Hamilton hits back at Rosberg
Five-time champion thinks former team-mate Rosberg is wide of the mark in assessment
Lewis Hamilton has hit back at former Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg’s suggestion that his ability level will tail off now he is in his mid-30s.
Rosberg used his video blog ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix to suggest that Max Verstappen had overtaken Hamilton to become “the best driver out there”.
Speaking about Hamilton, who is now 34, Rosberg had said “the best age for racing drivers is 30, 31, 32 – and that’s because your ability as you’re getting older slightly decreases, but experience counts so much in this sport. So experience will outdo the small decrease in your natural ability as a human as you get a bit older.”
When Rosberg’s comments were put to Hamilton, the reigning world champion said: “I’ve never seen the blog, I don’t know who follows it, but it has no bearing on anything that I do.
“I don’t care, everyone has their own opinion. Whether he’s right or wrong, I don’t really care. All you have to do is look at my tally of results over the years and they kind of speak for themselves.
“So naturally there will be people that have not had the success that I’ve had, and might want to talk it down, but that’s OK.”
Hamilton said a “really good book” called the Four Agreements had helped him avoid worrying about people’s opinions.
“There’s an element in there where it says don’t take anything personally, so when someone says something about you, it’s not actually about you, it’s how they feel about themselves,” he said.
“I’m 34 years old, but I feel like I’m driving better than ever. Hopefully you can see that I’ve not lost any speed.
“Qualifying is not always going to go great, you just have to move on. Races are not always going to go great, the last one
[in Germany] sucked.
“But you know what, you move straight on, let it go, there’s nothing you can do about the past, all you can do is try to shape the future.”
As recently as June, Hamilton had stated that he could “definitely” race for another five years in F1 and he reiterated that retirement is not on his agenda. “Right now I feel fantastic physically, generally, this year, and mentally,” said Hamilton. “There’s more to achieve together inside and outside of the car.”