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Hamilton: Still a lot more to achieve in F1
Lewis Hamilton still has a lot he wants to achieve in Formula 1 as he stands on the verge of his fifth drivers’ championship at this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix.
A finish of seventh or higher will guarantee Hamilton the championship, as will anything but a victory for Sebastian Vettel. Although not yet mathematically champion, it would take an extraordinary set of circumstances for Vettel to overturn a 70-point deficit with only 75 points remaining.
Hamilton says he still feels motivated to reach for more, just as he did during the five-year gap between his first and second titles.
“I’ve still got more to do,” Hamilton said. “There are so many different things that happened in that time and I waited a long time to get the second [title]. I could easily have stayed where I was and I wouldn’t be sitting here with the ones I have now.
“It’s been interesting, the journey and the different decisions I have taken, but I am very grateful for the route that I have been on. I feel incredibly fortunate to be in the position I am in, but I feel like I have quite a lot left to do.”
And Hamilton says his experience of past title fights, allied to the comfortable position he is in -- only needing five points in total from the remaining three races -- allows him to remain calm as the championship is within reach.
“It’s not my first rodeo. I’m guessing that’s just the place that I am at in my life. Being that I am a bit older and I have the experience to know what I need to do to get myself into shape, and I’m just really enjoying racing. I’m here to win and I’m here to win this championship with the team, so I choose what I want to put my focus towards and I don’t allow any negativity in.
“So I’m just on a positive wave. I’m sure if I was here and there was one point between us it would be different and more intense, but I’m a decent amount of points ahead, so I guess that does naturally help a little bit, but I think it’s just the experience.”
Presented by:
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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