INTERVIEW: LEWIS HAMILTON – ON TOP OF THE WORLD

Lewis Hamilton is on top of the world

Even if Lewis Hamilton does not take a fourth World title this year he is living his dream.

Lewis Hamilton at the Singapore Grand Prix

WHAT MORE does a hugely successful racing driver need?

As of the Singapore Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton had a record 69 pole positions (one more than Michael Schumacher) and 60 victories. That’s second behind Schumacher’s 91 wins, but far ahead of Alain Prost who is third in the standings with 51 and Sebastian Vettel who is fourth at 46 wins. Thanks to Vettel’s antics at the start in Singapore, Hamilton took a solid step forward towards his fourth world championship.

What more does Hamilton need? What would be enough for him to leave Formula 1 fully fulfilled with what he has achieved?

“Formula 1 is great,” Hamilton replies. “Formula 1 has given me such a fantastic life. But that is not what defines who I am, so I don’t feel any pressure or any feelings towards I must have this amount of wins to feel fulfilled. Because if you never enough without it, then you will never be enough with it.

“So for me right now it is just continuing to grow and make sure that when this finishes I feel pretty comfortable. If I was to stop today, I would be pretty good; I have lots of other things I am involved in, lots of other things that I am involved in, a lot of things I am good at. It wouldn’t be the end of the world.

“A lot of racing drivers stop and there is not a lot to do after that. I have made sure that that is not the case for me. But I love racing, and I am going to keep going. I am in the best shape of my life. I am in the best condition mentally as a driver, and I am driving at my best. So I can continue for the foreseeable future. I think I have earned the right to continue to enjoy it. And I will do. I don’t have a number that says this is enough or that is enough.”

If Hamilton keeps winning at the rate he has been, he could match Schumacher’s number in four years.

Lewis Hamilton has dominated the hybrid era

AN ERA OF DOMINATION

Thanks to the superior Mercedes team and of course sublime talent, Hamilton has dominated the hybrid era.

He won 38 of the 73 races between the beginning of 2014 and the 2017 Singapore Grand Prix. More than half. His ex-teammate Nico Rosberg won 20, Vettel 7, Daniel Ricciardo 5, Valtteri Bottas 2, and Max Verstappen 1.

Hamilton has said he would like to be remembered like his great hero Ayrton Senna. What would his legacy be?

“I have no idea,” Hamilton says. “People talk to me about legacies and everything. I don’t care about it at the moment. It is not something that I think about. I don’t have an emotional feeling about it. I’m pretty sure Ayrton Senna wasn’t sitting on the grid thinking: My legacy is going to be this.

“I’ve not really given it any thought and I don’t work every day towards creating a legacy. I work every day to enjoy the opportunities that I have; enjoy life and at the end of the day when my life come life comes to an end that’s when people can start talking about what legacy I left behind. As long as I do things the right way and I have treated people right. I am known as a kind person. That’s more important.”

One thing that definitely won’t be part of Hamilton’s legacy is wins in other major racing series. Fernando Alonso wants to win the triple crown, adding victories in the Indianapolis 500 and the Le Mans 24 Hours to his Formula 1 success. Hamilton has no such wish.

“In these 10 years in Formula 1 that opinion has not changed,” he says, “so I highly doubt it will change any time soon. I don’t have any desire to drive anything else. I love MotoGP and I will ride bikes, but I won’t compete in them. Once I stop racing there will be some other challenges and other things that I do. Formula 1 will be a great memory for me. I will always have cars that I can go and have fun in if I wanted to, but not competing.”

“We live in a world where we take so many things for granted,”

STRONG EMOTIONS

Hamilton has strong links and emotions about the Caribbean – his father’s parents emigrated from Grenada to Britain –  and he frequently visits the area.

The destruction caused by the recent hurricanes and storms have saddened him.

“We live in a world where we take so many things for granted,” he says. “So many things. The human race is a pretty terrible race really. We consume everything, we kill all the animals. And with the crazy pollution we put in the sky we are killing the earth. And now these things are happening, and then we are supposed to feel sorry for ourselves. We know that there is global warming. Do these hurricanes just appear for no reasons? So it is just sad to see.

“Me doing one little thing makes such a small impact. Everyone needs to figure it out. But even when people have these hurricanes, they don’t say, you know what, I am going to make a change, and once we get back on our feet we will make some changes to hopefully stop this from happening. They just keep going back to their normal routines.

