Lewis Hamilton hasn’t enjoyed a vintage season with Mercedes but he has gone on record to say what he enjoys the least about Formula 1 racing
Image: Getty Images)
Lewis Hamilton has claimed that leading from pole and remaining unchallenged in a race is the most “boring” aspect of F1.
The British driver is currently sitting sixth in the driver standings after a mixed-bag season so far. His team, Mercedes, are currently in fourth after they stumbled at the Dutch Grand Prix on Sunday – which was their worst showing for some time, having seen a marked improvement before the summer break.
Hamilton had clinched two victories last month, at Silverstone and in the Belgian Grand Prix, but remains well out of the title picture with Max Verstappen and Lando Norris still the drivers to beat. Although he has largely struggled since 2021 – and hasn’t been on pole all season – the 39-year-old knows all about leading races and revealed that he much prefers the thrill of chasing.
The Brit admitted that leading without being contested can feel like a “test” session and that facing off with another driver to create “battle” conditions is what really excites him as a driver.
Speaking on the Performance People podcast with former Sky Sports host Georgie Ainslie, Hamilton was asked what it’s like to lead the pack compared to racing through several cars to clinch victory.
“It’s so boring, honestly when you’re starting from first and leading the race all the way through, it’s really boring compared to fighting from the back and having a race,” he said.
“It’s not racing. You could be on a test (session), you are fighting a time gap behind you but you have to psych yourself into thinking there’s a car ahead or something like that – you have to be chasing something. But it’s different when you have a car, or cars, ahead of you and there is a track where you can overtake like Austin or Silverstone for example.”
He also disclosed what gets him going the most when competing, adding: “Different lines you’re trying to discover, utilising different tyres, wind, crosswinds, all these different things and then you finally get someone in battle, that’s the best thing, that’s the most rewarding experience as a driver.”
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Image:
Bryn Lennon – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)
It’s not been the best couple of seasons for the Silver Arrows. They have had to sit back and watch enviously as their Red Bull rivals have dominated the sport.
Mercedes have made up some ground in recent months but are still some way off stopping Max Verstappen from making it four Championship wins on the spin. While it looked like Hamilton’s team were back on track after racking up three wins since late June, any forward strides were halted last weekend in the Netherlands.
Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell aired his grievances about his car after the pair fumbled the race as Hamilton finished in P8, while Russell couldn’t fare much better as he crossed the line one place ahead in seventh. Speaking after the event, Russell said Mercedes needed to “look into” what went wrong while Hamilton claimed his poor showing was partly down to him as well as his car.
This year is Hamilton’s last in the Mercedes team as he is set to join Ferrari next year, replacing Carlos Sainz as Charles Leclerc’s team-mate.
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