Lewis Hamilton is adamant that he is still targeting the 2016 Formula 1 wold championship, despite the fact that his Mercedes teammate has stormed to four wins in four races so far this season and the reigning world champion trails in the points standings by 43 points.
Hamilton told Sky Sport in a wide ranging interview, "The goal in racing is to excel in every opportunity I have still. I still want to win championships, I still want to win races."
"I don't know why I still have the drive to do those things because I've had quite a few of them, but it's because it's what I love doing. So I will continue to do it while I love it - and not just to be in it, to win it. I'm not here just to participate. I never have been and never will be," mused the triple F1 title holder.
Hamilton is famous for his high profile jetset lifestyle, which he esaily justifies, "I'm trying just as many different things as I can. There's so much that I want to do and there's not enough time. I spend time with my music. I love spending time with family and friends."
"I love the fashion stuff. I love kids so I really want to work more with kids and work more with helping animals. There are so many inhumane things done to animals, and also to human beings."
"There are so many things I want to get involved in and so hopefully I'll have time in my life to become a part of as many as possible and by the time time comes up in my life I can look back and say I've actually achieved a lot in racing, but also in other areas.
"But at the moment I'm discovering, there's no rush. It's not like when you're leaving school you have to figure out what your career wants to be. I'm discovering it as I go along," revealed the richest sports person in Britain.
Many believe that Hamilton has matured immensely since his move away from McLaren who mentored him all the way to Formula 1, while his race craft and prowess in race mode gets better with every year.
He acknowledges, "As a sportsman, and I don't know if this applies to everyone else, it's difficult to be 'better' when you already feel you're at your best. But you're always improving on things - you're never perfect on all-round things."
"If you look at [Novak] Djokovic, he's the best at the moment, but I bet you any money he has small weaknesses every now and then and he'll probably work and train on those to make those stronger. And by raising those, others fall down."
"There might be 10 things that are to be perfect, but it's trying to find a balance. So every year you improve on one area and maybe another one drops down a little bit. The goal is to be perfect everywhere, but that's the cycle of life.
"I have been able to drive like I can now since I was 10 years old, it's just that now I do it on the Formula 1 scale. Now I understand my engineers, who are Oxford University students. I understand mechanical set-ups. So knowledge and confidence-wise I'm growing mentally, but driving-wise I drive the same."
"But there are areas from race on, race off. One weekend you're good on the brakes, one weekend you're so-so. One weekend you're good on the pit stops. One weekend you're good everywhere and then the next weekend you're down five, up four. That's just how racing is."
World championship leader Nico Rosberg has been Hamiltin's F1 teammate since the Briton joined the taem in 2013, but the pair have been friends and rivals since their early teens as young kart drivers.
Asked if the relationship with Rosberg has changed since those early days, Hamilton reflected, "Not really. There was just one change years ago when we were younger. He was a little bit like me back in the day."
"When I visited him, one time we'd go out on motorbikes - he'd have a motorbike, I'd have my bike - we'd just go out all day and go on tour. In the rain, take the quad bike down, paintball and just dangerous stuff. I still do that and he doesn't - that's the only difference!"
Triple world champion has to sound good, but Hamilton admits, "I still want to win more championships. I don't know, maybe that's subconsciously reaffirmed my belief in myself over these 23 years [of racing]. It's like every time you face a wall and every time you get over it and you conquer that wall it's like a tap on the shoulder."
Maybe all those years adding up of races and challenging yourself, and doubts and all that stuff, and winning the championships, maybe that's helped for sure. Hopefully it will continue to grow," concluded Hamilton.
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