Seven-time world champion Hamilton is on the longest win drought of his F1 career amid Mercedes’ struggles, but believes his greatest ever achievement may still be yet to come
Image: HOCH ZWEI/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)
Lewis Hamilton thinks winning a Formula 1 race again will “probably be the greatest triumph of my career”.
The seven-time world champion is, of course, no stranger to the top step of the F1 podium. No-one in the sport’s history can match his record of 103 race victories.
But almost two years have passed since the last of those wins was recorded. Hamilton did not taste victory in 2022, going an entire season without winning for the first time ever, and looks set to go without again this year.
His last two Mercedes cars have not been able to compete with the dominant Red Bulls. Having signed a new contract until the end of 2025, he will hope one of his next two machines will give him a better chance of getting the better of Max Verstappen.
Hamilton continues to believe, at the age of 38, that he and his team can do it. And, if he can, he has no doubts about where it would rank among the many extraordinary achievements from his career to date.
“We’ll be coming back. We can do it,” he told Swiss publication Blick. “The next step to the top podium will come. And it will probably be my greatest triumph in my career.
“I hope that the amount of data we have collected so far this year will have an impact on the new car. That is the hope of the entire Mercedes team in both factories. We all have to always believe in our goals. And never give up.”
This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
Watch Formula One on Sky Sports
Catch all the action from Formula One on Sky Sports and get exclusive access to races, qualifying and much more for every Grand Prix. From Max Verstappen to Lewis Hamilton, you won’t miss a lap on Sky Sports.
That new deal will keep him in F1 beyond his 40th birthday – something he had previously said would not happen. Hamilton admits he “underestimated” how much he loved the sport and that he is now “much happier” than he was when he was younger, having discovered more about himself.
That’s not to say the Brit is always 100 percent happy to be involved in F1 on a day-to-day basis. “It has become a love-hate story,” he said. “There are days when I would prefer not to get into the cockpit.”
But he insists the desire to succeed always takes over and that now, in the form of team-mate George Russell, he has another factor pushing him on. He said: “The duels with my team-mate George also give me motivation. You always have to be wide awake.”