Lewis Hamilton says he will not be distracted by the possibility of becoming the second Formula 1 driver in history to win six world championships in his quest for this year’s title.
While Hamilton can become drivers’ champion for a sixth time, Mercedes could complete an unprecedented sweep of both championship titles for the sixth year in a row.But the world champion said the possibility of rewriting the record books is “not something that I allow my peers to talk about.”
“We are always driven to do something new and to break boundaries and do stuff that no one has done before,” said Hamilton at the Circuit de Catalunya this week. “But we are fully aware of the work that it will take to deliver something like that.
“And by no means that are we like ‘yeah we’re going for the sixth’, like it’s a relaxed thing. It’s not like that. And for me as well I’m not even focusing on that.
“It’s a new season, a new year and new chapter and we have to approach it like it’s our first. We’re going for number one, that’s how I approach it.”
Hamilton has only failed to win the world championship once in the past four seasons, when he missed out to team mate Nico Rosberg by five points.
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2019 F1 season
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ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
22nd February 2019, 7:21
Yeah. Like winning 16 of 19 races in 2014.
Lums (@lums)
22nd February 2019, 8:10
I hope they repeat 2014, maybe that’ll finally wake up the other teams to get serious. They can’t keep watching Mercedes/Lewis run away with the ball and expect them to relax or tone it down ‘cos iTs MaKinG tHe sPOrt BoriNg’
No free lunch in f1.
papaya
22nd February 2019, 8:24
@lums who knows if this year Mercedes will instead becoming the backmarker? competing with the likes of McLaren, Williams? It’s too early to come out statement like this.
Lums (@lums)
22nd February 2019, 8:30
Nobody knows what will happen by the end of the year and you could be right too. All I’m saying is Mercedes deserve all their achievements and they should be praised for it.
Jimmi Cynic (@jimmi-cynic)
22nd February 2019, 8:45
@lums: Agreed. They’ve done a better job than the other teams in the hybrid era.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
22nd February 2019, 13:58
@jimmi-cynic
Don’t forget that Ross Brawn was directly involved with the FIA with regard to the new engine regulations and the stupid token system that Mercedes was strongly in favor for that prevented teams from catching.
It’s not about doing a better job than the competition like Mercedes are trying to imply, it was about working on basic principles way earlier than the rest of the fields.
Since 2017, Ferrari and eventually RBR have been showing that Mercedes are humans and starting from 2018 Ferrari have had arguably the best PU. It’s Lewis Hamilton that is making the difference in the last couple years.
KGN11
22nd February 2019, 14:18
@tifoso1989
Martin Whitmarsh, Cyril, Taffin, Dominicalli were all involved when the decision was made about the PU’s and token system.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
23rd February 2019, 0:08
@KGN11
The direct input of Ross Brawn to his former Boss was Jean Todt was decisive with this regard. It was suggested that Mercedes have already developed a hybrid V6 prototype by 2011. That’s exactly the issue, Ross Brawn is just on a league of its own in terms of rules interpretation compared to the likes of Martin Whitmarsh, Cyril, Taffin and Dominicalli.
Domenicali & Di Montezemolo were confident that Ferrari will do great under the new rules because they have had the best KERS system between 2009-2011. Renault were also convinced that they can do great with a “smaller” engine formula. The problem was that they figured out that they are in real troubles only after the beginning of the 2014 season. While you could argue that the other teams could have objected the new regs and the token system, but the rules were definitely influenced in a way by Ross Brawn to favour Mercedes.
Mercedes was actually the team against dropping the token system.
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/117089/mercedes-rivals-eye-engine-loophole
Matteo (@m-bagattini)
22nd February 2019, 8:37
@lums I think it’s unfair – and a bit disrespectful – to say that teams other than Mercedes aren’t serious. And I don’t mean Ferrari, who’s contending the title in the last years, but every team including those finishing last.
Teams are made of hundreds of people and I’m pretty sure most of them are putting everything they have to compete. We always see the tip of the iceberg, we identify teams with their drivers and a couple of chiefs, often forgetting all the people working behind the scenes, in the boxes or at the factories.
Lums (@lums)
22nd February 2019, 8:55
I agree with you on this though my earlier comment contradicts it. Reading it back does sound unfair and disrespectful to other teams, esp Ferrari.
Would you also agree that trying to water down Mercedes/Lewis’ achievements can come across as disrespectful too.
ColdFly (@)
22nd February 2019, 8:55
Agreed @m-bagattini, other teams work just as hard (or even harder).
And not all have the luxury of having the strongest PU package as a works partner.
Lums (@lums)
22nd February 2019, 9:01
Agreed! @coldfly
hamiledon
22nd February 2019, 8:22
This boy really likes very much to make trash talks like politicians. My people my ass.
JB (@)
22nd February 2019, 10:29
Trash talks about trash talk.
