“I think it was until 2015 that I was really, really able to properly enjoy it” : Lewis Hamilton reveals difficulty during his first win with Mercedes
The soon-to-be Ferrari man has already conquered F1 racing and has also made the sport more popular along the way. When Lewis Hamilton was in McLaren, everyone knew the amount of potential he had, and it was on joining the Silver Arrows where he received the title of the greatest F1 driver of all time.
The Briton last won the world championship in 2020, and has since been on an inconsistent journey with Mercedes. Tied with Michael Schumacher at seven world titles, the 39-year-old is still hungry to break the record next year with the Italian team.
Talking about world titles, the Mercedes man gave media a surprise headlines by recently revealing in an interview about the difficulty he had enjoying his first championship win with the AMG Petronas in 2014.
“It just wasn’t a great time for me” : Lewis Hamilton admits having a hard time in his initial season with Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton joined the German team in 2013 in what was deemed as a gamble due to no recent success of theirs. He was also able to reunite with his childhood karting teammate, Nico Rosberg. After just a one victory in 2013 at the Hungarian Grand Prix, 2014 was the defining year for the Briton where he won his second world championship which started his dominance in the sport.
In contrast to what was supposed to be a huge and positive victory, the Briton has revealed he did not ‘enjoy’ his first title with the Brackley-based team. Hamilton said that he would have rather faced competition from several other teams than his own teammate. Although, he did admit that it felt sweet to make his doubters wrong.
“I was competing with my teammate. He was tough to beat, but in general you would always prefer that you’re competing with several teams. That’s what the sport should be doing. More often than not, that’s not the case, but I’m still grateful for it obviously. I think it was until 2015 that I was really, really able to properly enjoy it,” said the 39-year-old (via podcast ‘Performance People’).
“The first one I didn’t enjoy because it was just – I don’t know – it just wasn’t a great time for me. The second [title in 2014] was just like: ‘I made the right decision and I proved everyone wrong. Great, so I can sleep’. But then the next one felt like: ‘OK, we’re here to stay, this is really [going to mean] something’ – because [three titles is] also what Ayrton won,” the Briton added.
It must have been hard to admit for the 39-year-old to speak his true feelings, as he is also soon to leave the team where he spent his peak years at. But the Briton still has one last fairytale chapter left in his career to give out to his fans worldwide, as he is set to finally pursue his childhood dream of racing in red.
