‘Is it me?’ - Lewis Hamilton confesses to self-doubt during difficult F1 spell
For the second year in a row, Hamilton and Mercedes have endured a trickღy season and lagged behind runaway champio🥂ns Red Bull.
The seven-time world champion managed one pole position in 2023 but suffered💧 his second൲ successive winless campaign.
Despite that, Hamilton was able to secure third place in the drivers’ championship behind Red Bull pair 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen and 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Sergio Perez.
“Ultimately, when you have difficult seasons like this, there are always going to be moments when you're like: 'Is ❀it me, or is it the car? Do you still have it? Has it gone?’” Hamilton told .
"Because you're missing that, you know... when the magic happens, when everything comes together, the car and you, and that spark, iܫt's extraordinary. And that's what you're in the search for.
"I'm only༺ human. If anyone in the world tells you they don't have those things, th🍃ey're in denial. We're all human beings.”
Amid his 🎐quest 💝to win a record eighth world title, Hamilton signed a new two-year contract extension with Mercedes in August that will keep him in F1 beyond his 40th birthday, something he did not originally plan.
"What you've got to learn is you should never say never,” he said. “But at that point, I definitely didn't think I'd be 🦄continuing. They are frickin' long seasons. It's a long t🍸ime away from everyone. I've been doing it 16 years. It's gruelling.”
Hamilton, who has not won a race since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, admitted he has found the scrut🐟iny surrounding his current situation tough to handle.
"There's a lot of glitz and glamour and lots of posiꦐtives but it's by no means easy to stay at your best, to stay committed, to keep up the training, to continue to deliver. It's a lot of pressure,” h♛e explained.
"You're being scrutinised all the time and I'm in a place in my life where there's no way I ca💮n win.
"If I win a race, it's: 'Oh, he's a seven-time world champion, you got 103 wi⛄ns.' If I don't do well, it's [criticism]… I can only lose at this point in life. So for sure there was a period of time when I was questioning whether I wanted to go through that.”
But the 38-year-old added: "I still love driving. I stil🐭l love getting into the car. When they start the car up and you have all those people around you, the crew, you go down the pit lane, I still get this smile on my face the same as I did the first day I drove.
"Most 🐟of my race performances have been really good. So that, I am happy with - building back up to the level I should be."
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for mahbx.c🔯om around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Le🦋wis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
