Lewis Hamilton says he couldn’t have hoped for better performances than he’s had in some of his recent races this year.
The Mercedes driver is poised to clinch his fifth world championship title having won six of the last seven races.
“I’ve been really happy when I looked back at a lot of these races,” said Hamilton, “I couldn’t have hoped for better performances.“When I look back, some real dream experiences for me. Races that I dream of performing at those levels.
“That’s what I live for. And you don’t always get to experience what your target is. I’m just really grateful for the races I’ve had and how a lot of them have panned out.”
Hamilton said it was essential that he and Mercedes raised their game because they were under significant pressure from Ferrari at mid-season.
“As the year progresses you really have no idea what’s going to happen. Of course you have hopes, you hope that you feel your way out and improve. And most years you get better and better through the year.
“From Silverstone, I definitely didn’t know that I was going to improve the way I have. But it definitely has been needed because Ferrari took a big step in Spa, even though we came with a big step.
“I think naturally my communication with the team, my engineers gets better and better through the year, the strategies get better through the year, but mostly it’s just you understanding of the car your comfort-ability in exploiting it gets stronger.”
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2018 F1 season
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pastaman (@)
12th October 2018, 13:27
Starting to sound like Alonso
KGN11
12th October 2018, 17:36
Huh???
Peter
13th October 2018, 19:37
Starting to sound like he thinks he can’t lose this year.
Overwhelmingly likely to be true, but better to keep mouth shut into it is mathematically impossible, 2007 shows.
Jake (@jagged-jake)
14th October 2018, 16:12
Why should he keep quiet when he is asked a question? Some of us race fans we live for moments like these. I want to know how is Seb is handling pressure, what is Alonso thinking about his imminent exit, so if drivers are muted, what will be the good of Motorsport. Some F1 fans are strange fruits indeed.
Oni (@oni)
12th October 2018, 13:38
I’m not really a fan of Hamilton’s but this year I have to acknowledge he has driven at an amazing level, making almost no mistakes and maximizing his opportunities. One smart thing he did, was to praise Ferrari’s performance and hype them up as a real threat. Hamilton’s image has greatly benefited from beating Vettel, a four time champion with a car to match. Five world championships, the pole position record and second on the all time winners list put him among the all time greats, he just needed a good rival to beat. If only the last two world championships had continued down to the last race.
koddamn (@gufdamm)
12th October 2018, 16:32
You didn’t have to mention whether you’re a fan or not to make your point. To say “One smart thing he did, was to praise Ferrari’s performance and hype them up as a real threat” and then say “Hamilton’s image has greatly benefited from beating Vettel, a four time champion with a car to match” is confusing. Were they a real threat or not? I believe they were. Vettel however was no real threat. His performances over the last half of the season were not 4 time WDC performances. Rosberg was a better competitor…
Why aren’t you a fan of Hamilton? Isn’t he an amazing driver?
Gigantor (@kbdavies)
12th October 2018, 18:47
If Lewis was to win the title with an arm and leg tied behind his back, some people would still begrudgingly acknowledge his greatness. At every turn, many people have sought to undermine Lewis Hamilton’s greatness – paying him compliments whilst highlighting the chinks in his armour.
However, he has proven his detractors wrong at every single turn also. He was labelled the “tire muncher”. He proved that assessment wrong against the best so called tire whisperer in the paddock – Jenson Button. He also proved to be a better “rain meister” than Micheal Schumacher, Jenson Button, and every other driver in the field.
We were told he wasn’t as politically savvy as Button, but it was Button who was sacked as Lewis pulled of the greatest political coup in the whole of the paddock – his move to Mercedes.
We were told he wasn’t as “cerebral” as Nico Rosberg when he went to Mercedes. We were regaled with stories of how Rosberg would eat him for breakfast with his superior intellect, engineering degree and multi-lingual skills. However, the truth turned out to be very different. It was Rosberg who needed a dossier on his driving lines. It was Rosberg (and Jenson) who copied his set up. It was Rosberg (and Jenson) who the team swapped his engineers for. It was Rosberg who need to put his whole life on hold just to beat him – and he still needed Lewis to have 7 engine related issues and a DNF to do it.
We were told he was mentally fragile and prone to emotional implosions. But he proved to be mentally stronger than Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso. He has never swore at his team, engineers or race director. And he has never driven his car in anger, intentionally hitting another driver or blocking them at their pit stop.
