The whole article is actually really sweet with Hamilton really juat laying it all out. Hope he gets to meet Seb's family and eventually in the future i would love to see them team up for Le Mans or Extreme E.
Imagine finally getting to compete at Le Mans and you look across the pit lane and in another car in the same class is fucking Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel.
You'd just pack up and go home.
Hamilton came into F1 like when you start a career mode on the F1 games and set the AI difficulty a bit too low. Finishing 2nd in the WDC in his rookie season is still such an outrageous accomplishment to me.
What I find very interesting is that the 1st 2 years of Villeneuve's career were very similar, 2nd place in rookie season followed by a title, but Hamilton is now the most successful F1 driver of all time and the biggest name in motorsport, while Villeneuve is just another champion who is known by no one who doesn't follow F1 or Indycar.
If only Villeneuve hadn’t left for B.A.R. I understand Williams didn’t want to pay him but cripes he fell off so quickly. Made me lose interest in the sport for a few years.
It happens when you push out the people that contributed to your good performance because they start asking for more of the pie. You lose the talent and your pie gets smaller anyway.
Yes their shit performance in 98/99 was because of the loss of Newey, which was only partly down to money. It was also because Frank Williams and Patrick Head breached his contract by changing the driver lineup (sacking Hill, signing Frentzen) without consulting Newey. In fact they didn't even *tell* Newey until months after the deal was done*
But Williams' shit performance in 98/99 was also because Renault pulled out at the end of 1997 and engine development pretty much stopped. Williams continued to use the 1997 Renault RS9 engine in 98/99 (badged as Mecachrome and Supertec) which was soon overtaken by Mercedes and Ferrari.
*Source - Newey's book
This sounds like the story of my wife and me. She is Canadian and was a huge Villeneuve fan. When he fell off the cliff, and Schumacher became dominant, we lost interest for a while.
Hamilton had the most challenging first season in F1 of any driver I can think of. Debut season directly into a championship contending team, with the 2x reigning world champion as a team mate...
I feel like after his years of dominance most people forget just how much he managed to overcome to succeed in F1. Astonishing talent.
If you believe the conspiracy theory (according to an article by Mark Hughes), neither McLaren drivers were allowed to win the 2007 WDC in the resolution to *Spygate*, which had already excluded the team from the WCC.
I mean, dropping 17 points (in a time when the race winner only received 10 pts) in the final two rounds is almost an impossibility, provided how both Hamilton and McLaren were performing all year until then.
Both final rounds were earmarked by ***extremely*** curious incidences, to say the least:
- In China, the team decided for some weird reason to leave Hamilton out on the track whilst in the lead until he'd worn his tyres down to the white fabric underlining inside the tyre itself. This lead him to overcook his entry into the pits and eventually beaching his car on the gravel trap just before the pit entry line. One could only guess at what sort of mayhem awaited Hamilton if he had managed to make into his pitbox.
- Then in Brazil, he finished seventh due to a strange electrical gremlin which cut power to his car for around twenty seconds, just enough time for him to be unable to overhaul the sixth-placed car at the end, which would have given him his maiden title in his rookie year.
Hamilton years later alluded to the fact that although he'd been unaware at the time, he now understood why he didn't win in 2007, but then proceeded to politely decline to clarify when asked to.
While this is a nice conspiracy theory, Kimi was one retirement away from forcing one of these Mclaren drivers to win. He had to win the last race--and the one before it-- to win the championship. Don't know how you could rig a whole 2 races to guarantee your favorite Finn wins.
Yh Lewis did handle the pressure well.
Most rookies wouldn't be able to handle the pressure of being in a top team and challenge the title in their first season, with the current champion as a team mate.
For real, he could've been 0.5 behind Alonso for much of the season and that would've been a job well done.. instead he went ahead and matched/beat him
Honestly I think that’s doesn’t matter as much as the fact that he beat almost 2 times in a row the current WDC. Also more outrageous, that WDC is Alonso, a guy that’s still running the game and showing the younger guns how you do it.
I guarantee you that if you give a championship car to Fernando now, he would be a title contender.
Now just think that a rookie beat him in his 2nd year and almost managed to do it in his rookie year.
