Hamilton: Impossible to grasp the magnitude of my success
- Published on 07 Jan 2019 17:33
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- By: Fergal Walsh
Lewis Hamilton says that it is "impossible" to grasp the magnitude of his success in Formula 1. The Briton was crowned a five-time world champion in 2018, beating Sebastian Vettel to the championship for the second successive year.
Hamilton, who turned 34 on Monday, finds it hard to believe that he had just one championship on his record when he joined Mercedes in 2013. On his way to winning four out of the last five titles, he became the most successful qualifier in Formula 1's history, currently on 83 pole positions.
"Did I think that I’d be five-time world champion? Of course I dreamt about it but shoot, man, I dream a lot of things that don’t happen. It’s really hard to think that just six years ago I joined this team and I was one-time world champion and now I have four more.
"That’s not an insignificant number and it’s very, very hard if not almost impossible to grasp the magnitude of what those four mean. It’s weird because it’s almost like one kind of doesn’t really mean anything, it’s cool. Two, not too bad. Three is like, well, you’re kind of starting to do well.
“And then it’s really weird how in this sport and probably other sports as well it’s not until you have multiple that people really start to realise the strength in depth and the ability and the consistency and all these difficult things.”
For the second year in a row, Hamilton won the championship at the Mexican Grand Prix, but had to endure a difficult race in both years. In 2017, lap one contact with rival Vettel sent him to the back of the field while Mercedes had tyre issues in the race last year.
“It was, and has been for the last couple of years, a horrible race for me,” he said. "I’ve got great support from the fans so it was a great weekend but the actual race felt terrible because we struggled with the tyres, and [the] previous year I got taken out.
"So this was kind of crazy to think I’m in Mexico, I had a difficult race the race before, still really close, and all of a sudden I’m world champion.”
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Replies (3)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
It might sound a bit smug at first, but I get what he is saying.It aint easy to at first glance recognize the things you've achieved and how it affects the world around you.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
I agree. It's also the fact that Lewis being such a divisive figure, he is not really regarded as a proper legend yet by many of his peers. I think that will come after retirement and emotions are not so near the surface. I hated Michael Schumacher when he was racing, and I mostly didn't appreciate what a legend he was because I was busy cheering for Mika Hakkinen, or Raikkonen. Also, Michael did a lot of controversial things, so it was easy to hate on him as a rival. I think it's similar with Lewis. But after retirement, the dust will settle, and he'll be regarded as one of the best drivers in F1 history, up there with other consensus legends.
blade
Posts: 341
I'm starting to tire a little of the 'I'm so blessed' bit - I'd much rather he just let his driving do the talking, know what I mean? Also, his crew keep saying 'Get in there Lewis' - not sure I can listen to too many more of these - please someone just get your act (Vet) or engine (Honda/Renault) so we can all hear a different storyline from time to time.....