The seven-time world champion spoke about his title hopes, his future teammate George Russell and his method of beating Max Verstappen.
Long interviews are rare in the world of Formula 1. Celle published this Wednesday by our colleagues from The Race is exciting, especially as the World Championship draws to a close. Before the Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, Lewis Hamilton confided in Mark Hugues about his Mercedes, his doubts and his method to beat his rival Max Verstappen. Selected pieces.
His duel with Verstappen
With 7 points behind his opponent for the title, Max Verstappen, the Briton does not have the mathematical advantage. And a clash between the two men is more than ever in the air. Mercedes and Red Bull drivers have already experienced heated duels at Imola, Silverstone, Monza or Interlagos.
« You have to be very, very suspicious, more suspicious than ever before. Rather than giving someone else the benefit of the doubt, you need to know what’s going to happen. So you have to be prepared to avoid a collision at all costs, even if it means going off-road. In the end, you want to be there again at the end of the race, right? “
“If you’re stubborn and stay where you are, you’re going to crash. So that’s what I tried to do. I tried to avoid the collision (…) I know that sometimes, this is the path to take. You have to be the smartest. “
“Sometimes that makes you lose points, that’s for sure. But I am not the only one concerned. You have 2,000 people behind me. I could be selfish and say, “No, I’m going to maintain my position” and give up. It will cost my whole team potential bonuses at the end of the year, jeopardize all the good work they are doing, destroy the car ”.
“If you hang on, they can say ‘Yes, yes, but this or that happened…’. It’s a tactic this pilot uses. Me, I want to be the purest of pilots, to win thanks to my speed, my hard work and my determination ”.
His crash at Silverstone
Example of tense action? The Verstappen-Hamilton crash at Silverstone last July.
« If I was in this position, I would do the same thing again. I see this from my piloting experience. And I think I have a good record in general about overtaking, my positioning of the car… But there were different scenarios (…) At that time, I needed points and I was a bit less eager to leave my place (…). I was very far in the standings at this time of the season ”
The performance of his Mercedes
In his interview, Lewis Hamilton says he has identified the weaknesses of his Mercedes W12 from the first pre-season tests in Sakhir (Bahrain). The 2021 regulations were unfavorable to single-seaters low-rake like the one produced for several seasons in Brackley (United Kingdom)
“We knew we were going to lose a lot of downforce. And as soon as we found out exactly how much, the characteristics of the single-seater evolved. What we have been working on for years – bringing the car to its maximum potential like last year – has been undone (…). We had to do with what we had and he found clever tricks for work with less support« .
“This season has been quite confusing (…). There were races where we were ahead. And others where we were dropped. We never managed to figure out how the car was going to behave when arriving on the circuit (…) Toto (Wolff, editor’s note) said that we had already had diva cars. This is a sacred one ”.
“This car was the most difficult to adjust. I’ve done a lot of simulator, but even then the software doesn’t behave the way it’s supposed to. The grip level is not good or the thermal degradation of the tires is wrong. You can get wrong numbers and you have to be careful with the data and the decisions you make ”.
« In Brazil, I got the car I wanted. It was like putting your finger on the solution. But it’s only happened once or twice this year »
“So we go further into details and try to find performance (…). Brake discs, tire pressure, gearbox ratios (…). We make sure we don’t have 4 kilos of gasoline remaining at the end of the race (…). This is where I put my energy and pushed my team further. We need every thousandth, especially on the tracks where things were not going well. I have never been so involved« .
Icon Sport
His future teammate George Russell
After three seasons “in training” at Williams, George Russell to replace Valtteri Bottas as Lewis Hamilton’s teammate at Mercedes for the 2022 season …
« George is a super talented boy and I think there is a lot of respect between us. I think our relationship is balanced today. But he’s going to want to be quick. I know he’s going to want to come out and win and do whatever you need to do in this new role ”.
“I remember my confrontation with Alonso. Obviously I wanted to beat him from the first race and I expect George to have the same mentality. I really want him to succeed ”.
=> Read the full interview on The Race
Photos : Icon Sport
To read on auto-moto.com:
Our latest F1 news
The F1 2021 guide
Why did Alfa Romeo start Zhou?
Sprint races: how does it work?