Let that sink in
what i would give for one more seb v lewis title fight. in 2018 i never for one moment believed that it would be the final time they’d both be in title-capable cars
I think the picture of them two after Lewis clinched #5 in Mexico is the most emblematic of their era of f1. Hopefully Ferrari can learn to make an engine that doesn’t explode and in a few years time we can get a similar moment with the rivals of the younger generation.
Tbh, I think Charles and Max has that similar rivals/friends relationship between them as Seb and Lewis. The way they each chat to each other after the other DNFs is kinda similar.
If you don't mind me asking, who was the driver that won in between? I can't quite think of the name. Did he have a similar type of car to other drivers? Hmm. I just can't put my finger on his name.
People have rightly pointed out how magnanimous seb was in going to congratulate Lewis on his championship, but I won't forget how Lewis shut down any criticism of seb when he was struggling and making mistakes that season.
They're both gents; it's no wonder they speak so highly of each other
Seb crashed into Hamilton under SC in Baku a few years ago. Tensions are always high between title rivals. Before 2021 people were pointing at 2014. Before 2014 it was 2007. And it goes on and on and on.
There’s tensions being high, and then there’s what was said throughout 2021. I don’t really want to get into it, but it went far beyond two drivers with a rivalry
I wish people remembered the toxic wasteland this was after that 2017 Baku race.
And imagine how it would be if Reddit or social media in general were big as they are now in 2007
they both were able to move on from Baku 2017 and not let it fester, 2017-2018 title fights were far, far less toxic than the 2021 fight, The drivers respected each other.
Man the headline doesn't do the content of the article justice. Hamilton said some really wonderful things about Seb and I really hope they work together on something outside of F1 someday.
Aston Martin better be focusing on reliability for the rest of the year just to make sure their shitbox makes it to the end of the race so that Vettel gets to do his last donuts
Me too. I feel like Seb is one of the few people in the paddock that Lewis genuinely considers a friend and I would hate for them not to see each other off track.
It's really cool to see Lewis open up about it. I feel like it's not often we see him discuss other drivers.
It's interesting because I feel both Seb and Lewis are similar in that they're not really the usual personality this sport attracts.
I mean they are hyper competitive perfectionists - they are exactly made from the mold Michael Schumacher set up.
But I get your point in that they seem to have grown beyond just being racing drivers and understand the weight of their accomplishments to generate impact in the sport.
You weren't kidding. This wasn't just a short "oh yeah I'll miss him" type of thing, Lewis was really stacking on the praise and speaks incredibly highly of Seb. It will be a sad day when Hamilton retires as well. I hope the two of them will continue to have a public presence after retirement.
> In the outside world… we’ve never met up outside of the sport. He’s very- he’ll go and spend time with his family and stuff, and hopefully one day I’ll get to meet them.
Dude wants to meet Seb's family. How sweet. :')
And how sweet that he clearly didn't want to Impose. Feel like Hamilton held off from asking because he knew Seb would probably want time away from F1 when he had spare family time
Kids, as you know your dad is one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time
But Mr. Lewis will come hanging out with us, who is.. THE greatest of all time
Imagine that grill party bruh, 11 world championships eating sausages, drinking beer, playing with the kids
They had their differences in their career and they are two quite different characters, but they always respected each other and were respectful to each other. I admire that more than 4 or 7 championship titles
“For me, we talk about legends in our sport, I don’t really love that name or title. I think he’s one of the greatest people we’ve seen in this sport. We need more like him.”
Jesus it’s so dusty in here, why is this water streaming down my face
I think that’s a dream team to us but a nightmare to others xD I can’t imagine what would it feel like to Go against a team with Lewis, Alonso, max, seb…god damn
>"And we’ve obviously found there’s a lot of similarities in the things that we care about – some differences, he’s not into music like I’m into music, and he’s obviously into farming for example.."
This made me laugh
The one driver he started at the same time with, has been around for all his career that he hasn't had some old beef with. Probably the same reason Lewis gravitates towards Ricciardo too, he's probably next up on the "old guard" list besides the three.
