'It was beyond a dream come true' - Brackley-born artist creates Lewis Hamilton's leaving present to former Mercedes colleagues

Brackley-born artist Joel Clark’s commissioned piece for Lewis Hamilton will be hung up in the Mercedes offices in Brixworth, Northamptonshire.

Joel was a regular at Silverstone Circuit throughout his childhood and teenage years in the 1980s.

Now, age 50 and living in Thame, Joel works full-time as a motorsport artist, primarily using vinyl to create his artwork.

He said: “Growing up in Brackley, my father would often take me to Silverstone, mostly to vintage racing events, but I would have attended my first Grand Prix in 1985.

“Being so close to Silverstone, it was almost like a natural progression for me to get into motorsport.

Joel has also had a passion for creating art for as long as he has held an interest in motorsports.

He said: “I gained an interest in art at a similar stage of my life when I became interested in motorsport.

“Ever since I was around the age of five or six, I can remember telling people that I will do something arty when I grow up.”

As a teenager, Joel found work printing vinyl advertising stickers at Silverstone Track, where he was able to combine his two life passions.

Since leaving education, Joel found work in advertisement before quitting his job and focusing on creating motorsport art full-time.

After several years of filling a gap in the market with his unique motorsport-inspired vinyl art, Joel received the call from Lewis Hamilton’s team.

Lewis Hamilton’s team asked Joel to create a piece that the Formula One star could present to his former teammates after announcing his move to Ferrari.

Joel said: “I am limited on what I can say about the actual project but it came out of the blue and it was all kept top secret.”

For the present, Joel created a piece named Tribute to Senna, a vinyl artwork depicting Hamilton’s victory lap at the 2021 Sao Paulo GP.

As a now iconic tribute to Brazilian racing driver Ayrton Senna, Hamilton completed the lap whilst flying the flag of Brazil.

Speaking about how it felt to be chosen to commemorate this moment, Joel said: “It was literally mind-blowing. It was a fall-off-the-chair moment when I found out what the piece was and who it was for.

“Much of my work is focused around motorsport, so the idea to get a racing driver to commission art would be great, even better still with a Formula One driver, but to have the greatest of all time Formula One driver it was beyond a dream come true.”

Joel created the Tribute to Senna piece using the same vinyl material that is used on the liveries of Formula One cars.

It took him around three weeks to cut the tiny pieces of vinyl by hand and stick them together in the correct positions. For more information or to view Joel’s art visit his website at:https://joelclarkartist.carbonmade.com/