no eighth title, but new challenges for Lewis Hamilton

This time Lewis Hamilton fell on a bone. A Dutch bull bone, named Max Verstappen. The Red Bull driver was crowned Formula 1 world champion Sunday, December 12 in Abu Dhabi, ending the hegemony of the British driver, who won the last four seasons. The halt is real for the Mercedes driver. The Englishman will have to set off again to assault the absolute record for world crowns (with seven, he shares the mark with Michael Schumacher) from 2022. The kind of challenges Hamilton loves.

From his competitive debut in 2007, until this 22nd race of the season, nothing has been offered to him on a silver platter. Lewis Hamilton was not predestined to become the face of Formula 1. He did not owe his entry into F1 to the depth of the family portfolio, the “billionaire club” that he denounces regularly. His father was not an ex-big name in motorsport, but had to stack the jobs for his son to hit the go-kart circuits on weekends. But Hamilton was born for it, blessed from the cradle.

These prodigious qualities at the wheel have not been enough this season against Max Verstappen. But the Hollywood scenario of this 2021 fiscal year is proof of this, Lewis Hamilton is not ready for decline. He who had hesitated for a while on his future in Formula 1 finally extended his lease with Mercedes until 2023. Two more years to run again towards records and posterity. “We have accomplished so much together, but we still have a lot to accomplish, on and off the track,” thus assured the interested party when announcing his new lease with his team.

Victories, pole positions, podiums… Most of the most prestigious brands already belong to it. This long-awaited eighth title would cement its place as a giant a little more. It will take him to overthrow Max Verstappen. Between the two rivals, the relationship deteriorated on and off the track as the season progressed, raising fears of the scenario of a last Grand Prix ended in the wall, and / or the commissaires’ office of track. The offseason should not calm the competition between the two men. It could even boost the 2021 beat a little more.

Being a fallen champion in a climate of maximum tension, Lewis Hamilton knows the song. Within the Mercedes team, the British driver had found in his teammate and former childhood friend Nico Rosberg an enemy from within in 2016. The two men had engaged in a merciless fight, sometimes beyond- beyond reasonable bounds. The German had finally triumphed, but at what cost? Exhausted by the mental fight with his pit neighbor, Rosberg had chosen to leave Formula 1 a few days after his title rather than delivering a second round.

This setback in 2016 marked the real turning point in Lewis Hamilton’s career. His image had been damaged, both by his ruthlessness on the track, and by his personality, he who then assumed not to think about Formula 1 all the time. Mocked, decried, he had experienced the situation as an aggression, almost a relentlessness as he had known earlier in his life, and in which he drew an extraordinary mental strength. Hamilton, the sports star had become Lewis, the champion-activist.

Since then, Lewis Hamilton, the first and still only black driver in the history of Formula 1, has set himself the goal of being the best possible on the track in order to better promote his convictions. “Racism is a reality and I suffered from it in my youth, he said to the Gazzetta dello Sport in February 2021, when he became one of the faces of the Black Lives Matter movement in the world of sport. Supporting the BLM movement gives me extra energy, a boost when I get behind the wheel. It is no longer just a question of winning, but of convincing. “ The Mercedes driver is also making the rights of the LGBTQ + community and his fight for more inclusiveness in the paddock a driving force to surpass himself.

The 2016 precedent gives plenty of reason to imagine a Lewis Hamilton even more determined to take over. It remains to be seen what Formula 1 will actually look like in a few months. Next season will see new technical regulations come into force, with significantly redesigned aerodynamic single-seaters. If the last major technical upheaval, the entry into force of the hybrid turbo V6 engines, had allowed Mercedes to establish itself as the main force of the field in 2014, the cards could now be reshuffled. “We are entering a new automotive era that will be exciting and exciting and I look forward to seeing what else we can accomplish together.“, explained Lewis Hamilton in this regard when extending the adventure with Mercedes.

Another challenge for the British driver, who will now have to live with George Russell as a teammate. After several seasons during which Valtteri Bottas had fulfilled a role of lieutenant of Hamilton, the talented George Russell (Williams) joined the star firm. The Englishman had been able to show for a weekend, at the Sakhir Grand Prix last year, that he was going to be a serious threat, while he had taken the place of Lewis Hamilton, affected by the Covid -19.

Without a big mistake from Mercedes and then a puncture, Russell could have secured his first victory, “in the shoes” of who he considers to be the best driver of all time. But to whom he does not intend to give a gift. “We will be on an equal footing“, he had proclaimed just after the formalization of his signature. After Verstappen, he is one more young wolf on the road to legend for Hamilton.