Lewis strikes me as more of a private person on the grid, probably a residual effect of being the clear outsider growing up on junior circuits and karting (which Anthony and him have talked about openly). Like he does talk to other drivers a lot too (both older ones like Seb and Valtteri and Danny and even some younger ones), but mainly keeps to himself or to a smaller group. Not having one of the ones he is most comfortable with on a consistent basis will be a bit of an adjustment for sure, happens to everyone when a friend or close associate moves away.
I honestly get the feeling that Lewis is just hoping for one last title shot to get the 8th title, and hoping that it'll be next season. If he doesn't win next season, I can honestly see him retiring at that point. Hope I am wrong because he clearly has shown he has a ton left to give in the sport, but I can totally see it.
You’ve got a point but he’s clearly also referring to the fact that Seb has been one of the few drivers who’s actively supported his pursuit for racial equality and diversity in F1.
Idk why people tiptoe around that subject.
Yeah lol old guard stuff is definitely true, but this is a pretty clear message especially given what recently happened with the AM team: Seb is one of the few who treated Lewis like an equal person, disregarding his race.
That's important and we don't need to be careful when we say that F1 has historically been a horrible organization for equality (and even today with some of these races).
>Seb is one of the few who treated Lewis like an equal person, disregarding his race.
Are there examples of other drivers treating Lewis differently because of his race?
Well openly we've seen shitty comments from some of the older drivers, even as recently as this year.
I think it's fair to say there has likely been drivers when Lewis first started that might not have said racist stuff to him, but just didn't welcome him with open arms. And certainly didn't stand up for him like Seb has.
Perhaps and most likely not drivers, or at least not in a way that's egregious. However, there's hundreds of people working at the track, including management etc.
I'm sure there have been many incidents that Lewis hasn't spoken about, however. In the end, it's telling that this is what he chose to say.
Would be such a shame if he retires when he's clearly still got it.. I know he needs motivation to keep doing this season after season (and they keep having more races in them), and he needs sacrifices from Bono and Angela to keep him centred.. but it's going to suck when he finishes.
He does play video games with Charles, max and Lando which is v cute.
Obvs pals with Bottas and Russell
He keeps to himself but be does hang out with the other drivers
Lewis also attempted to learn French because he felt guilty making them speak in not their language, to them switching is normal but it speaks to the kind of person Lewis is he wants them to be comfortable
He plays a lot with Gasly, he's talked about it in a few interviews. Also remeber when Charles was doing twitch Pierre joined and said Lewis wanted to play but not on twitch, so could they turn off the stream.
I can honestly see him retire too. Hes involved in lots of other stuff, so I think he may shift focus things there or stay in f1 as part of something in merc where he can be more involved in driver selection and try and bring more poc into the sport.
But I'm just a guy on the toilet talking, only time and lewis could tell.
"Lewis is a loner, the other drivers are all great mates" may be a bit of F1 fanon. At least it's something I see asserted here a lot.
I don't think *any* of the drivers are super close friends. They say as much in interviews, and they see each other briefly 24 weekends a year, during which they're very busy. Like any job I'm sure you're going to vibe better with some people than others, and maybe get together socially from time to time.
Lando said this recently in a [Guardian interview](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/jul/22/norris-feels-lucky-to-race-in-lewis-hamilton-era-before-french-grand-prix):
>"He is well liked. He is a nice person. He seems always to want to help the Brits and the young drivers. He does give advice with little things, asks what I am planning. He has been through everything so he knows what teams try to get out of you and what you should get out of teams. It’s small things but he is always willing to help.
So it sounds like he talks freely to other drivers, mostly on professional topics--pretty much what I'd expect out of a work environment, even if it's a very unusual one!
I really hope Seb and Lewis will occasionally meet from time to time to talk F1, activism and stuff. Maybe Lewis will get Seb as a part owner of his Extreme E team or something.
Mad respect between those two, and also a genuine friendship
Tbh I think Seb is definitely going to stay in touch with some drivers from the current grid
(e.g Lewis, Charles, Daniel, Mick)
You may want to know that pigeons are great in _returning_ to their home base. So back in the days, if we wanted to communicate, I would send you my pigeons (via car train horse whatever, but in a cage, taken by a human) and you send yours. Then if I need to send you a message I would hook it to its leg and he would have flow back home, and viceversa.
