Lewis Hamilton is a British Formula One racing driver who has achieved significant success in his career. Some of his notable achievements include being the youngest-ever Formula One World Champion (2008), 7X World Champion, most GP wins (103), and most pole positions (115).
Hamilton has also been recognized for his activism and advocacy, particularly in environmental sustainability, and has used his platform to raise awareness and drive change on climate change.
Hamilton appeared on the Jay Shetty podcast and expressed that “There are days where I do feel like I’m not enough, there are days where I don’t feel like I’m good enough.” He also spoke about the fact that success is short-lived and that fame is temporary.
The driver for Mercedes met the protagonist of the Fast and Furious series, Dom Toretto (played by Vin Diesel) before the Monza race where Verstappen and Hamilton suffered a dangerous crash. The halo was a defining factor in the situation and it practically saved Lewis’ life, according to Toto Wolff. Hamilton also played a role in Cars 2 and 3 wherein in the former he played himself and, in the latter, where he did a cameo as an AI bot.
The 7X world Champion also spoke about a few topics including his experience with racism as he grew up, growing up with a father figure, loneliness on the racing field, Mission 44, focus, and improvement.
“People can be like, ‘Yeah, but you’ve won seven world titles’ but still there are days where I question ‘have you still got it, can you still be the best?’ I’m having that conversation with myself often.” Said the 7X world champion.
He said he was a little worried about the 2023 season and that it is uncertain if he would be able to compete for the title in 2023 at the same level.
Lewis Hamilton’s 2022 Season
The 2022 season was the Englishman’s worst ever statistically, he finished 6th in the driver’s standings with 240 points. He did not win any races and finished on the podium 9 times in total. His teammate, George Russell finished 4th in the standings with 275 points. This is the first season he has been outperformed by a teammate since 2016 when Nico Rosberg dramatically outperformed prime Lewis Hamilton in equal machinery.
The 2022 season’s underperformance on Mercedes’ side is mainly attributed to their engineers. The W13 had problems with its design, which caused its chassis to suffer from porpoising.
The phenomena can be described as the bouncing of the car on the track at high speeds due to the aerodynamics forcing the air under and over the car alternatively. The Red Bull RB18 zoomed past the W13 and Mercedes had to compete with the mid-table teams.
Even though towards the end of the 2022 season, Mercedes showed improvement by experimenting with both cars, Red Bull was far ahead with Max Verstappen dominating the championship. Hamilton also expressed having problems with his spine with the porpoising issue.
He told Formula 1, “there has never been a driver like me either.” showing his confidence in his driving. All in all, he is confident about fighting for the title in the 2023 title to break Michael Schumacher’s record for most WDC titles.
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