also teaches his course on what he calls “the athlete’s mindset”. Gretzky’s course follows a similar format to Hamilton’s, but with more focus on Gretzky’s story as an athlete, covering all the major events in his career and what lessons can be taken from them.

To learn more check out my Wayne Gretzky MasterClass review.

What others have said about the Lewis Hamilton MasterClass

To give a truly honest and informed review of this course, I thought I ought to check out how people who’ve already taken the course were feeling about it. 

At time of writing this course is still fairly new, and so hasn’t yet generated the level of comment other MasterClasses have. 

Most of the comments I found were Hamilton fans excited to see the class released, but not many from people who had actually taken the course:

“Lewis Hamilton inspires me, with his mental strength and his will to win. This guy is responsible for me getting out of my comfort zone and chasing my dreams”. YouTube commenter 

I did find a few notable comments on reddit giving mixed opinions on the course. There were some encouraging comments from redditors who thought the course contents could have strong crossover to competitive sport:

“...a lot of what it takes to be a successful world champion at the top level of any sport is all about mindset, confidence, mental strength, how to deal with certain situations, etc.” Reddit commenter

One commenter claimed the course lacked value since the ideas taught were too abstract to be applied:

“(On the subject of the value of MasterClasses) Depends on the topic too. Like this… I don’t feel has that much value to be honest.” Reddit commenter

I personally feel this is a bit of an unfair dismissal. Whilst it’s true to say that mindset isn’t something that can be drilled and practiced in the same way physical skills can, it’s not to say that applying new perspectives to your decision making and training approach can’t help you improve.

One of the key strengths of Lewis Hamilton’s MasterClass is giving applicable advice, often Hamilton will highlight things he does in his own training which can be directly transposed into your own approach, and for that reason I strongly believe the class has merit.

How unique is the course content?

Whilst the concept of a class about mindset is nothing new, the unique spin that this MasterClass brings to the table is the unique perspective of a Formula 1 racing champion.

In that respect the content is like no other, it’s a rare opportunity to get insight into Lewis Hamilton’s passion for racing and understand how he’s able to apply mindset principles to work as hard as he does. 

There are plenty of mindset courses, but this is the only Lewis Hamilton mindset course, and that’s really what sets it apart from the competition.

Is Lewis Hamilton’s MasterClass worth it?

If you’re looking to challenge the way you approach your training, or if you’re a Lewis Hamilton fan, this class is absolutely worth it.

Whilst I still would’ve wanted a little more strictly F1 content, it’s clear that the focus of this course is mindset and motivation. Viewed through that lens the content is consistently on point.

The lessons give applicable advice and ask you to question how you approach your future goals. I can say taking it has changed the way I view athletes like Hamilton and given me a greater understanding of just how dedicated it’s possible to be.

Plus, if you take this as part of a MasterClass subscription, you’ll have access to dozens of other high quality classes. And with a 30 day money back guarantee, what’ve you got to lose?

Frequently asked questions