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The Lewis Hamilton and McLaren gift and present guide

2009 didn’t turn out to be quite the stellar season for Lewis Hamilton that he experienced in his championship-winning campaign, but the gritty way he fought back from a dreadful start helped secure his reputation as one of the best in the business and won him new fans.

With the Hamilton reputation still growing, it’s fair to say no-one has hit Formula One with quite the same impact for years – so there’s plenty to choose from if you’re looking for a gift or present for a fan.

That’s true whether they’re young or, er, less young, or whether you’re shopping for the perfect gift for an armchair fan, or for someone who wants to get out there and have a go themselves.

Gifts and presents range from the obvious t-shirts, caps and books to slightly more unusual items like original race programmes, team water bottles, copies of McLaren nose cones and steering wheels, or kids’ replica racing suits.

Here’s our guide to what’s on offer, where you can find it, and how much it will cost you.

Retailers

Some retailers have whole sections dedicated to Lewis Hamilton or McLaren merchandise, so if you’re looking for a good general browse try the following:

Here are some suggestions for different categories of gift:

McLaren team gear

Lewis Hamilton gear

Kitbag's Lewis Hamilton range

  • OnPole: Three in One t-shirt bundle – £39.95. Consists of black Lewis t-shirt, Rocket Red cap and team pen/pencil set. Save £15 on the price of these items separately.
  • OnPole: Lewis Union Flag tshirt – £14.95. White tshirt with flag logo exploding at the hip. Down in price from £27.35 and selling out fast.
  • Kitbag: Lewis Hamilton polo shirt – £44.99. White polo shirt with Union Flag and signature logo. Currently on offer with a 10 per cent discount.

Gear for kids

  • M&S: The M&S ‘Living the Dream’ range – prices vary. Launched by Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen, this range of children’s clothes includes caps, t-shirts, gloves, hats, pyjamas, hoodies and even a leather zip-up jacket.
  • Kitbag: McLaren Rocket Red kids’ shirt – £22.99. Updated for 2009, the youngsters’ version of the victory t-shirt that the team wears after winning.
  • OnPole: Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 2009 Lewis Hamilton Cap, for kids – £14.95. The junior version of the Rocket Red team cap as worn by Hamilton
  • Kitbag: Children’s white race suit – £45.00. Dress like the mechanics do – the official 2008 race suit, for kids aged three to nine. Note: doesn’t include Star Wars style reflective helmet and most definitely isn’t fireproof so don’t send your youngster out onto a race track in it.

Hamilton’s F1 cars

Memorabilia and collectibles

  • Devoted to Sport: Motorsport Book – £44.99. From Mike Hawthorn in 1958 to Lewis Hamilton in 2008, how the press reported the big events of the motorsport world. Full newspaper size, reprinting the key stories. 2009 season to be added soon.
  • Kitbag: Programme from the British Grand Prix 2008 – £1.99. As won in the pouring rain by a certain L. Hamilton.
  • OnPole: Jim Bamber ‘Heroes’ Lewis Hamilton Car – £39.99. Cartoonist and artist Bamber is best known for his bug-eyed cartoons in AutoSport. This model features a Hamilton figure sitting in his #1 McLaren car and holding a Union Flag. A contribution is made to the GP Mechanics charitable trust from every model sold.
  • Kitbag: Vodafone McLaren Mercedes limited edition photo boxset: 40 Years of GP Wins – £65.00. An official McLaren release, this special edition collector’s box features 40 A5 prints and is limited to 5000 copies worldwide.

Toys for the young – and not-so-young

  • GT Models: Lewis Hamilton Airfix kit – £24.99. As made famous by the TV commercial, but very much simplified for easy assembly.
  • John Lewis: Vodafone McLaren Mercedes F1 Scalextric set – £99.95. A complete set to get you racing as Lewis Hamilton against Heikki Kovalainen – five meters of track, two high-tech, highly detailed cars, and a lot of vrooom!
  • M&S: Micro Scalextric McLaren racing set – £39.50. Simpler, smaller and less breakable then the full-size version, micro Scalextric is the ideal introduction to slot cars for youngsters. This set includes two Vodafone McLaren Mercedes cars and instructions to build nine different circuits from the supplied track sections.
  • OnPole: Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Teddy Bear – £19.95. This appealing McLaren teddy stand 26cm tall and sports a VMM ‘Winning Team’ t-shirt in Rocket Red.
  • Halfords: Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Turbo Twist – £99.99. Based on the MP4/24 (so you know it’s not going to go dangerously fast), this hybrid pedal cycle/ go-kart allows kids of seven to 13 to do 180 spins and 360 twists. Honestly, youth is wasted on the young.

Gadgets, gizmos and other good stuff

  • Kitbag: Vodafone McLaren Mercedes gravity pen – £14.95. A classy-looking metallic pen in a presentation box. Writes upside-down, should you ever find yourself in that position.
  • OnPole: Lewis Hamilton helmet keyring – £8.95. The famous Hamilton helmet design as part of a sturdy keyring.
  • M&S: McLaren race car key chain – £2.00. Part of the M&S ‘Living the Dream’ kids’ range, this key chain features a cut-out of Lewis Hamilton’s race car.
  • Kitbag: Jacques Lemans F1 watch range – from £160. These are the official F1 watches – you know they must be fancy because they call them ‘chronographs’. Lots of extra dials and water resistant to far deeper than you ever want to go.

Race day

  • OnPole: McLaren team flag and pole – £19.53. The flag is silver and features the car in profile with the team logo. With the pole measuring almost two meters and the flag 141×90cm, this may be one for the campsite rather than the grandstand.
  • Kitbag: Lewis champion flag – £17.99. A Rocket Red flag with the legend ‘F1 drivers’ world champion’ in silver and Lewis’ name.
  • OnPole: McLaren keyring earplugs – £9.95. If you’ve not been to a race before then, trust us, you need earplugs. These ones come in a stylish flip-top team container with team branding.
  • Kitbag: McLaren team umbrella – £34.99. Because in Britain you’re going to get rained on. This brolly, silver on the outside and red on the inside, is the same as the ones used by the team on the grid.

Wish list

Stuff we’d all love to have – but would need the wealth of a Geneva-based tax exile to afford…

  • OnPole.com: Lewis Hamilton’s replica Monaco helmet – an Arai GP-5, hand-painted by Lewis’ helmet painter, fitted with a real Cara coat bullet-proof visor and signed by the driver. Oh yes, and it comes complete with genuine Steinmetz diamonds – hence the price tag of £15,000.
  • OnPole.com: Lewis Hamilton signed Monaco 2008 print showing the driver celebrating with the team on the Monaco podium – £499

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