Chasing Greatness:
Lewis Hamilton secured a superb victory this weekend in Mexico that moves him into a realm where only other person has been. He needs just three points to win a sixth drivers’ championship which puts him behind only Michael Schumacher in terms of total championships won. This type of performance is incredible and speaks to the development of Hamilton as a driver.
Hamilton as a racer has always seemed to have this god-given ability to put his car in the best possible position on the track. He’s had this innate feel for driving a car at the total limit since he came into Formula more than ten years ago but the common knock on Hamilton back then was the lack of strategy. In the past, it felt like Lewis could only be the hard-charger who took names and pulled off audacious over-takes. He could never be called the race general, the person who could manage a strategy to the fullest and win races using just brainpower. This season has been a complete refutation of that criticism.
The change in Hamilton’s style came during the full-blooded rivalry with Nico Rosberg in 2016. The challenge that Rosberg presented made Hamilton a better driver as it directly challenged the few weak points in his craft. Rosberg was incredibly talented in managing the race so that he could eventually build a gap out to Hamilton which would be more than enough to win races. In equal cars and with a rival who was on his level skill-wise for two seasons, Lewis had to find that extra gear within him.
Rosberg’s championship in 2016 did not come from any specific outstanding drive, it was largely due to incredibly consistent scoring across the year which Hamilton could not match. His issues with the reliability of his Mercedes in 2016 meant that he had to push harder to reduce the gap to Rosberg which only stressed his car even more. The gear that Hamilton found is unbelievable.
He became incredibly good at managing tyres while still putting in fast lap times while developing a keen eye for strategy. On more than a few occasions this season, Hamilton has out-thought the Ferrari team by making strategies work. The Mercedes’ kindness to its rubber and Hamilton’s ability to massage quality lap-time out of his Pirellis meant that they could make complex, seemingly impossible strategies work. This past weekend, this occurred as Hamilton managed to extract forty eight laps out of his hard tyres while he fended off Sebastian Vettel who was on younger, faster tyres.
That ability which Lewis has cultivated has only made him more competitive. He is more than comfortable finding a way to pass his rivals in the strategic battle than on track. In a race where the Mercedes had two Ferraris in front of him, Hamilton managed to get passed both for the victory. He was admittedly helped by Ferrari’s inability to operate as an effective team as they took away Leclerc’s track position and gave him a painfully slow stop.
The ability for Hamilton to elevate his game to being totally flawless over the last few seasons has been hugely important especially when facing the greatest rival of his career. Sebastian Vettel has been one of the greats of this era of Formula 1, his winning record proves that fact. He is one of few drivers to win four world championships and yet Hamilton has managed to best Vettel in combat over the last few cars where each driver has had a car capable of winning races. The Mercedes has arguably been the stronger car for durations of this rivalry but the Ferrari has been clearly superior for the first half of the championship last season and the latter stage of the championship this season.
The key difference between Hamilton and Vettel is the lack of small mistakes on the part of the Mercedes’ driver. He has very rarely slipped up when it matters whereas Vettel is a different story. Last season, Vettel threw away a dominant championship lead by making a series of small mistakes. The retirement at Hockenheim and the crash at Singapore wiped out his chances at winning a fifth drivers’ title. He allowed Hamilton back into the fight when the Mercedes’ driver stared down tough odds. The same story has applied to this season as well, Vettel has a tough start to the year as he consistently spun his car and could not find the right balance.
Some of this difference must be credited to the superb organisational strength of Mercedes Benz. Toto Wolff has built a mature, pragmatic organisation that knows how to win races and keeps calm under pressure. The calmness of Toto Wolff, James Vowles and Pete Bonnington has provided Hamilton with the environment where he is free to drive the car to the best of his ability. There is a relationship between the driver and team where there is trust and willingness to try different things. The same cannot be said for Vettel at Ferrari who has been saddled with distractions. The ineptitude of Maurizio Arrivabene meant that Vettel often had to lead the team during the race and poor tactical decisions were made. The emergence of Charles Leclerc has put a grenade within Ferrari as they decide who is the first driver.
Despite all of these factors, Mercedes still need Hamilton to perform. The race wins do not come on paper, they need a driver who can consistently deliver winning drives. It has been Hamilton’s ability to consistently win and turn in good results on tracks where the Ferrari is favourite which has shifted the title in his favour. He has had a fair share of good fortune this season due to Ferrari’s reliability issues and incompetence but he has put himself in a position to benefit every single time due to his consistency. The old adage of ‘the harder you work, the luckier you get’ applies. He has not had the off races which Valterri Bottas has had this season. Bottas was a legitimate contender this season but his lack of consistency allowed Hamilton to build a huge points lead.