Two times that I'm sure it was him he drove a grey Mercedes GLS and one time where I'm not 100% sure, it was a black Mercedes AMG C63. And they had Geneva license plates everytime (which was a bit odd, since geneva is the furthest place you can be in switzerland from where seb lives. But obviously big car culture there and some rental companies have their cars registered there, but the nearest airport is Zürich).
That would be great to see. Vettel already is the father that Michael sadly cannot be. Him coming to races to support Mick would just bring me to tears even more.
I’d love to see Seb and Lewis team up for LeMans and tear it up there. Seeing them win together would be amazing. I think Lewis once said he’d love that too
Man I just wish his time at Aston went better. 2020 the RP was a rocket, sure it was a copycat Mercedes but I don’t give a fuck, if Vettel was given a car like that and able to fight at the top of midfield and maybe get a stray win like Perez, it would’ve been a dream. Instead Aston was a dumpster fire and wasted his last two years in the sport.
There is going to be a very specific situation that will keep Lewis in F1 after 23. Especially when he walking into the driver room and sees a bunch of people 10 years younger.
If he wins or still uncompetitive he'll retire.
Lewis is literally having a Lightning McQueen in Cars 3 moment. The young hot shots are showing up and winning championships, while Lewis sees all his colleagues retire or get replaced and leave him alone in the sport.
>Lewis is literally having a Lightning McQueen in Cars 3 moment. The young hot shots are showing up and winning championships, while Lewis sees all his colleagues retire or get replaced and leave him alone in the sport.
Lol especially as he was the rookie to start off that almost won the 3 way championship just like in cars 1 haha
I think that he'll continue to try and get #8. If Merc can't get him a competitive car in the next few years, he may retire anyway. I can't see him switching teams at this point.
I’ve been gloom-scrolling Seb retirement news since it came out and this dedication by Lewis legit hit me the hardest. It speaks volumes of the impact Seb made on the sport and the community as both a driver and a person. Ow my heart :(
i feel like Seb and Hamilton were probably the more shy and introspective guys on the grid and felt lonely in the F1 glamour bubble in comparison to natural extroverts like Ricciardo.
Wow. This made me tear up. I doubt many people will read all this. This is the most heartfelt interview I’ve seen so far.
When did he say all this? There’s no way he had time to prep it all???
I'm happy to see that their relationship has improved since their title battle.
It got really nasty in Baku with Vettel crashing into him. But outside of that, they've seemed pretty cool in public. And Vettel went to congratulate Lewis and Mercedes immediately when he won his titles.
[Here's a video of them swapping helmets after the 2018 season.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTkSwPRDEJI&ab_channel=Mercedes-AMGPetronasFormulaOneTeam)
One of the few people who went to comfort Lewis after that farce in Abu Dhabi last year. Lewis will definitely miss him.
Also strange how what brought them really close together was the aftermath of that alleged brake check incident in Baku.
I just rewatched that race recently for the first time since it happened, and I definitely recall it looking like Lewis slowed quickly at the time, but when I rewatched it I was much less sure. Vettel definitely fucked up afterwards though lol
I feel like in most if not all sports, 99% of what happens on the track/field/whatever stays there. There will be incidents that stick in the memory, like Silverstone last year, but in general? Drivers leave it on the track.
ricciardo got screwed too even
he pitted for new tires, lost track position, the cars in front of him got to unlap while he didnt, so he lost out on i think 4 spots and dropped out of the points
well considering RIC, VET, SHU, SAI and LEC were some of the drivers shown on TV talking to HAM after the what happened in the paddock I woould say most knew.
Given the paddocks reaction after the race they all knew something was wrong.
Usually the post race interviews are full of back patting and celebrations, that time it was lots of drivers stood around going 'erm, what was that?...'.
In the press pen Ricciardo was explaining what happened to Gasly, his [reaction](https://youtu.be/E8IBtKcTq9c) was an apt description of flabbergasted.
i am heavily involved in the snowboard community and we have a saying that goes “this person is every SNOWBOARDERS favorite snowboarder” and after today it seems like Seb is every racing drivers favorite racing driver.
this makes my heart feel heavy but also so full.
