Lewis Hamilton said clinching his second world championship title means even more to him than when he won his first one in 2008.
“I can’t really explain how much this means,” said Hamilton on the podium after winning the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. “It means even more than the first one. It feels like it’s the first time and I feel so blessed.”
Hamilton praised team mate Nico Rosberg who remained in contention for the title until the final round. “Nico put on an incredible fight throughout the year,” he said.
“He was a phenomenal competitor. We met each other back in 1997 and we always said it’d be amazing to be racing in the same team and fighting for the world championship. He did an amazing job today.”
Rosberg ran in second place until a problem with his car caused him to drop out of the points. “Very sad obviously to know the car wasn’t quick enough so he couldn’t fight in the end,” said Hamilton. “Still he was graceful enough to come up to me just now.”
“He just came into the room, very professional, and he said ‘you drove really well’. And same for him – all year long he drove incredibly well, especially in qualifying, so hat off to him.”
Hamilton took the lead from Rosberg after starting second on the grid and controlled the race from there. “My guy down here gave me a good start,” he said, “it was like a rocket, probably the best start I ever had.”
“Obviously going into the race I had a couple of different options of how to approach the race. If the car was behind then we’d see how it goes to the first stop. But if it was ahead then I knew I’d have to really, really race. The car was fantastic, we really got it spot on for the race.
“Obviously qualifying wasn’t perfect but we got it ready for the race so that’s what’s most important.”
ALONSO
23rd November 2014, 15:45
What a great driver so many ups and downs and reliability did not end up determing the winner. Hamilton is just great 08-14 is a big gap and he stuck at it. F1 is wierd we thought we wereset for Vet era but Ham can do 3-4 in a row aswell. Also Alo has no chance at Merc which im sad about but Ham does not deserve to lose this seat.
Kodongo (@kodongo)
23rd November 2014, 15:46
Goodbye, 44. Welcome back, Number 1.
Ju88sy (@)
23rd November 2014, 16:52
Not according to the Interview on Sky UK Lewis wants to keep 44 on his car.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
23rd November 2014, 16:58
Somebody tell him Senna would never have done that.
At least it was only on Sky so not many people were watching.
Supremacy (@supremacy)
23rd November 2014, 21:17
Well he’s better than Senna.
liongalahad (@liongalahad)
25th November 2014, 5:16
@supermacy Hope you’re joking! I’m a massive LH fan, yet I wouldn’t say that in a million years.
liongalahad (@liongalahad)
25th November 2014, 5:16
@supremacy
Tristan (@skipgamer)
23rd November 2014, 15:49
In other news, the sky is blue. Who would have thought two title’s would mean more than one? Astounded.
Congratulations to him anyway, well deserved. It was a questionable leap when he left McLaren but it was obviously the right decision.
David BR2
23rd November 2014, 16:10
Don’t think you understood what he meant, at all. I think if he’d won in 2007, it would have been equal or better: winning the championship in his rookie season. Only a headstrong moment on the first lap and a momentary mechanical failure at Interlagos prevented that happening. 2008 was good, with some brilliant races (Silverstone, Spa) but not great in terms of consistency, he relied almost entirely on his speed and talent. This year Hamilton has really beaten the odds against Rosberg and used a mixture of talent and composure to get past some serious issues: the early season DNFs, Monaco qualifying, the Spa moment – and in the end, it has to be said, an equally relentless Rosberg. It makes sense to me that he takes even more emotional satisfaction from this championship than his first title.
Tristan (@skipgamer)
23rd November 2014, 16:17
Really? I bet his third title will mean more than his second. Let’s revisit this then :P
David BR2
23rd November 2014, 19:51
Okay, deal on, but I doubt it! Even though I expect next year to be much more of a fight for the Mercedes pair with Williams and who knows, McLaren too?
Erik Torsner
23rd November 2014, 16:31
Talent, sure! Composure, what?
David BR2
23rd November 2014, 20:01
He’s been a lot cooler and smarter than most people have noticed. Read what he said about readjusting his mindset after Spa and adopting some new strategies that he wasn’t going to tell anyone about. He stopped with the ‘mindgames’ after that incident and put everything into maximizing race day while minimizing the chances for Rosberg to do the same again. Even before Spa, difficult to see where he hasn’t been composed, on track at least. The only lapse he’s had, I think, was the ‘hungry’ comment when he was romping away with the title with 5 wins: unnecessary to say and it provoked the Monaco response from Rosberg, which then flustered him and led to Rosberg gaining the advantage all the way to Spa. Also it proved untrue: Rosberg showed he was just as hungry.
David BR2
23rd November 2014, 20:02
Just read Keith’s new post and apparently that’s exactly what Hamilton has said! he adopted a new approach after Spa.
Paul2013
23rd November 2014, 15:51
HAM said so because he won the 1st one AT the very last curve! ha ha.
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
23rd November 2014, 15:59
So next year he’ll claim his third as the Mercedes advantage won’t dissapear over winter I guess.
Paul2013
23rd November 2014, 16:04
we will see, McLaren has been developing 2015’s car the last 12 months and They had access to MERC engines during that period of time.
George (@george)
23rd November 2014, 16:07
@xtwl Depends what the Honda is like really, and whether McLaren can make a decent car. I can’t see any other team getting close unless the amount they can improve the engine performance has been underestimated.
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
23rd November 2014, 16:13
@george I agree they are a unkown factor but I doubt they’ll be able to challenge Mercedes. On top of that the McLaren chassis isn’t even the third best…
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
23rd November 2014, 16:59
Yes – McLaren had the best engine this year, and where were they?
Tristan (@skipgamer)
23rd November 2014, 16:20
It’d be unwise (imo) to rule out Red Bull. The strides they made with the Renault engine after the complete botch-job Lotus brought to winter testing was quite amazing. With full works status over the winter it’ll be interesting to see how much they can improve.
Supremacy (@supremacy)
23rd November 2014, 21:19
Aren’t you guys forgetting Rosberg is still part of the team?
Chris
23rd November 2014, 16:52
If McLaren made a good chassis, they’ll be up there next season, that’s a big “if” though.
beneboy (@beneboy)
23rd November 2014, 16:50
Winning 1 WDC makes you a champion but winning a 2nd with a different team puts you into the upper echelon of champions so I’m not surprised that Lewis says this title means more to him.
If he can go on and win a 3rd he would be putting himself up there with the real greats of F1 as well as equalling Senna’s total which I’m guessing would mean even more to him.
Alex McFarlane
23rd November 2014, 20:57
Not surprised he feels this one means more than the first. 2008 will always be remembered for the huge slice of luck he had at Interlagos, but this year he has been dominant against a much better team-mate than he had then, winning more than twice as many races as Rosberg while having to play catch up in the standings for much of the year.
This year was no fluke, he made the most of having the best car and has shown that he has improved his mentality when the pressure is on.
Solo (@solo)
17th March 2015, 22:16
People easily forget that the “slice of luck” at Interlagos needed to come for him to win because he had a slice of bad luck.
Glock was behind him anyway and ended in-frond only because he didn’t pit for wet tyres but not putting them didn’t work so were exactly is the luck? If Hamilton didn’t pit for wet tyres(therefore falling behind Glock) he might have lost the championship.