Point is, mentally, emotionally, skill wise, rain, mixed conditions, race pace, qualifying pace, car development, engineering nous, feedback, etc, Lewis Hamilton has shown to be better than ANY other driver on the grid in these areas mentioned. I challenge anyone to show me a driver on the grid who is better that Hamilton in any of the areas mentioned and provide evidence to prove it.
Lewis has shown he is an all round driver who is not lacking in any area or deficient in any skill set. It is time people acknowledge this greatness and put whatever prejudice they have against him aside.
Lewis has now beaten Seb 2 years in a row. he beat Alonso. He beat Button. He beat Rosberg. HE HAS BEATEN 4 WORLD CHAMPIONS! Please show me any driver on the grid who has achieved such??
I watched all the 2017 races again last night and was shocked how strong Ferrari were – up until their self implosion at Singapore. However, collective Formula 1 seems to suggest Mercedes were all conquering that year; which isn’t true.
We are now making the same mistake this season.
Joseph (@bigjoe)
12th October 2018, 19:14
@kbdavies)
Where was he when Alonso and Seb were battling for the titles down to the wire from 2010-2014 ? Lewis was a third rate driver during those years, in context to what people are saying today. He just wasn’t up to the job.
KGN11
12th October 2018, 20:20
He was there battling just the same. What, you forgot that he was in with a chance to win in 2010? How about 2012 until McLaren decided to be McLaren and contrived to somehow fail to utilise what was a championship winning car with operational errors and poor reliability.
“Lewis was 3rd rate driver during those years”
We know you don’t like him, but let’s not put forth such nonsense.
That so called 3rd rate driver, won the 2nd most races between 2010-12 (10)
BTW, 2010 – 14… hmmmm excuse me?
OOliver
12th October 2018, 20:53
Lewis could have won 2010 -2012
His issues in 2011 was mainly coming together with Massa, which was caused by very bad strategy calls from his own side of the garage, pitting him from the lead, and coming out behind Massa. Sometimes this was done twice in a single race. Can’t blame him for getting frustrated and crashing a lot.
Because if it was pure performance, he had that plenty.
KGN11
12th October 2018, 20:09
Slight correction..
Rosberg doesn’t have an engineering degree. That story came about due to passing a test at Williams.
OOliver
12th October 2018, 20:55
But he got an admission to sturdy aerodynamics. Don’t know what came of that though.
paulguitar (@paulguitar)
12th October 2018, 23:41
That’s a great post and totally spot on. @kbdavies
Of course, as soon as anything like this is said, the usual suspects appear as we can see here and try to undermine Hamilton’s achievements. It used to annoy me but I have gone lately from being annoyed to being amused. It is genuinely funny to see people willing to repeatedly embarrass themselves online.
We have one regular contributor here who consistently refuses to call Hamilton by his real name and there was another, not sure if he/she is still around, who habitually referred to Lewis Hamilton as ‘that specimen’.
Life must be truly miserable for those folks the only sadness for me is that really by not appreciating what we are seeing with a driver at this level, they are missing out. This sort of brilliance likely won’t come around again for a while.
Blackmamba (@blackmamba)
13th October 2018, 0:58
@kbdavies very good post. I concur 100%
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
12th October 2018, 23:50
Lewis has had the best car and unlike his presious team mate who beat him in a wc, he now has a teammate who just moved out of the way if Merc stay the Dom he will win 10 wc’s….not sure how he would fair with likes of Max, Dan Leclerc or even ocon as his teammate
paulguitar (@paulguitar)
13th October 2018, 16:28
Try removing your head from the sand.@nosehair
He beat Alonso in his rookie year, he beat Rosberg 3/1, with the year Rosberg managing to win being heavily influenced by mechanical issues for Hamilton
I presume from your comment that you have not been watching this year, but if you had you would have seen that for much of it he has not had the best car, and yet he still managed to win then too.
All of the evidence, since Hamilton was eight years old suggests he would be just fine taking anyone on the planet on in equal machinery.
Green Flag (@greenflag)
13th October 2018, 23:42
I doubt there is a driver alive right now who could beat Hamilton in equal cars. And that does include Dan, Max, Fernando and Seb.
yoseph
13th October 2018, 9:55
Well done sir, very nicely put.
t1cee (@t1cee)
14th October 2018, 14:32
@kbdavies, a brilliant summation of Lewis, I couldn’t have put it better myself.
