Lewis Hamilton enjoys his moment in the sun
Lewis Hamilton won big over the weekend at Silverstone and saw arch-rival Sebastian Vettel stumble and lose all but a single point of the -point deficit that he had opened up, but the Briton was in no mood for gloating as he pondered one of the greatest weekends of his racing life.
His record-equalling fifth victory in his home Grand Prix, he admitted, will take time to sink in.
“The legendary part of the weekend, that doesn’t really resonate. That’s something for when you’re older and retired,” he said.
“But I come back to my room [at Mercedes] and it’s good to sit there… When you set yourself a goal and you do it and succeed, you have this belief in yourself and you extract whatever it is you have inside of you… I don’t know why I am able to drive the way I drive, but it feels such a blessing.
“Apart from when I’m with my family, the happiest I am is when I have the car on the knife edge. That’s never really changed.”
While refusing to be drawn on the subject of when he might start discussing a new contract with Mercedes, to extend the current one which runs out at the end of 2018, he continued: “I can’t really say what will happen about my future because you never know in life, but I can say that I am loving racing, and really feeling within myself that I am driving better than ever.
“I’ve said that in the past, but right now I am at my best and want to stay there. I prepare myself the best I can and only I know how I can do that. I have a great team around me, such a long, long chain [of people], operating at its most efficient, and I want to continue with that.
“I’m always going to like driving and doing crazy stuff, and even if I get another championship, it will never be a case of wanting to hang up my gloves. I’ll always want to win more even when I do stop. But let’s just focus at the moment try and get that fourth.”
Indeed, prospects of a fourth Championship title came firmly back into focus yesterday after the disappointments of Baku and Austria. But despite his domination at Silverstone, he still believes there is little to choose still between Mercedes and Ferrari as a gripping season reaches its midpoint.
“I think there are pros and cons with teams in terms of performance,” he added. “Some weekends they are a bit ahead, some we are, so it’s track dependent. Still, at the moment they have the strongest line-up, while he [Vettel] is still one point ahead. But collectively as a team we are leading the Constructors’ Championship. So it’s been kind of level.
“Our car has been a little trickier to get used to and to start with the right set-up. We didn’t get it in the perfect window and didn’t exploit its performance.” THE INDEPENDENT