Congrats.
Theo
22nd February 2019, 10:30
Wow boy ha, he is a grown up man in his thirties. Have some respect.
lunaslide (@lunaslide)
22nd February 2019, 12:16
Your comment is despicable. Here in the US, calling a grown black man “boy” is a classic racist attempt at marginalizing them. And nothing about what he said was political, it is about a winning mindset of never resting on one’s laurels and fighting for every championship like it is the first one.
Asanator (@asanator)
22nd February 2019, 12:35
@lunaslide
Really??!!
Martin
22nd February 2019, 14:05
Yes
Otto
22nd February 2019, 14:58
Some people call me boy and i’m 32 .And i’m not white, i’m latino but i don’t act all touchy-feely.
Dude trust me i dislike Hamilton (and most people do ) because of the stuff he said , brags a lot etc etc, acts like a primadona .And i believe 99% other people think like this too.
I love he’s brother for example.And i certainly disliked Schumacher waaay more.
Of course there’s always that 1% guy that’s a racist .Can’t cure low IQ.
CC
22nd February 2019, 21:41
Is it safe to call Verstappen a boy?
SPIDERmaN (@spiderman)
22nd February 2019, 12:51
calling a 32 year old five time world champion a boy is just plain showing your lack of respect on facts ..
KGN11
22nd February 2019, 14:20
“The boy”
You’re referring to a 34 y/o man as a ‘boy’
mystic one (@mysticus)
22nd February 2019, 21:07
@hamiledonny Why do you call him “this boy” is it because he is black? like Ali G said once?
javier javier (@j3d89)
22nd February 2019, 14:32
So basically Mercedes gonna crush the competition with a performance gap similar to 2014?
Big Joe
22nd February 2019, 16:50
‘we’ll fight’
Good idea. Ask Toto to actually fight and not play the mind games by claiming Vettel had the better car (which has already started and it’s only been shaken down)
We all saw what happened when Seb did have the better car and trounced Lewis. He was 4-1 up in championships.
mystic one (@mysticus)
22nd February 2019, 21:17
@Little Joe
“We all saw what happened when Seb did have the better car and trounced Lewis. He was 4-1 up in championships.” When was that? Red Bull? You mean Seb had a superior car due to aero advantage? We saw what happened when Seb had better or equal car to what Lewis drove, and Lewis walked over him! When they had literally same car (F2) seb was nowhere!
F1oSaurus (@)
23rd February 2019, 5:32
Thing is, Vettel did have the better car in 2018. He simply threw it all away. Over and over and over etc.
Vettel easily should have won these races:
AZE he flew off the road after the restart and finished only in P4 instead of P1
AUT landed himself a completely unnecessary grid penalty (impeding). Otherwise he would have won. P3 instead.
GER Fastest car all weekend. Puts it in the wall. 0 points instead of P1 plus the SC he caused helps Hamilton win the race.
ITA Fastest car all weekend. Too impatient first lap. Crashes into Hamilton. P4 instead of P1
SIN Fastest car all weekend (half a second gap still in FP3). Messes up Q3 and only scores a P3 instead of P1
USA Again gets himself a completely unnecessary grid penalty (speeding under red flag) and again crashed into someone (Ricciardo) and again scored only a P4 instead of P1
In only those six races he loses 84 points, plus he hands Hamilton 31 points extra. Which is a total swing of 115 points. More than enough to have taken the WDC.
Then there still are races like:
FRA Crashed into Bottas first corner. Should have been at least P2, but managed only P5
HUN drove poorly in Q3 after being much faster all weekend. P2 instead of P1
JPN Just kept on spinning in Q3 and crashes into Verstappen during the race
ESP, RUS and BRA were just poor races.
wayne
22nd February 2019, 18:03
im mixed race in my country the term ‘ boy’ was also used racially. although it can be used as a term of affection but in this case i think not. please do tell when lewis brags anove and beyond what is considered norm. as opposed to the other drivers who are all saints…. and never say or do anything wrong.
Todfod (@todfod)
23rd February 2019, 6:04
I don’t know if it’s going to be anything like their 2014 season. Right from the unveiling, I had a feeling that Mercedes is going to struggle to be favourites this year.
The 2019 front wing rule changes are a major disadvantage for them. They haven’t changed their design philosophy to accommodate a high rake and raised side pods, which will make it harder for them to generate enough front downforce, especially without generating the outwash effect. They’ve (rightly so) stuck with the chassis philosophy since 2014, which I just don’t see working out in 2019.
I think there’s no doubt that Lewis will be fighting tooth and nail every race weekend… But I think Sebastian will have a car significantly quicker than Lewis this year, and when he has a machinery advantage on the rest of the field is when he actually performs at his best.
I just can’t see Lewis doing it this year… This is Vettels championship to lose.