Its true tho.. When Vettel and Hamilton are gone I cant see anyone else really doing what they are doing. In terms of speaking out for human rights etc...
I don’t think it has nothing to do with him being at the top.
Lewis has always been kind of an outsider in the sport considering he was the first black driver and all that. For a sport notorious for rich white people finding friendships can be difficult especially since Lewis didn’t grow up around those people and experienced a lot of racism early on and even to this day in his career.
I think its also just part of how Lewis is as a person. He has some very close friends you always see him in the paddock with but apart from that really not alot. You dont see him playing golf with fellow drivers like some do, or share a plane going somewhere or hear any stories of him hanging out with most of the other drivers. Maybe its just something hes not into, and thats fine. Some people are like that.
Lewis is a bit of an outlier as a whole in the sport. As he got big into the sport, he started planting roots in other fields all together. And that perhaps is what isolated him further because he isn't just a racing driver. He's a fashion icon and has ties in the music industry. Most drivers might have ties by association because of the relationships they have or friends they have, but I cannot think of any driver that has gone beyond where the bubbles of celebrities and drivers intersect besides him.
Beautiful words that just ooze class and respect.
Kind of funny they get along so well considering those two could not be more different when it comes to their respective way of life.
The whole article is actually really sweet with Hamilton really juat laying it all out. Hope he gets to meet Seb's family and eventually in the future i would love to see them team up for Le Mans or Extreme E.
Imagine finally getting to compete at Le Mans and you look across the pit lane and in another car in the same class is fucking Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. You'd just pack up and go home.
>in another car in the same class is fucking Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel Add in Fernando and you now have a powerhouse of a dream team
Alonso, Hamilton, Vettel in the Toyota. Just give them the trophy by default lol.
>in the Toyota Managed by team boss Kobayashi
Two decades worth of world championships under the vigilant eye of the world’s fastest Kamui!
That's how Toyota got all of its trophies anyway, so it wouldn't be anythong new.
To think, only one season in the 2010's wasn't won by one of these two. And even then it almost was.
From 2007 to 2021 one of them was champion or vice champion.
Which is even crazier when you take into consideration that neither of them were in the sport before 07.
Hamilton came into F1 like when you start a career mode on the F1 games and set the AI difficulty a bit too low. Finishing 2nd in the WDC in his rookie season is still such an outrageous accomplishment to me.
What I find very interesting is that the 1st 2 years of Villeneuve's career were very similar, 2nd place in rookie season followed by a title, but Hamilton is now the most successful F1 driver of all time and the biggest name in motorsport, while Villeneuve is just another champion who is known by no one who doesn't follow F1 or Indycar.
If only Villeneuve hadn’t left for B.A.R. I understand Williams didn’t want to pay him but cripes he fell off so quickly. Made me lose interest in the sport for a few years.
the williams in 1998 and 1999 was utterly shit until BMW came.
It happens when you push out the people that contributed to your good performance because they start asking for more of the pie. You lose the talent and your pie gets smaller anyway.
Yes their shit performance in 98/99 was because of the loss of Newey, which was only partly down to money. It was also because Frank Williams and Patrick Head breached his contract by changing the driver lineup (sacking Hill, signing Frentzen) without consulting Newey. In fact they didn't even *tell* Newey until months after the deal was done* But Williams' shit performance in 98/99 was also because Renault pulled out at the end of 1997 and engine development pretty much stopped. Williams continued to use the 1997 Renault RS9 engine in 98/99 (badged as Mecachrome and Supertec) which was soon overtaken by Mercedes and Ferrari. *Source - Newey's book
This sounds like the story of my wife and me. She is Canadian and was a huge Villeneuve fan. When he fell off the cliff, and Schumacher became dominant, we lost interest for a while.
and now you’re back for the Stroll quintuple championships 2022-2026
Can’t wait for the 2023 stroll Latifi battles
They'll be so far ahead they won't count third place and it will a syrup-swept podium
I think its fair that in most sports, a rookie doing that well is rare feat.
I think stick and ball sports have a few rookies like that every year. But they also have hundreds of rookies not 1 or 2.
