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Formula One star set to join new Broncos ownership group

Beaver Creek homeowner joins Walmart heir's group

Second placed Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain attends a press conference after the Hungarian Formula One Grand Prix at the Hungaroring racetrack in Mogyorod, near Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, July 31, 2022.
Anna Szilagyi/AP photo

On Tuesday, seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton, who owns a home in Beaver Creek, was added to Walmart heir Rob Walton’s group set to purchase the Denver Broncos on Aug. 9.

The Walton-Penner group also includes former United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

“We’re delighted to welcome seven-time Formula One World Champion Sir Lewis Hamilton to our ownership group,” Rob Walton said in a statement reported by ESPN on Aug. 2.



“He is a champion competitor who knows what it takes to lead a winning team.”

Hamilton, who also holds the Formula One record for race wins (103), took to Twitter after the announcement.

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“Excited to join an incredible group of owners and become a part of the @Broncos story,” he wrote. “Honoured to work with a world-class team and serve as an example of the value of more diverse leadership across all sports.”

Second placed Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain celebrates on the podium after the Hungarian Formula One Grand Prix at the Hungaroring racetrack in Mogyorod, near Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, July 31, 2022.
Darko Bandic/AP photo

The NFL is expected to approve the purchase at next Tuesday’s league meeting in Minneapolis. It has already received approval from the league’s finance committee.

Hamilton was second in the Hungarian Grand Prix last week and is currently sixth in the driver standings. He spoke with former teammate Heikki Kovalainen yesterday about his season’s start.

“It’s definitely not been perfect,” he told Kovalainen.

“I’ve tried a lot of things with the car and experiments … I’ve struggled with feeling comfortable in the car this year.”

He did note improvements in his last race, saying he’s “in a more leading position with the car now rather than it leading me.”

“I think for anybody it’s a good experience to have the adversity; it only makes you stronger. It’s the failures that truly make us strong,” he told Kovalainen.

He said he spent the winter doing a lot of “self-reflection” while being surrounded by family.

“I wasn’t on my phone, I wasn’t on social media. I was just playing with my kids, building snowmen. We were playing in the water, playing in the waves. I continued to train because that was healthy for my mindset. And a lot of thinking — what do I want to do next?” he said.

“So then to turn the negative into positive — like, ‘yeah I want to come back and fight’ — and then not have the ability to be able to fight back and regain what I fought for last year, has definitely been tough. But there’s always a silver lining.”

He commented on being pleased with his starts and reaction time in the last event and feels his focus on body and health has never been better.

When asked if his car can be competitive next year, he told his former teammate, “I honestly think there is potential to win races, and I’m waiting every weekend — every week I’m hoping that they find something that brings us that little bit of extra downforce without bouncing, but it’s been tough for the team to achieve.”

He did admit competitors have “fundamentally done a better a job” in the engineering aspect of the sport.

“We have to be conscious of that moving forward. We can’t be stubborn and say, ‘no, our way is definitely the way and it will eventually work.’ We have to be humble in our approach.”

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain steers his car during the Hungarian Formula One Grand Prix at the Hungaroring racetrack in Mogyorod, near Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, July 31, 2022.
Anna Szilagyi/AP photo

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