Lewis Hamilton Re-Evaluates Future During Demoralising Interview Ahead Of Saudi Arabia GP
Lewis Hamilton revealed ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix that he was going to keep going until he won his eighth championship title, which would be breaking his own record which he holds with Michael Schumacher. However, he has explained that his hope for this has been put to one side with Mercedes' ongoing issues.
Speaking during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix press conference, Hamilton was asked if the current difficult situation at Mercedes has made him reevaluate his year. He responded:
"Already once I drove the car for the first time, you kind of already start to do that, as you learn more about the car and you understand what the challenges are going to be.
"And we were in a similar [position], mentality wise as we were last year where we are just really working as hard as we can. Stay as a team trying to all remain positive.
"It's a shock when you find out the car's not where you want it to be. But everyone's working on the solution, and I have confidence in everyone to do their job.
"You don't all of a sudden lose the ability to build great cars. It's just, we're not where we need to be and where we want to be and we just got to keep on working on it.
Hamilton went on to discuss what the situation does to his motivation, he continued:
"Nothing really you just redirect your energy. It's just different.
"If you're fighting for a world championship, which is what you prepare for at the beginning of the season, you realise that that's not the case. And then you redirect the energy into building and strengthening the team supporting everyone in the best way you can.
"And you continue to prepare the same for the races in a sense of your fitness and the mental approach."
The British driver joked:
"We need all these need the Red Bull's not to finish the race, the Ferrari's not to finish the race. Maybe now the Aston Martin's not to finish the race for us to be winning at the moment.
"But that doesn't mean we can't catch them up.
"We enjoy the challenge."