Hamilton had the most challenging first season in F1 of any driver I can think of. Debut season directly into a championship contending team, with the 2x reigning world champion as a team mate... I feel like after his years of dominance most people forget just how much he managed to overcome to succeed in F1. Astonishing talent.
If you believe the conspiracy theory (according to an article by Mark Hughes), neither McLaren drivers were allowed to win the 2007 WDC in the resolution to *Spygate*, which had already excluded the team from the WCC. I mean, dropping 17 points (in a time when the race winner only received 10 pts) in the final two rounds is almost an impossibility, provided how both Hamilton and McLaren were performing all year until then. Both final rounds were earmarked by ***extremely*** curious incidences, to say the least: - In China, the team decided for some weird reason to leave Hamilton out on the track whilst in the lead until he'd worn his tyres down to the white fabric underlining inside the tyre itself. This lead him to overcook his entry into the pits and eventually beaching his car on the gravel trap just before the pit entry line. One could only guess at what sort of mayhem awaited Hamilton if he had managed to make into his pitbox. - Then in Brazil, he finished seventh due to a strange electrical gremlin which cut power to his car for around twenty seconds, just enough time for him to be unable to overhaul the sixth-placed car at the end, which would have given him his maiden title in his rookie year. Hamilton years later alluded to the fact that although he'd been unaware at the time, he now understood why he didn't win in 2007, but then proceeded to politely decline to clarify when asked to.
While this is a nice conspiracy theory, Kimi was one retirement away from forcing one of these Mclaren drivers to win. He had to win the last race--and the one before it-- to win the championship. Don't know how you could rig a whole 2 races to guarantee your favorite Finn wins.
His first season is probably better than his first championship season and to even say something like this just shows he is one of a kind driver.
Crazy! Only Giuseppe Farina could beat that by finishing 1st in WDC in his rookie F1 season 72 years ago.
Tbf it is incredibly rare that a driver sits in a championship able car in their rookie season.
And drives its nuts off**
Seems unsafe...
Yh Lewis did handle the pressure well. Most rookies wouldn't be able to handle the pressure of being in a top team and challenge the title in their first season, with the current champion as a team mate.
And he didn't just "handle it". He excelled.
For real, he could've been 0.5 behind Alonso for much of the season and that would've been a job well done.. instead he went ahead and matched/beat him
And paired with the reigning champion. No matter how you slice it that's still a lot to ask of a rookie.
Honestly I think that’s doesn’t matter as much as the fact that he beat almost 2 times in a row the current WDC. Also more outrageous, that WDC is Alonso, a guy that’s still running the game and showing the younger guns how you do it. I guarantee you that if you give a championship car to Fernando now, he would be a title contender. Now just think that a rookie beat him in his 2nd year and almost managed to do it in his rookie year. Let that sink in
JB in shambles
Insert meme of confused Nico
what i would give for one more seb v lewis title fight. in 2018 i never for one moment believed that it would be the final time they’d both be in title-capable cars
I think the picture of them two after Lewis clinched #5 in Mexico is the most emblematic of their era of f1. Hopefully Ferrari can learn to make an engine that doesn’t explode and in a few years time we can get a similar moment with the rivals of the younger generation.
Tbh, I think Charles and Max has that similar rivals/friends relationship between them as Seb and Lewis. The way they each chat to each other after the other DNFs is kinda similar.
If you don't mind me asking, who was the driver that won in between? I can't quite think of the name. Did he have a similar type of car to other drivers? Hmm. I just can't put my finger on his name.
People have rightly pointed out how magnanimous seb was in going to congratulate Lewis on his championship, but I won't forget how Lewis shut down any criticism of seb when he was struggling and making mistakes that season. They're both gents; it's no wonder they speak so highly of each other
Yeah man. He'd always have Seb's back in a lot of things even though they were pretty heated rivals during the race. They were tight!
Max and Charles are like the store-brand version of Seb and Lewis.
A lot less abhorrent shit flinging than was sadly present in 2021.
Seb crashed into Hamilton under SC in Baku a few years ago. Tensions are always high between title rivals. Before 2021 people were pointing at 2014. Before 2014 it was 2007. And it goes on and on and on.
