With Lewis Hamilton, on the final leg of one of the most glorious careers in sport, is adamant that he will always follow the Formula 1 with a positive frame of mind when he quits, while having a stab at the negativity of former drivers and champions.
Sir Lewis’ remarkable career kicked-off that day, as an a audacious youngster, he tapped up McLaren supremo Ron Dennis for a F1 drive… and we know what transpired since then: 301 Grand Prix starts and counting, seven F1 world titles, 103 wins and 103 pole position starts; and a career far closer to its end than the start.
You would think he will take a long and well-deserved break from everything F1 related when he hangs up his helmet, but not so according to the Champ himself.
Speaking on ViaPlay to former McLaren teammate Heikki Kovalainen, Hamilton imagined life off the F1 grid: “I’ll always be tapped into this sport, I’ll always be watching.
“I’ll always want to be someone that’s being positive to whichever drivers that are here, good or bad, because you know how difficult it is to start, and how it can suck and how days can be good and how people can be negative about you.
“I don’t ever want to be one of those drivers that does that, because we’ve experienced that,” added Hamilton with a dig at the detractors he has had despite a splendid career which is hard to fault in terms of right decisions, timing and ultimately success.
Times have changed substantially since Ecclestone and Piquet roamed in F1
Recently, the F1 narrative was blighted by stunningly shocking utterances by deposed F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone and triple World Champion Nelson Piquet as the sport embraces more tolerance and diversity.
At Silverstone earlier this season, Hamilton told reporters: “In the last couple of weeks, I don’t think a day has gone by when someone who has not been relevant in our sport for decades has not been saying negative things and trying to bring me down.
“But I am still here and still standing strong. I’m focused on my work and pushing for diversity and inclusion in our sport. Crisis management. It’s not enough. Now it’s time for actual real action.
“Formula 1, the media, we should not be giving these people a platform. I’ve always tried to be respectful to these individuals but why did we give these guys a platform?
“They are not with the time, they are not willing to change,” ventured Hamilton, clearly intent on not joining the negative brigade of ex-F1 drivers and champions.