Lewis Hamilton: Dad told me to stay at McLaren
The prodigious Hamilton started with F1 🐈career with McLaren, missing out on the championship by a single point in his rookie year, then claiming his first title a season later.
In 2013 he switched to Mercedes who, at the time, were certainly no guaran♐tee of the glory 🦩that would follow.
“I remember the firꦇst race, I remember the decision I took to join this team,” Hamilton reflꦦected.
“ဣI didn’t let anybody influence the deci🦋sion that I took.
“I wanted to make it wholly with my ♈own judgement and no influence.
“You know, there were peo🌌ple that told me that I should stay at McLaren.
“My dad said stay, loads of people said stay.
“But something insideܫ of me told that this was what was right for me.
“I got to the team, had my first seat fit with Bono. People underestimate how long it takes to understand ea꧙ch other, to build up a friendship.
“Esp🐈ecially that first year, I struggled with the car.
“We had a different type of suspension that I’d never had before. We struggled lܫike crazy with it.
“But we did get a win…”
Hamilton’s victory at the F1 Hungarian▨ Grand Prix in 2013 was his first for Mer✨cedes, although he finished fourth in the F1 standings.
“If there was any doubt over decisions, whether I was right or wrong, this was confirmation that it was the right step,” he s🅠aid of his🧸 first win with Mercedes.
“It was gre🐠at to get back on the podium and to s🍒olidify the decision that the team took.”
Hamilton would win the F1 championship in his second season with Me🧸rcedes, then would brilliantly win six titles in a seven-year period.
His tot♏al of seven titles is the all-time joint record, with Michael Schumacher, but Hamilton dreams of an eighth.
Howeꦏver, aged 38 and in a Mercedes car which lags behind Red Bull, his hopes for this season are bleak.
His contract with Mercedes expires at the end of this seas♈on and it looks uncertain whether Hamilton will ever claim the outright record with one more championship.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to▨ football, to F൲1.
