Lewis Hamilton says his mentality wouldn’t allow him to “sit back” despite claiming his seventh Formula 1 title in 2020.
The Briton enjoyed a record-breaking year, not only tieing Michael Schumacher with the most championships but also surpassing the German with the most wins in F1, making him the statistical G.O.A.T.
But, as has been the moniker of Mercedes during their period of domination, Hamilton knows complacency must be avoided if he is to stay on top.
“I think there’s an under-appreciated workload that goes on for the people in the background and for the drivers in terms of interpreting the tools that we have,” he told Motorsport.com.
Also Read:
- Wolff ‘not worried’ as new Hamilton/Mercedes deal could wait until February
- Sainz: Yes, 90% could win at Mercedes, but 90% wouldn’t beat Hamilton
- Button predicts 8th F1 title for Hamilton in 2021 but then ‘it gets exciting’
“Each year, I get this new set of tools and have to study like anybody has to study to be on top of those things [and] try to be ahead of the [other] drivers.
“I personally just don’t think, ‘Yes, I have six [now seven] world titles’. I could just sit back on them and think, ‘I’m pretty good’. But that’s not how my mind works.
“My mind is like, ‘Jeez, these guys are chasing me, how do I stay ahead? How do I stay steps ahead? How do I help push the team to stay steps ahead?’ And that’s a really big process because we can easily go down the wrong road – if we rest on our laurels.”
As well as maximising the car, Hamilton also tries to focus on factors which made his goal of becoming champion more difficult.
“If you look at last year, it made the races so much harder for me when I didn’t perform to the best of my ability, generally, on the Saturdays [in qualifying],” Lewis noted.
“It just meant that the pressure was even higher for the Sunday, which I think is sometimes unnecessary pressure.
“So, this year, being able to work on that, with Bono [Peter Bonnington] and the engineers to make sure we’re delivering better performances on the Saturdays, that’s been a relief [in that it] makes Sunday generally, not easier, but just less pressured.”
Also this year, Hamilton found himself losing victories due to penalties, something which at one point led him to claim the FIA was “trying to stop me”, and that is something else he is vowing to avoid a repeat of going forward.
“I still don’t think those penalties were the necessary penalties, but it is what it is and it’s not my job to come up with what the penalties should be,” a clearly still defiant Hamilton told RaceFans in Abu Dhabi.
“I learnt a lesson from it and they won’t be able to catch me out for that again, that’s for sure.
“I’m just going to be very vigilant and diligent, moving forwards, not only as an athlete, but I’m also always trying to find an edge. I’m always trying to find that extra bit.
“It’s a fine line between being over the edge and beneath it. It’s fine if that one was over the edge. I learnt from it and it won’t happen again.”
It is the times though when things go against Hamilton that he insists make him more determined to be perfect.
“I am definitely one of those people that thinks the losses have made me stronger than the wins,” he confirmed.
“I definitely say that the hardest races are the ones that you grow from most, and that’s not only on the driver’s side, that’s also with all the engineers and mechanics – we feel it for days. It definitely feeds you to come back and fight faster, harder the next time.
“I’d be lying if I was to say that I wasn’t improving, I mean, if I wasn’t getting the results, and then perhaps it wouldn’t be improving, but I definitely am having to… I can’t stay still. This sport doesn’t stay still, technology is constantly evolving.”
