Lewis Hamilton: The Formula One superstar chasing history

The British driver is seeking a record-breaking eighth world title in Abu Dhabi this weekend, writes Ben Burrows

Lewis Hamilton celebrates winning the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, flanked by title rival Max Verstappen (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

The question has been asked all week long and once again Lewis Hamilton was ready to answer it.

“I do believe that everyone here racing comes to win,” he said when asked whether a crash between he and rival Max Verstappen could decide the destination of the Formula One drivers’ title. “I would like to believe everyone wants to do it the right way – I don’t even let that creep into my mind.”

One of the great title battles in years is set to come down to one, winner-takes-all race at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday. For Verstappen it would be a first title, for Stevenage-born Hamilton it would be a record-breaking eighth.

In his youth, as Hamilton moved up the rankings of competitive go-karting his father, Anthony, told him: “Always do your talking on the track.” There is little doubt that Hamilton has done that. He is currently in his 15th consecutive season with at least one race win (a record shared with Michael Schumacher), a run started when he chalked up a record-equalling four during his debut season in 2007. Finishing second in the championship that year, he would take the first of his titles in 2008.

Having raced a total of 287 times in F1 (so far) Hamilton holds the records for most race wins (103) and most podium finishes (181) and was given a knighthood for “services to motorsports” in the New Year honours for 2021 (that award was part of the overseas and international list, thanks to Hamilton residing in Monaco).

The fact that Hamilton has become an increasingly powerful voice for diversity in his sport and on issues such as LGBT+ rights around the world will have contributed to that knighthood. Being the only black driver on the grid Hamilton has been the target of racial abuse, with one example being at a race in Spain in 2008 when a group of young men wore wigs, black make-up and T-shirts with the words “Hamilton's family” written on them. And there were bumps in explaining how he felt, according to Hamilton, telling The Guardian earlier this year: “It often felt that maybe I didn’t speak about [race] in the right way, or wasn’t great at explaining it, or maybe educated enough to talk about it... Either way, I got a lot of pushback and it seemed like more hassle than it was worth. So I reverted to just doing my talking on the track.”

In the wake of the murder of George Floyd in 2020 – and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement – Hamilton became more vocal. He took the knee, warning his fellow drivers that that "silence is complicit" in racism. He said of that time: “This stuff came up that I’d suppressed over all these years. And it was so powerful and sad and also releasing. And I thought, ‘I can’t stay quiet. I need to speak out because there are people experiencing what I’m experiencing, or 10 times worse. Or 100 times worse. And they need me right now.’”

Hamilton would also work alongside the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE), with the resulting commission bearing his name releasing a report in July of this year calling for an increase in black representation across motorsport and listing steps to help bring racial equality across society.

Hamilton and Verstappen will go head to head in the title-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend (AP)

All this and yet Hamilton doesn’t always appear to get the national support that his achievements would merit. A YouGov poll of the most popular sports personalities of all time currently has him 71st, with a number of racing drivers – including Schumacher (11th), Sir Stirling Moss (23rd) and Damon Hill (44th) – above him. Previous controversies probably haven’t helped. Referring to Stevenage as “the slums”, a remark he retracted immediately mid-answer, or in 2017, telling his nephew – who was in a princess dress: “Boys don’t wear princess dresses.” Hamilton said when apologising for that remark that it was "really not acceptable" to marginalise or stereotype anyone.

Back on the track this season, Verstappen perhaps would have expected to have already secured a maiden crown by now, fresh from an imperious mid-season winning run that saw him surge clear at the top of the drivers’ standings. But with Hamilton regrouping to record back-to-back-to-back race victories over the season’s closing stretch, the two rivals literally cannot be separated, level on points as they are with the chequered flag approaching.

Verstappen's sole advantage comes in having won more races than the seven-time world champion meaning, should both fail to finish at the Yas Marina Circuit on Sunday, he would be crowned champion. That, coupled with the Dutchman's notoriously aggressive driving style and a number of high-profile incidents between the two, not least at last weekend's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix where they again collided, have many onlookers predicting another coming together in this final contest.

It has happened before, of course – between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in 1990, and Schumacher and Hill four years later – but Hamilton is used to dealing with F1 rivalries by now. In his first season he finished level on points with his teammate Fernando Alonso, the then two-time defending champion, and has since battled Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel. Personally Hamilton ranks Vettel as his favourite rival, talking earlier this year particularly about battling for the title in 2017 and 2018 when Vettel was driving for Ferrari: “He’s a four-time world champion. Ultimately, when you’re racing against another team at the same time, Ferrari, who were very strong at the time – it took a lot out of both of us in that period of time to remain focused, to deliver weekend in, weekend out.”

“I think whilst it was a difficult period for us, I think it probably brought us closer as well, because the respect that we have between us is, I think, huge," Hamilton added.

The two rivals – Hamilton and Verstappen – collided last weekend in Saudi Arabia (Getty Images)

This season Hamilton’s competition is Verstappen and the wheel-to-wheel action on the track, plus a crackling rivalry between Mercedes and Red Bull off it has seen interest in the sport skyrocket like never before.

A new audience drawn in by Netflix's hugely popular Drive to Survive documentary series has been treated to a season packed with drama, with the two protagonists more than living up to the hype.

“I can’t control those things around me. All I can control is what I do in terms of preparation and how I conduct myself,” Hamilton said ahead of this weekend, with both men – on the surface at least – appearing determined to decide their rivalry on the track rather than off it.

Should things break his way, the race could see Hamilton break his tie with the great Schumacher at the top of the all-time standings.

“This is unmarked territory,” he said when asked whether pending history will change how he will prepare. “Nobody has ever done eight before. I feel grateful. I remember how it feels going for your first. I have had experience and the rollercoaster of emotions you go through.

“It just feels like another championship for me – you start from ground zero and you are the hunter from the moment you start training.

“I don’t turn up with number one on my car. I turn up with number 44 and I don’t consider myself the champion that year. I consider myself the one who is fighting for the championship.”

It has been quite the fight, with one more scrap from lights to flag to decide its winner. Just how it will be won and lost – and how closely – remains to be seen.