Lewis Hamilton has no plans on packing up and leaving Formula 1 anytime soon and says he wants championship number five now.
The Mercedes driver clinched his fourth World Championship on Sunday in Mexico and there were rumours Hamilton may call that enough, but he says he's keen to claim a fifth, but is taking it step by step.
"Actually 44’s my magic number but I’d be here a long time to get 44 championships!" He said when asked by Motorsport Week's sister publication Motorsport Monday if he was satisifed with four titles, given his connection to the number four.
"Four is a part of it. Four is a great number. I want number five now but you just take it one step at a time.
"It’s really about embracing, firstly what you love, the people that you work with, your family. It’s really about not listening to people who try to tell you what to do. It’s about you finding your centre and your core. Because we’re all different and we’re all unique in our own way, we’re all bright stars."
Hamilton hopes his success motivates others to believe in themselves and what they can achieve, particularly those who are looked down on, after Hamilton himself was told by some of his teachers that he 'wouldn't amount to anything'.
"I hope my winning the fourth time, a world champion from Stevenage, I hope that’s a testimony to show that you really can do something from nowhere. I hope one day I’m able to help find the next me because he’s somewhere out there.
"Jeez… I wonder what the people at my school are thinking, when I was growing up, there’s a couple of teachers that said 'you’re never going to amount to anything', so I wonder what they’re thinking now when they watch me today? For sure, they’re probably watching. Or at least they’ll read the news tomorrow.
"I wonder what they’re thinking? I wonder if they’re thinking ‘I helped that young lad,’ or are they thinking ‘you know what, I regret what I said and I’ve grown from it.’ I hope that’s really the case. I hope they’ve grown though it. I hope that whoever’s kids they are teaching today, they’re encouraging them, rather than pulling them down."
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