The rise of Formula One star Lewis Hamilton
He drives a multimillion-dollar car at well over 200 mph. He wins races all over the globe and the love of millions of fans. He's a three-time world champ and he's only 30 years old. Not bad work if you can get it. That's the life of Formula One racer Lewis Hamilton, who describes his thrilling job and how he got to the top to Charlie Rose on Sunday, Dec. 13 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
"It's like you're strapped to a rocket...how do you control this rocket? It's like a raging bull," Hamilton tells Rose. "It's wild. It's sexy. It's fast."
Formula One cars can make turns at over 100 mph without tipping over. The engineering makes them incredibly expensive. "Nothing can really prepare you for when you get in the Formula One car...a multimillion dollar car and if you crash it, it's going to cost a lot of money and they might not give you another chance," says Hamilton.
Hamilton has gotten plenty of chances and made the most of them, winning 43 times -- putting him at number three on the all-time list with years to go on his career. He's crashed some of those precious cars, too, but managed to escape serious injury.
What's not to love about this job? "Best job in the world. I love this," Hamilton tells Rose.
Rose gets a taste of what Hamilton does when the driver takes him out in a top of the line conventional sports car, driving at speeds over 140 mph at Silverstone, Hamilton's home track where he has won the British Grand Prix three times.
The report includes an interview with Hamilton's father, Anthony, who was once his manager. In a sport that usually is passed on from generation to generation, the elder Hamilton didn't know anything about racing when he bought his young son a second-hand go-kart for Christmas. He nurtured the boy's talent from then on. "What he did for me, I can never pay him back," says Hamilton about his biggest fan.