Sir Lewis Hamilton has been voted the UK’s dream driving instructor, with The Stig close behind.

AA Driving School research received over 15,000 responses to the question earlier this year.

  • 1 in 5 pick Sir Lewis Hamilton as dream driving instructor*
  • The Stig gets 15% of votes
  • Other names include Jeremy Clarkson, Vicky Butler-Henderson and Kaleb Cooper
  • AA Driving School says the real dream instructor is patient, understanding and excellent at communicating

Under starters orders

After a long and successful career in motorsport, Sir Lewis Hamilton could have a  a positive and socially productive job for the future. However, he may need a few lessons himself first in order to get to grips with  slower pace of life.  Asked about their ideal choice of  driving instructor, thousands of people voted for the F1 star and World Champion.

Racing legend, Hamilton, has won a joint-record seven World Drivers’ Championship titles, the same as Michael Schumacher. He also holds the record for the most F1 wins.

The F1 racing driver led from the front in the poll, crossing the line with 19% of the vote. In second place came The Stig (15%), whilst they were joined on the podium by Jeremy Clarkson (10%).  Vicky Butler-Henderson came in fourth with 8%.

A close race

Digging down into the figures, he was not the young drivers first choice. The crown  for those in the 8-24 age group chose Top Gear come farmer Jeremy Clarkson. He managed to harvest 28% of their votes compared to 29% for Hamilton. The Stig was another younger driver popular choice (10%), followed by a  surprise  Kaleb Cooper from Clarkson’s Farm followed by Max Verstappen (8%) and Elon Musk (5%).

Do they have the skills?

Mark Born, head of AA Driving School’s Instructor Training Academy, said: “Being a good driving instructor is more than just your skills at the wheel. You need to be patient, understanding and excellent at communicating with your pupils.

“I’m sure Lewis and the other top choices would be able to share some valuable tips with young drivers, even if many of their talents are more suited to the racetrack than a local road. If they ever did decide to quit their job and become a driving instructor then we’d certainly welcome them on our training course.

“It’s interesting younger drivers were keener on taking driving tips from Elon Musk than older drivers, but shows how electric vehicles are perhaps more accepted among younger drivers. This is something we’ve certainly seen since we launched electric vehicles onto our fleet.”

The chequered flag

Overall the final positions, across all age groups, in the Dream Instructor Derby were:

  1. Sir Lewis Hamilton (19%)
  2. The Stig (15%)
  3. Jeremy Clarkson (10%)
  4. Vicky Butler-Henderson (8%)
  5. Tiff Needell (6%)
  1.   Paddy McGuiness (6%)
  2.   Max Verstappen (4%)
  3.   Elon Musk (3%)

One in twenty (6%) young drivers chose Kaleb Cooper, from Clarkson’s Farm.