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Lewis Hamilton: My Story

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I’ll be lying if I said that I hadn’t thought about extending,” he said. “I’m still on the mission, I’m still loving driving, I’m still being challenged by it. So I don’t really feel like I have to give it up anytime soon.” Clinching his second driving title (as well as becoming the most successful British Formula One driver, with 33 victories) was an emotional occasion for Lewis Hamilton, whose family and girlfriend shared his tearful triumph at Abu Dhabi. Struggling to put his feelings into words, he summed it up succinctly: “This is the greatest day of my life.” Shortened and stressed by the global Coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 schedule - 17 races crammed into 23 weekends in 12 countries - resulted in one of the most intense and memorable seasons in the sport’s 70-year history. The non-stop action at existing and new venues featured exciting racing, displays of virtuoso driving, even a couple of first-time winners. A fiery accident from which driver Romain Grosjean miraculously escaped was a frightening reminder that danger is never far away. Asked the same question, Verstappen said: "What would it add to know? It's not happening. There is no point to make up stories if, if - it's not happening. Just trying to fight against racism in your closed environment wasn’t enough anymore. It was about raising your voice and changing the tonality as well, to make himself heard, to make racism a topic nobody could ignore any more, even if it polarises or it’s controversial. It’s just the right thing to do.”

Lewis once got a telling off from Ron Dennis because his school report wasn't good enough. He was miserable because he missed half a test day and we weren't immediately on the pace. In the end, Alonso finished second behind Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, with Hamilton third, but the ‘kid’ had left a huge impression. And it just kept growing. Hamilton’s unwillingness to simply be an F1 driver rubs some people up the wrong way, and he receives criticism from various quarters for a number of different reasons - he’s too outspoken, he’s contrived, he’s too opinionated, too much of a poseur; whatever.Lewis had that and he was bloody young. Would he be any different today? Probably not. And that was it, just bloody minded.” Hamilton first led the championship after the fourth race of the season, taking it away from Alonso at the Spaniard’s home grand prix. The problems that led to the team unravelling began at the next race in Monaco.

Once out of the car, he added: "Seven is just unimaginable but when you work with such a great group of people and you really trust each other, there is just no end to what you can do together. Hamilton is 36 in January. His contract with Mercedes runs out at the end of this year, but while he said after the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at the beginning of this month that there was “no guarantee” he will stay in F1, on the same day he also said that he wanted to “continue to make history together” with Mercedes.No matter what sport we played, Lewis always had to win, and he was so good at everything. He’s just naturally talented for any sport. If we were climbing, he was the best from the team. Whatever we did, it was, ‘Man, Lewis again winning.’ It was a bit embarrassing. And now, he is the most successful driver in the history of F1. He broke Michael Schumacher’s record of 91 wins last month, has equalled the German's record of seven world championships - and has every chance of adding an eighth next year.

Was he alluding to a conspiracy theory within Mercedes to allow Rosberg to win? An hour or so later, he clarified what he meant: “A higher power. It feels right now as if the man above or a higher power is intervening a little bit.” Fry tells of an exhausting few days as negotiations over the detail of the Mercedes contract reached their critical point over the weekend of the Singapore Grand Prix, in September 2012. However, it’s understandable that a driver of Hamilton’s calibre would seek out a team with the best prospects of success.” Firstly, a big congratulations to Max and his team,” he said ahead of the podium ceremony at Abu Dhabi. “I think our team did an amazing job…all the men and women who have worked so hard this whole year…I’m so proud of them and so grateful to be part of the journey with them…We gave it absolutely everything and we never gave up – that’s the most important thing…We’re still in the Covid pandemic and I just wish for everyone to stay safe and have a good Christmas with all their families and we’ll see about next year.” Hamilton’s move to Mercedes had paid off better and earlier than he ever expected. After a building year in 2013, the advent of F1’s hybrid engine regulations brought immediate success, and a car miles clear of the rest of the field. Hamilton won the championship in 2014 and 2015.

Wolff ‘baffled’

A brilliant win in Japan followed, in torrential rain that caused Alonso to crash, and Hamilton went to the penultimate race in China with a chance of clinching the title in his debut season. Eoin Regan, then a mechanical engineering student from Belfast, remembers the first time he worked with Lewis and his father Anthony before a race weekend at Nutts Corner. But, he insists, it was not because he was Lewis Hamilton’s brother. “Ever since I’ve started racing, it’s been hard because people compare me to Lewis and say I’m only there because he’s a multimillionaire. If he wasn't happy with the kart it could get heated, but that's racing and that's what got him where he is today. He didn't always agree with us and he didn't always agree with Anthony. Hamilton fought to re-pass Vettel but couldn’t. As they went around the final lap, it appeared as if it was all over. Massa was about to win and Hamilton, one place short of the minimum result he needed, was on the verge of missing out for the second year in a row.

Liam Regan, Eoin's younger brother, recalls Lewis staying at their family home in Belfast when attending a race meeting at Nutts Corner. The 35-year-old superstar’s record-setting season, achieved with 11 wins, 10 poles and 14 podiums, made Hamilton statistically the most successful F1 driver ever. At the end of it, his 14-year, 266-race career had thus far produced 95 wins, 98 poles, 165 podiums, as well as putting him atop several other categories, with no signs of him of slowing down. Some drivers cannot get that close to the car in front,” De la Rosa says. "But Lewis and Fernando, always, when they’re behind they’re nearly touching the gearbox. Rosberg sensed an opportunity. The maths of the championship were clear - if he could win in Japan, he would have enough of a lead to finish second behind Hamilton at all the remaining races and still win the title. Which, given the size of Mercedes’ advantage over the field, should be relatively easy, reliability permitting.

The background of the story

Hamilton set up The Hamilton Commission to improve F1's diversity, and has also been outspoken on human rights abuses in countries where F1 is staged.

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