YOU AIN’T NOTHING
LEWIS HAMILTON is used to doing things the hard way.
And he knows he has another Anglo-German season-long fight on his hands despite roaring to victory in China yesterday.
Triple champion Lewis had a series of searing battles with Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg before losing his title to the German last season.
Rosberg immediately quit after his triumph. But another German, four-times champion Sebastian Vettel, won the first race of the season for Ferrari in Melbourne a fortnight ago.
Hamilton put him in his place yesterday, finishing six seconds ahead. It was his fifth win in Shanghai after leading every lap in the drenching rain as Vettel fought back to second from fifth.
Closest
But Vettel’s performance has convinced 32-year-old Hamilton that he is in for one of the toughest fights of his life to reclaim the title against a man who is three years younger.
“It is going to be one of the closest championships, if not the closest, I’ve personally ever experienced,” said Hamilton.
“The scenario I am in right now, I am fighting against a four-times world champion who is at his best and is phenomenally quick, and a Ferrari team which is the best they have been in a decade. I feel like I am at my best, too.
“The ultimate fighter always wants the best battle you can have because when you come out on top it is much more satisfying.
“I love this fight that we are having and sitting there with Sebastian I was like, ‘This is going to go right down to the end of the season’.
“And I hope for both of us there is nothing mechanical that will come inbetween our sheer battle through ability.
“I really hope it is an out-and-out fight through stubbornness, through mental stability, through fitness, composure and through just out-driving the person on track.”