Seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton believes standing atop the Formula 1 pyramid is “not all it’s cracked up to be” with an important caveat.
Hamilton is arguably the greatest driver to ever grace the storied F1 rostrum. By some metrics, he is statistically the most successful driver ever.
His tally of seven world titles, only equalled by former Ferrari legend Michael Schumacher, is yet untouched, only augmented by an unparalleled 105 Grand Prix wins etched to his name.
Yet, for the Briton, being the colloquial ‘top-dog’ of the pinnacle of single-seater, open-wheel motorsport isn’t an infallible feat if you don’t have the right group of people around you.
“Having success is not all that it’s cracked up to be,” he told F1.
“It can be lonely at the top, especially when you’re the first. It’s nothing without family and without your team and without people that you rally with.
“If you can’t share it and be in the moment, then it’s kind of all for nothing.”
What really shaped Lewis Hamilton’s F1 career
Hamilton has had his fair share of support throughout his career. He was lapped up by McLaren when he was only 13 – the Woking-based team supporting his stellar rookie season in 2007 followed by with his first F1 title in 2008 for them.
He then moved onto Mercedes from 2013 onwards and built a legacy that might never be besmirched. Hamilton won a whopping six world titles with the Brackley-based team between 2014 and 2021, helping the team to eight consecutive Constructors’ titles, en route.
Despite this, the 41-year-old credits the people who tried to pull him down as the one’s who really geed him up to chase F1 glory.
“I would say the [moments] that have shaped me the most have been environmental,” he explained.
“Beatings, fights, bullying, name-calling, all those sorts of things. People telling me to go back to my country – all those are sorts of things that I have just put in my pocket to fill me.
“And those are the things that have shaped me into who I am today. It’s an accumulation of a lot of those paper cuts or wounds.”
2026 sees Hamilton’s sophomore year with F1’s most successful and iconic team; Ferrari.
And while Mercedes are still quite a way up the road, the Briton would want to close his F1 career with that elusive eighth world title to settle all debate.
READ MORE – Toto Wolff reveals shocking Mercedes plan to fire Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg
Discussion about this post