Lewis Hamilton said that he eliminated all distractions from his life to help him fulfil his destiny for greatness in the world of Formula One.
The 40-year-old Briton, who has seven world championships to his name, will go down in the annals of history as one of the greatest ever to hit the grid – also holding the most wins and podium places in the history of the sport. However, Hamilton may not have been able to achieve quite the career if he didn’t eliminate “distractions” from his life back in 2011.
Speaking ahead of the 2012 season, Hamilton explained: “Life is like a puzzle, you just have to get things in place. Formula One is a massively competitive sport where you have to have clear thoughts, to live and breathe Formula One. There is no room for anything else.
“So I plan to eliminate everything in my life – not my family or anything like that – but anything that can be a distraction. That will be a start, and the rest will be just doing what I’m doing.” For context, Hamilton suffered a fifth-place finish in the 2011 F1 standings, with 227 points to show for his endeavours.
Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel won the title that year, with 392 points in total – 122 clear of second-place Jenson Button. As a result of his mentality, Hamilton has sacrificed an abundance over the years while chasing F1 glory.
The Stevenage native has never been married, with his eight-year relationship with Pussycat Dolls singer, Nicole Scherzinger, coming to an end in 2015. And with no dependents in the form of children, it appears as though Hamilton has been able to solely focus on his incredible career.
Hamilton clinched his first F1 title in 2008 with McLaren but didn’t see his second until 2014, after his mentality U-turn. After switching to Mercedes in 2013, Hamilton went on to six more titles between 2014 and 2020 – before being ousted at the top of the sport by the successes of Max Verstappen, who has won the past four championships consecutively.
Hamilton finished seventh in last year’s drivers’ championship, behind then team-mate George Russell, with a meagre two wins and five podiums to his name – a far cry from the nine wins and 14 podiums Verstappen collected. However, he will hope that a move to Ferrari alongside Charles Leclerc will inspire him to once more find his form.
However, it is clear that Hamilton’s mentality regarding the sport has not changed headed into Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. Before the start of the new season, Hamilton said: “I’m the first and only Black driver that’s ever been in this sport.
“I’m built different. I’ve been through a lot. I’ve had my own journey. You can’t compare me to another 40-year-old, past or present, Formula One driver in history. Because they are nothing like me. I’m hungry, driven, don’t have a wife and kids.
“I’m focused on one thing, and that’s winning. That’s my number one priority.” He also added that he has no plans of slowing down any time soon, explaining: “What I can tell you is, retirement is nowhere on my radar. I could be here until I’m 50, who knows.”
Currently tied for total F1 titles alongside Michael Schumacher, an eighth championship for Hamilton could be the deciding factor in the step up from being ‘one of the greats’ of the sport to ‘the greatest of all time’. He will undoubtedly have one thing on his mind when he hits the tracks in Melbourne on Sunday, kicking off his season with the best possible start with hopes of once more dominating Formula One.
Formula 1 fans can watch every practice, qualifying and race live with Sky’s new Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle in a new deal that saves £192.
As well as Sky Sports access, this includes more than 100 TV channels and free subscriptions to Netflix and Discovery+.
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.