DRIVER OF THE YEAR
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
Formula 1’s reigning world champion was the resounding winner of this prize, thanks to a phenomenal season in which he used the performance of the Mercedes W11 to devastating effect, crushing the opposition, eclipsing Michael Schumacher’s previous record of 92 career race wins, and finally equalling Schumacher’s tally of seven world championships.
Ten pole positions, 11 race wins, championship wrapped up with three of the 17 races to spare – this was one of Hamilton’s most dominant seasons. But when you consider team-mate Valtteri Bottas only narrowly beat Max Verstappen to second in the standings, it’s clear Hamilton’s level of performance matched the excellence of the car beneath him.
“It definitely feels like the most all-rounded, highest level I’ve been at,” he says. “It’s a natural progression. This year, being as we’ve also had COVID, we’ve had more time to focus on areas of weakness and I would say last year the racing was strong, qualifying wasn’t so great, and I came into this season trying to make sure I kept the strengths but worked on the weaknesses. But in improving in qualifying, I managed to improve the racing, which was a bit of a surprise. I was not expecting that.”
Hamilton has become increasingly detail oriented as his F1 career has matured, and this applies to his areas of focus outside the car as well as to the car itself. Hamilton spent most of 2020 isolated from friends and family, diligently trying to prevent coronavirus – which ultimately did afflict him and forced him to miss a race – from derailing his title bid.
Hamilton turned to meditation and self-help books as a way to ease the mental strain and
help better manage his time and energy levels during the pandemic, while simultaneously shouldering responsibility for driving a campaign for racial equality and greater diversity in F1.
Mercedes supported Hamilton in his efforts, swapping from traditional silver to a black livery in a show of solidarity, while also undertaking an internal review to encourage greater diversity within the company. On track, Hamilton continued to play a leading role in driving performance of the car in the right direction, work he says has given him true appreciation for what Schumacher did during his dominant years at Ferrari, work that Hamilton himself is “very, very proud of”.
“It’s difficult for someone starting in F1, for young drivers, to fully understand what it is that Michael did, what I am doing in this team,” Hamilton says. “They’ll just see that we have a good car, that Michael had a good car, but now I’m here I understand what Michael did with the team – I’m sure it’s similar to what I’ve had to do. Unfortunately, people don’t get to see all that in the background.
“I applied a lot of pressure on the team in terms of where I want the aero balance, for example. I have had them shift that since 2014. But I’ve also had to do a lot of learning. I’ve challenged the guys a lot, and there have been times when I have been wrong. But I’m totally fine with being wrong. That’s part of learning.
“But getting them to think out of the box and try different things, they’ve really moved in that direction. That’s one of the elements that’s helped us to continue to raise the bar, because we have a better approach than perhaps they did before I was here and perhaps we did when I started here.”