Eff1
15th October 2018, 6:02
Lol I’m glad you guys are happy but that was a laughable list of statements there kb. Straight out of the sky f1 generalisation/selective fact repetition/ignore certain other facts book. Attack me if it makes it easier but wow. Honestly I believe part of the answer to why people have the attitude towards Lewis that they do is …. you guys. I mean, now criticising even people that say Lewis has managed great things but they dislike certain things about him as a person and calling them ‘false’. What the actual…. eg sure lewis had mechanical drama in 2016 but to ignore that ROS had same lions share of failures in 2014 and 2015 and only highlight when it affected Lewis is just laughable. As is alot of other unproven generalisations in that list. But as I said. Attack me and resume the fap. Its how its always been done by you guys right?
CarWars (@maxv)
12th October 2018, 16:18
We dreamed of a competitive season..
OOliver
12th October 2018, 17:24
To say Ferrari was not a threat is beyond me. A few races back Hamilton had all but given up on the title. What have him back some belief was the rain at the German GP. Then rain again at Hungary. And the he sat up, Mercedes sat up. They worked even harder and cured some setup issues.
What is hurting Ferrari more in recent times is they take too long to warm up their tyres,which was what Mercedes were suffering earlier in the season.
Andy Bunting (@wildbiker)
12th October 2018, 17:36
Mercedes Team. Better strategy. Less Foul ups.
Ferrari Team. Like herding cats. All over the place strategy wise.
LH matured tremendously, physically & very much mentally.
SV prone to tantrums & very moody on a good day.
Hardly rocket science to see how Merc have the upper hand.
KGN11
12th October 2018, 17:40
No Mercedes made about as much bad decisions as Ferrari, the difference is, they made theirs at the beginning of the season whereby it’s easier to recover ground.
It’s better to screw up at the start than at the end when the stakes are much higher.
rpiian (@rpiian)
12th October 2018, 21:36
Huh… kinda like the New England Patriots :P
Phylyp (@phylyp)
12th October 2018, 17:41
@wildbiker – and credit to Mercedes/Hamilton for stepping it up.
At one point, people were saying Mercedes had forgotten how to compete/fight back after these years of dominance.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
13th October 2018, 4:19
Well, I said to not underestimate hamilton and mercedes about halfway into this season when people were starting to say ferrari would win the title etc.
Even last year, ferrari car was good, but in the 2nd part they just weren’t competition compared to mercedes, always like it and even red bull generally improves in the 2nd half compared to ferrari.
erikje
12th October 2018, 18:49
It seems Hamilton really is on his peak.
Combined with the best car on the grid makes it a invincible couple.
As a result of the breakdown of the Ferrari team we will never know what could have been.
Joseph (@bigjoe)
12th October 2018, 19:10
Huh? he was outdriven by Bottas and only started winning when Merc stormed ahead in the dev race
John H (@john-h)
12th October 2018, 19:51
Funny, I don’t remember Bottas challenging for the title last year or this, or Kimi for that matter.
Hamilton and Vettel are just great drivers, I know that’s tough for you to accept but maybe it will hit home at some point.
OOliver
12th October 2018, 20:35
Bottas was pretty lucky and unlucky this season. He could have won 3 or 4 races early in the season, but for tyre issues.
Worn out tyres Bahrain.
More worn out tyres China
Tyre blow out, Azerbaijan
Low grip tyres, Germany
That’s 100 points gone with just those 4.
Peter
12th October 2018, 21:42
It is for the driver to not wear out their tyres in the Pirelli era. Or at least
to match their tyre wear to the pit stop strategy (#of stops).
Eightlaps
12th October 2018, 21:53
What? Are you drunk? He finished 2nd in china 7 point lost, 2nd in china another 7 point lost, azerbaijan 25 point lost and Germany he got fresher tires in the end no point lost. So that is 39 point lost far cry from 100 point lost!
OOliver
12th October 2018, 23:04
Sorry, I meant UK not china.
And I don’t mean actually losing 100 points, but the swing between Bottas and Hamilton had he been able to win those races, would have been over 100points. Theoretically, Bottas could have been in contention for the championship despite not driving exceptionally.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
13th October 2018, 4:25
Let’s see who’s right, I ofc am one who never misses that if you are winning a race and your opponent is second and you crash and he wins, it’s 32 points “lost”, so you mentioned bahrain, china, baku and germany.
