Four World Champions who had a humble beginning

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From Kimi Raikkonen to Lewis Hamilton we take a look at four world champion Formula 1 drivers that would dream big and achieve what others thought was impossible.

1 Kimi Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen lived most of his childhood with his grandfather in the suburbs of Finland. To keep the family in survival, his parents switched multiple jobs and would work as an office clerk and sometimes even in road construction.

At the age of just 3 Kimi was given a motocross bike with training wheels that he could ride on the open country side that was near their house. To this day Kimi loves motocross bikes just as much as his love for Formula 1.

Kimi made a breakthrough into the Motorsports world when he was 10. He had made it good as a rally driver at first and then eventually got himself into the F1 world supported by the Sauber F1 team. Kimi would go on to win the 2007 Formula 1 world championship driving for Ferrari. He was the third Finnish drive to do so after Mika Haikkinen and Keke Rosberg.

2 Michael Schumacher

Michael Schumacher was born in Hurth, NRW in Germany. His father was a brick layer. At the age of 4 his father gifted him a pedal kart that he had modified by adding a motorcycle engine. Schumacher drove it for sometime and fell in love with driving. He crashed into a post and then his parents took him to a local karting club where he could drive safely and under instructors. He was the youngest member of the club. Using scrap parts his father built him a kart which Schumacher raced and won his first karting race championship ever.

His parents at one point could not support his motor racing expenses and club fees, but some good willed businessmen saw Schumacher's potential and sponsored him and his races. The rest is history. Schumacher would go on to win 7 World championships with 5 of them in Ferrari.

3 Sebastian Vettel

We have another famous German on here. Not many know about Vettel's humble beginnings. Sebatian Vettel was born in the city of Heppenheim. His love for Motorsports came at an early age when he got a gift from his parents, it was a kart. Vettel used to drive the kart in the backyard for so long that his parents had to force him to stop just to make him eat food. It is also interesting to note that Vettel's younger brother Fabian also had an interest in racing but his parents talked him out of it since they could not afford it.

To get Vettel into the Motorsport world, his family had to do a lot of sacrifices. His father sold his hill climb racing car that he used to build as a hobby. His world changed when Redbull noticed his talent on a local karting event in Kerpen which was also the place where Schumacher had also been racing when he was a kid.

Sebastian Vettel would win 4 World championships racing for Redbull racing and now he races for Ferrari.

4 Lewis Hamilton

At a young age, Lewis saw his parents separating. He initially started living with his mother. When he was 6 years old he was gifted with a go-kart, he fell in love with the machine and would drive it every day. When he was 12 , Lewis decided to live with his father and step mother. Lewis had enrolled in a karting club and his father vowed to support his son on his tough journey. He didn't want the happiness in his son's face to disappear.

His father worked in multiple jobs, working day and night. At one point the whole monthly income had to be spent to get Lewis a decent kart to race in. Eventually all the hard work paid off as Lewis began winning several karting events and caught the eye of several sponsors at the events. In 2001 he was picked up by the Manor Motorsports team.

In 2007 , Lewis made his grand entry into Formula 1 and almost won his first season that year.
In 2008 he won his first F1 World championship driving for McLaren Team. Lewis currently races for Mercedes AMG F1 team with whom he already won 5 world championships.