The seven-time world champion spoke about his title hopes, his future teammate George Russell and his method of beating Max Verstappen.
Long interviews are rare in the world of Formula 1. Celle published this Wednesday by our colleagues from The Race is exciting, especially as the World Championship draws to a close. Before the Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, Lewis Hamilton confided in Mark Hugues about his Mercedes, his doubts and his method to beat his rival Max Verstappen. Selected pieces.
His duel with Verstappen
With 7 points behind his opponent for the title, Max Verstappen, the Briton does not have the mathematical advantage. And a clash between the two men is more than ever in the air. Mercedes and Red Bull drivers have already experienced heated duels at Imola, Silverstone, Monza or Interlagos.
« You have to be very, very suspicious, more suspicious than ever before. Rather than giving someone else the benefit of the doubt, you need to know what’s going to happen. So you have to be prepared to avoid a collision at all costs, even if it means going off-road. In the end, you want to be there again at the end of the race, right? “
“If you’re stubborn and stay where you are, you’re going to crash. So that’s what I tried to do. I tried to avoid the collision (…) I know that sometimes, this is the path to take. You have to be the smartest. “
“Sometimes that makes you lose points, that’s for sure. But I am not the only one concerned. You have 2,000 people behind me. I could be selfish and say, “No, I’m going to maintain my position” and give up. It will cost my whole team potential bonuses at the end of the year, jeopardize all the good work they are doing, destroy the car ”.
“If you hang on, they can say ‘Yes, yes, but this or that happened…’. It’s a tactic this pilot uses. Me, I want to be the purest of pilots, to win thanks to my speed, my hard work and my determination ”.
His crash at Silverstone
Example of tense action? The Verstappen-Hamilton crash at Silverstone last July.
« If I was in this position, I would do the same thing again. I see this from my piloting experience. And I think I have a good record in general about overtaking, my positioning of the car… But there were different scenarios (…) At that time, I needed points and I was a bit less eager to leave my place (…). I was very far in the standings at this time of the season ”
The performance of his Mercedes
In his interview, Lewis Hamilton says he has identified the weaknesses of his Mercedes W12 from the first pre-season tests in Sakhir (Bahrain). The 2021 regulations were unfavorable to single-seaters low-rake like the one produced for several seasons in Brackley (United Kingdom)
“We knew we were going to lose a lot of downforce. And as soon as we found out exactly how much, the characteristics of the single-seater evolved. What we have been working on for years – bringing the car to its maximum potential like last year – has been undone (…). We had to do with what we had and he found clever tricks for work with less support« .
“This season has been quite confusing (…). There were races where we were ahead. And others where we were dropped. We never managed to figure out how the car was going to behave when arriving on the circuit (…) Toto (Wolff, editor’s note) said that we had already had diva cars. This is a sacred one ”.
“This car was the most difficult to adjust. I’ve done a lot of simulator, but even then the software doesn’t behave the way it’s supposed to. The grip level is not good or the thermal degradation of the tires is wrong. You can get wrong numbers and you have to be careful with the data and the decisions you make ”.
« In Brazil, I got the car I wanted. It was like putting your finger on the solution. But it’s only happened once or twice this year »
“So we go further into details and try to find performance (…). Brake discs, tire pressure, gearbox ratios (…). We make sure we don’t have 4 kilos of gasoline remaining at the end of the race (…). This is where I put my energy and pushed my team further. We need every thousandth, especially on the tracks where things were not going well. I have never been so involved« .
Icon Sport
His future teammate George Russell
After three seasons “in training” at Williams, George Russell to replace Valtteri Bottas as Lewis Hamilton’s teammate at Mercedes for the 2022 season …
« George is a super talented boy and I think there is a lot of respect between us. I think our relationship is balanced today. But he’s going to want to be quick. I know he’s going to want to come out and win and do whatever you need to do in this new role ”.
“I remember my confrontation with Alonso. Obviously I wanted to beat him from the first race and I expect George to have the same mentality. I really want him to succeed ”.
=> Read the full interview on The Race
Photos : Icon Sport
To read on auto-moto.com:
Our latest F1 news
The F1 2021 guide
Why did Alfa Romeo start Zhou?
Sprint races: how does it work?