I have to say I disagree with the race picks, tyre wear can happen to everyone, however bottas has indeed been unlucky, I would pick baku due to the puncture on debris, and that’s a 32 points swing to hamilton, china is very little, hamilton got 4th and would’ve been 4th even without the SC, bottas lost 7, so 39 so far.
In austria certainly bottas lost points through reliability, but so did hamilton, I’m gonna say that despite the fact bottas would’ve been closer were it not for his bad luck early on, hamilton still performed consistently at a higher level and would’ve been closer to the title fight by the time team orders were applied.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
13th October 2018, 4:26
Ah, yes, almost forgot, bottas got hit by vettel in france, could’ve got 2nd or 3rd, I think he got 7th, let’s say at least a further 9 points lost due to that.
Gigantor (@kbdavies)
13th October 2018, 15:54
Bottas almost only won in Baku due to a fortuitous safety car. Before that, he was almost 20secs behind Hamilton and Vettel.
Joseph (@bigjoe)
12th October 2018, 19:17
Lewis and Seb will now be tied for best driver of the decade with 4 titles each. Next season is the decider, although I suppose it will be just coincidence that the driver with the best car for the longest period wins that honor.
Martin
12th October 2018, 19:31
Erm they already have 4 titles each. This season is the decider.
OOliver
12th October 2018, 20:49
Be kind, he must have read it up on the internet.
Taimur (@invictus)
13th October 2018, 6:07
This season is the decider? Aren’t they ever racing again? The final decision will come after both of them have hung up their boots. Till then, enjoy every bit of it
Martin
13th October 2018, 10:58
I was just reusing massive schmo’s, sorry … big joe’s phrasing.
Big Joe
14th October 2018, 12:28
@invictus
‘Driver of the decade’ – it was always ok to claim Schumacher was driver of the the 00s, but Hamilton fans clearly as seen by the replies, can’t deal with Vettel grabbing 4 titles on Lewis’ watch.
KGN11
12th October 2018, 20:22
Mate are you ok?
Peter
12th October 2018, 21:45
He’s deliberately ignoring Lewis’ first championship and arbitrarily making the comparison to a 2010-2019 time range. Like F1 driver quality comparisons give a damn when that Jesus Christ dude was claimed to have been born.
Big Joe
14th October 2018, 12:29
No Peter. Schumacher is usually claimed to be driver of the 00s.
rpiian (@rpiian)
12th October 2018, 21:30
Let the Lewey prophet-ing begin!
In all seriousness he’s been on his game for 2018 part 2.
John H (@john-h)
13th October 2018, 7:58
My English self feels sad for the loss of the word ‘dreamt’.
:)
Martijn (@)
13th October 2018, 15:01
He’s the man. But it is getting old and the dominance of his car doesn’t help either. Hope he quits end of the year
Jake (@jagged-jake)
14th October 2018, 17:06
@mayrton why should he quit, is he dominating a bit much? I hope you are not part of the brigade, who use to predict every year that Lewis is not into car racing but hip hop & Hollywood and he would be quitting anytime, and when Nico Roseberg suddenly retired leaving Mercedes in a lurch, was “praised” for prioritizing his family.
Martijn (@)
14th October 2018, 20:31
@jagged-jake Yes, he is dominating a bit much. I am a huge fan of Lewis but the combi between him being the best and being in the best car is getting a bit old. And no, I don’t mind a single second what he does besides racing.
anon
14th October 2018, 18:25
I think he’s had more wins because his car has greatly improved.
It was only a couple of weeks back that the team stole and win from Bottas and gifted it to Hammy.
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
15th October 2018, 0:38
@paulguitar Lewis drove the on of best cars from his debut unlike most poor buggers getting into F1, in his rookie year after Monaco FA and RD’s relationship imploded then his was gifted a wc that created by skullduggery between 2 teams in the final race..button constantly beat him as a team mate..since Merc he has had the Dom car, and now has bottas as a good wing man…so please he is not the 2nd comming, he is a good driver though Max, Dan and a few others would outshine him as a team, read between the lines why Dan wasn’t signed…if good average drivers can beat him, imagine what Max would do to him….serious paul
paulguitar (@paulguitar)
15th October 2018, 16:42
@nosehair
Sadly you show yourself to be completely clueless about F1 with wacky conspiracy theories that have been widely debunked here and elsewhere.
Perhaps you’d be better off finding another sport that you’d understand better?