The Drivers’ Championship this season felt like it had been decided by the summer break. Hamilton had already amassed a serious lead in the championship which would require a monumental collapse for anybody to close the distance. Bottas’ inconsistency took him out of the challenge whereas Ferrari’s tactical errors regarding their drivers meant that they did not have a driver in a strong position who could potentially challenge Hamilton. In many ways, he has been in a class by himself this season as the constant threat.
Every single contender have drifted in and out of contention during the season. Bottas started incredibly brightly before eventually fading during a streak of victories for other Silver Arrow. Vettel had an error-strewn start to the year which meant that he had to chase a huge gap after the summer break, a gap which was difficult to cut as Hamilton rarely makes mistakes. Charles Leclerc has struggled during his first season in the Ferrari as he has acclimated to changing team dynamics and the politics of the Maranello-based team. The insistence on ‘your-turn, my-turn’ by Mattia Binotto has scuppered a few race weekends. The most glaring example of Ferrari’s strategy going awry would be Sochi as it was decided that Leclerc would win the race due to the sacrifices he made in Singapore. The issue with this strategy was that Vettel was clearly faster on race day and Ferrari had to deal with the issue of broken promises to the prodigious Monegasque. The only other real contender, Max Verstappen, has flitted between outstanding, mature drives and over ambitious overtakes, he did not have the consistency nor the car to win a championship.
In some ways, Lewis Hamilton has moved onto another plain where his only rival is greatness and the ghost who made his name in Ferrari Red. The only person left for him to rival would be Michael Schumacher, the only man to win seven world drivers’ championships. Schumacher’s dominance at the start of the decade is incredibly similar to Hamilton’s winning run. The Ferrari team was incredibly well-run and had a car which was unparalleled. Michael also had that organisational strength with Ross Brawn being the calm, focused team head who often made the correct strategy decision.
It is unbelievable to think that the only target left for Hamilton is Michael Schumacher, the man who he replaced at Mercedes. Schumacher’s level of winning and titles has always seemed untouchable and yet this Mercedes is close to re-defining greatness. Hamilton is just eight race victories behind Schumacher in terms of total victories and will likely be only one championship behind Michael at the end of this season. The decision made by Hamilton to leave McLaren, his boyhood team and join Mercedes is one of the most inspired decisions in the modern era of motorsport.
McLaren was a guaranteed winner at the time and the team had a long lineage of contending. It had delivered Lewis Hamilton his first championship in 2008 and led to him establishing himself among the elite of an elite generation of drivers. Hamilton at McLaren was considered with the highest regard, the type of regard reserved for Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso, both drivers with multiple world titles. However, he was not happy at McLaren. The corporate culture stifled his personality and a string of personal issues meant that he became lonely. The quality of his racing dipped and it felt like the talented Hamilton had flamed out, towards the end of his tenure at McLaren Jenson Button had become a more consistent option.
He needed a fresh start where he could be himself and be cut free of the corporate culture. Mercedes was that opportunity despite the fact it was a midfield team with no real championship aspirations. However, it had Ross Brawn and Niki Lauda, two of the smartest people in motorsport. The money that Mercedes Benz provided meant that a car came along quickly and Hamilton could dominate when the regulations changed. With Mercedes, he found a culture which allowed him to develop as a person and a driver. It would be unthinkable for a McLaren driver to jet off to New York or Paris to promote his fashion line, at Mercedes that was possible due to Toto Wolff’s management style.
The jump to Mercedes happened and championships soon followed. He has won four championships in the last five seasons. Lewis Hamilton has overtaken Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso, two of his greatest rivals. In a historical context, he has overtaken his hero, Ayrton Senna and Senna’s greatest rival, Alain Prost.
Hamilton is now chasing greatness and it feels like Tiger striding down the greens of Augusta fighting against history instead of the current field. He is on that level, that LeBron James Game 6 in 2016 level, we as viewers tune into to watch Hamilton break records and establish a legacy. LeBron spoke of ‘chasing the ghost in Chicago’ after he brought home a championship to Northeast Ohio. Hamilton now has the same goal except for the fact his goal is chasing the ghost of Maranello.
It is an unbelievable story and it is highly improbable. Hamilton’s junior career seemed in tumult on more than a few occasions. His father had to work multiple jobs in order to fund a karting career which eventually led to a Mercedes’ contract. Hamilton was dropped from Mercedes during his GP2 days and needed one of the most astounding performances in Turkey to save his future career. Every single time Lewis has faced adversity, he has met the call. He is a worthy champion who despite his foibles deserves his place in the pantheon of the greats.
