Lewis Hamilton is one paranoiac individual. He earns £50million a year and is due to
join Ferrari for a lot more next season (perhaps £70m), yet he believes the world is
against him.
It may be an element of what motivates him, but it was strange to hear his remarks on
Thursday ahead of this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix in which he said there were
those ‘talking s***’ about his decision to leave Mercedes for the Scuderia.
He announced the news of his switch in January, a move that caught many people
by surprise, though it had been a long-held desire of his and one he had looked into
for years, however tentatively previously.
Of course, he is right to seek a new home. Mercedes are struggling to find form and
he is bored by the project. One step forward, one back, for them.
He said in Shanghai: ‘I don’t feel like I need my decision vindicated. I know what is
right for me and that hasn’t changed from the moment I made the decision.
Lewis Hamilton hit back at those he believes have been critical of his impending
move to Ferrari next season
The driver appeared incensed but the press room are not thought to know exactly
who he was referring to
Hamilton (pictured in 2023 with Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur) has been
inspired in the past by a ‘world-against-me’ attitude
There’s not been a moment that I’ve questioned it and I’m not swayed by other
people’s comments. Even today, there are people continuing to talk s***, and it will
continue on for the rest of the year. I’ll have to just do what I do.
READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton bites back at critics ‘talking s***’ about
his shock move to Ferrari… as he plays down Mercedes’
expectations ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix
‘Only you can know what’s right for you and this will be an exciting time for me?’
When pressed on who it was ‘talking s***’, Hamilton said: ‘Just read what’s out
Well, perhaps social media trolls have been slagging him off, but who else? Nobody
that I have read. The press conference room, I’m told, was not sure what he was
banging on about.
This sense of the world-against-me has acted as inspiration for Hamilton throughout
his life, and it reached its apogee when, in 2011, the stewards at Monaco penalised
him for erratic driving. He had an unusually bad race that day and he asked,
taken too literally.
Lewis has had everything. Ron Dennis, then boss of McLaren, sponsored himself to
the hilt and turned him into the most prepared debutant driver Formula One has ever
known. Indeed, he had the most gleaming equipment from a young age. Other
go-karters, as boys, looked on in awe at his lavish equipment.