“It is crazy to think that all these things, earthquakes, hurricanes, they are coming more and more and more. Is the world coming to an end? Have we seen the worst of it?”

Lewis Hamilton at the Hungaroring

THE STALE PADDOCK

The Formula 1 paddock may seem glamorous from the outside, but it is a pretty boring place inside according to Hamilton,

“It is quite a stale place,” he says. “It is the same people, the same small groups everywhere. It is the same thing week in and week out. The most exciting thing is the cars on the track. But even the cars, to be honest, are not very glamorous. They are fast, and of course it is high technology, but the racing spirit is different in the older cars. I miss the 1980/90s era. I look at the older cars and think they look fantastic!

Are the drivers stale as well?

“I feel like they were similar back then,” Hamilton says. “It is just the era I have been in, and just before, what you have to do to be there is be in this square box and be boring. That is what some of these bosses wanted: a bland corporate grey screen to put the logos on. Rather than a colourful one. But once you get your roots in you can paint it the colour you want it. That’s what I’ve done!”

KIDS

Now age 32, Hamilton is in his 11th Formula 1 season. What’s the difference between Hamilton in 2007 and 2017?

“I am a man,” he says. “At 22, 23, 24, even 25, you are still a kid. Just before 28, 29 you are coming into your comfort zone as a real man. But before that you are still a kid. Or I was at least.”

He has always loved kids, so is the time coming for him to have a family?

“I’m a long, long way away from that,” he declares with a laugh. “A minimum eight years for me! I won’t be racing for eight years, but in my F1 career it is not happening.”

Fans of Lewis Hamilton at Spa

THE SPORTING SIDE

How does Hamilton stay in shape these days?

“I do Muay Thai boxing,” he says “I prefer Muay Thai to just boxing because it is so cool. It is amazing. I used to box when I was really young. When you are training for Muay Thai you use a boxing bag, so you are still boxing. So I still do that.”

Has he been to the Muay Thai boxing matches in Thailand?

“Yes, I have been to some kick boxing and some Muay Thai. It’s hard core.”

Tennis?

“I played once on holiday and I was so s***. I sent the video to Serena (Williams) and she was like: Oh you are fast! She said I was really fast on the court. She said she will give me some lessons, so when she recovers from having her baby.”

Golf?

“I would always play 18 holes. But I haven’t played for three years.”

ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE

One final question, Is Mercedes Hamilton’s last Formula 1 team? Does he have any other goals? Would he like to go back to McLaren? Or perhaps drive for Ferrari?

“I don’t have any dreams of anywhere,” he says.

He finishes the interview with his philosophy on life.

“If you live life afraid, then you are always in the dark,” he says. “Me, I look on the bright side of things, and I am prepared for whatever is to come. And positivity is good.”

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg collide

HAMILTON: WE WERE NOT MATES

THIS SEASON has been all about Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes vs. Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari. For the first time since 2008 (when it was Hamilton vs. Felipe Massa and Ferrari) Hamilton is fighting a driver from a rival team for the championship.

“It is more of a fun challenge fighting another team,” Hamilton says. “Everyone wants to win it anyway, even when we are fighting together in the same team. It is just a better energy with a driver from a different team.”

Hamilton then goes on to reveal the inside truth of his relationship with Nico Rosberg.

“We weren’t mates,” he says flatly.

But they have known each other for 20 some years since they hung out when racing karts. There were tensions during their time together at Mercedes, when they were both gunning for races wins and championships, but now that Rosberg has retired, is it possible to go back to the relationship they had?

“The relationship is the same before I got to this team.” Hamilton says. “We never spoke to each other. Before I got to Mercedes we never spoke to each other. We never really spoke since Formula 15 in karting, so from 15-years-old we went different ways. It is no different now than it was then.”

Both Hamilton and Vettel have talked about the respect they have for each other as racers and title rivals. But Hamilton has also drawn a line in the sand.

“I made it very clear that you can’t mess with me,” Hamilton says. “But as long as we remain respectful fighting on the track, it is fine, I don’t have any problems.”

Meanwhile, the relationship with his new teammate Valtteri Bottas has been very good so far. But will that change someday they are both fighting for the same win?

“The only time our relationship will ever change is if he cheats me,” Hamilton says. “And he is not that type of person. So it is going to be no problem.”

Article originally published in Issue 1720 of Auto Action.

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