“I’ll be there when the light comes in, just tell ’em we’re survivors”– Life is a Highway, title song of the movie Cars.

Perfectly defines what a racecar driver’s life is like. No matter what’s happening, they’ll be there when the grid lights come on. The movies are made in such a way that we can relate to them. But prediction? Movies can’t be making predictions, can they? Well, if it is just one thing or two, it might be a coincidence. However, Disney predicted Lewis Hamilton’s entire career even before he entered F1. Ka-chow? Let us tell you.

Lewis Hamilton is arguably the greatest driver of all time. When the Briton joined the F1 grid in 2007, he went toe to toe with 2X champion Fernando Alonso and just missed out on the championship. On the other hand, we have Lightning McQueen, the greatest driver of the Disney universe. But what if we told you Lewis Hamilton is Lightning McQueen? Not literally, but the similarities are uncanny. Disney did predict Lewis Hamilton’s career via Lightning McQueen.

Remember how Lewis Hamilton missed out on his championship in the Rookie year by just one point? Well, so did Lightning McQueen, just by a whisker. You must be thinking, it is no big deal, Disney just copied a detail from real life. Well, Cars came out in 2006, a year before Lewis Hamilton made it to F1. And there’s so much more to this story. According to Disney, McQueen is a 7X Champion. Guess who’s also a 7X Champion? Yes, you’re right, the almighty Lewis Hamilton.

At this moment, we can easily call Hamilton – Lightning Hamilton. However, we have more similarities to make you believe. McQueen had a puncture toward the very end of the race, yet managed to reach the finishing line, but so did Hamilton at the 70th Anniversary British GP. It’s not only the first movie either. Moving up the timeline in the franchise, Cars 3 featured Jackson Storm, a driver from the latest generation, beating the former champion, Lightning McQueen. Does that ring any bells? Max Verstappen did the same to Lewis Hamilton. But as shown in the end, McQueen never gave up, and the same is the case with Hamilton.

And who can forget the legendary Doc Hudson, the old guy who became McQueen’s mentor, taught him everything he knew, was always critical of his performances, but made McQueen the driver that he is. Niki Lauda did the same for Lewis Hamilton. What’s even more interesting is that both Doc Hudson and Niki Lauda had a life-threatening accident during their racing years. Also, both Doc and Lauda passed away before McQueen and Hamilton reached the peak of their career.

“I am Speed”, said McQueen, and Lewis Hamilton literally embodies that spirit. We’re convinced that the director and scriptwriters of Cars had a time machine. And hope that these facts make you believe in it too. Now, moving away from this heavy realization, many F1 drivers actually featured on the Cars Franchise themselves. Let’s have a look.

Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, and other F1 drivers featured in the Cars Franchise

When Lightning McQueen was stranded in the middle of Radiator Springs, only Luigi and Guido seemed to care about the racecar, McQueen. However, as soon as they realized McQueen wasn’t Michael Schumacher, they lost all their interest. Nonetheless, Schumacher did make an appearance toward the very end of the movie when he came to Luigi and Guido’s shop for a tire change.

Cars 2 and 3 were the movies where a majority of drivers were featured. During the party scene of Cars 2, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, and Sebastian Vettel all had a cameo based on the dub of the movie. Similarly in Cars 3, all three of them feature Cruz Ramirez’s inbuilt voice assistant in the different dubs of the movie. Also, Francesco, the antagonist from Cars 2, is based on an F1 car. Even Franchesco’s mother is shown as an F1 car from the 60s.