SAN FRANCISCO, November 28, (THEWILL) – British racing driver Lewis Hamilton believes his “spotless” performance in Bahrain GP qualifying was down to his “ruthless pursuit of perfection”. The new seven-time world champion is closing in on another remarkable Formula 1 milestone without slowing down.
Hamilton remained dominant for much of the Sakhir weekend and took his 98th F1 pole position in Saturday’s shootout. This implies that the record-breaker can reach the century mark before the season finishes in two weeks’ time in Abu Dhabi.
Michael Schumacher, who is Hamilton’s closest challenger for F1 poles, is already 30 behind. That is a sampling of how dominant the Brit has been.
The 35-year-old often struggled to find his best form after wrapping up the championship in previous seasons. In Bahrain, he has shown zero signs of a lack of motivation, or pace. He attributed this to a “more relaxing” environment, while insisting that he continues to improve.
“I love what I do. I can feel myself evolving, constantly,” Hamilton said at a press conference.
“It’s that ruthless pursuit of perfection. If you take your foot off the gas, you’re never going to get there.
“The championship is done and it’s a little more relaxing this weekend so I can enjoy racing for the real love of racing, which I try to do during the championship but the pressure is immense.
“Now, even everyone in the garage is just enjoying work.”
Referencing the esteemed goal of reaching 100 poles at the press conference, Hamilton added:
“I really haven’t thought that far and honestly I think it’s already been such an incredible year so anything from now is just an added bonus. It’s close between the three of us [Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen and we’ve got tricky races ahead of us.
“I’ll get there eventually, but it won’t necessarily be at the next two. But I’ll be pushing as hard as I can, for sure.”
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