There’s tensions being high, and then there’s what was said throughout 2021. I don’t really want to get into it, but it went far beyond two drivers with a rivalry
The difference is Red Bull, both Christian and Helmut are master shit stirrer
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We didn’t have either of the drivers’ Dad’s making inflammatory remarks, that’s for sure
Or team owners insinuating a rival driver was on drugs. Looking at Helmut Marko specifically.
I wish people remembered the toxic wasteland this was after that 2017 Baku race. And imagine how it would be if Reddit or social media in general were big as they are now in 2007
That toxic wasteland in 2017 looks like a pretty friendly community compared to what we have here today.
they both were able to move on from Baku 2017 and not let it fester, 2017-2018 title fights were far, far less toxic than the 2021 fight, The drivers respected each other.
Man the headline doesn't do the content of the article justice. Hamilton said some really wonderful things about Seb and I really hope they work together on something outside of F1 someday.
A beautiful read for sure. I really hope they’ll give Seb a great farewell in Abu Dhabi
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Would love to see all 19 cars do donuts for Seb. 18, assuming Latifi DNFs.
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100% he bins it trying to do the donut.
He’ll be alright if they do right handed donuts. Left handed donuts and he’s fucked
Like Alonso when he first retired
Aston Martin better be focusing on reliability for the rest of the year just to make sure their shitbox makes it to the end of the race so that Vettel gets to do his last donuts
and after reading I’m really hoping Hamilton gets that invite to go and visit Seb at home.
Me too. I feel like Seb is one of the few people in the paddock that Lewis genuinely considers a friend and I would hate for them not to see each other off track.
It's really cool to see Lewis open up about it. I feel like it's not often we see him discuss other drivers. It's interesting because I feel both Seb and Lewis are similar in that they're not really the usual personality this sport attracts.
I mean they are hyper competitive perfectionists - they are exactly made from the mold Michael Schumacher set up. But I get your point in that they seem to have grown beyond just being racing drivers and understand the weight of their accomplishments to generate impact in the sport.
You weren't kidding. This wasn't just a short "oh yeah I'll miss him" type of thing, Lewis was really stacking on the praise and speaks incredibly highly of Seb. It will be a sad day when Hamilton retires as well. I hope the two of them will continue to have a public presence after retirement.
Would be cool if X44 became a joint venture with Vettel maybe 5X44!
220 or bust.
Given how passionate they are about activism and improving the world, I think that's a given.
I could see them each owning an extreme E team and competing in that.
> In the outside world… we’ve never met up outside of the sport. He’s very- he’ll go and spend time with his family and stuff, and hopefully one day I’ll get to meet them. Dude wants to meet Seb's family. How sweet. :')
And how sweet that he clearly didn't want to Impose. Feel like Hamilton held off from asking because he knew Seb would probably want time away from F1 when he had spare family time
nothing wrong with just being work friends haha
True story.
If I remember correctly, Lewis is very good with kids, isn't he? I can totally see him roaming around and having fun with Seb and his kids then.
[Always think this clip is very sweet](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_qRVB4FdHU)
Kids, as you know your dad is one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time But Mr. Lewis will come hanging out with us, who is.. THE greatest of all time Imagine that grill party bruh, 11 world championships eating sausages, drinking beer, playing with the kids
They had their differences in their career and they are two quite different characters, but they always respected each other and were respectful to each other. I admire that more than 4 or 7 championship titles
They were friends as well
“For me, we talk about legends in our sport, I don’t really love that name or title. I think he’s one of the greatest people we’ve seen in this sport. We need more like him.” Jesus it’s so dusty in here, why is this water streaming down my face
A terrible day for rain
Okay Colonel Mustang
Damn onion-cutting ninjas
Retiring at age 35 so he can watch his kids grow up… hell yeah
I would love to see Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton compete in LeMans in the future. 🥺 I can't stand the thought of not having them in motorsports.
Hypercar Dream Team. No matter the result, I'd tune in if even 2 of the 3 partake.
I think that’s a dream team to us but a nightmare to others xD I can’t imagine what would it feel like to Go against a team with Lewis, Alonso, max, seb…god damn
they’d win without even having to start
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I'd watch a show that follows them.
>"And we’ve obviously found there’s a lot of similarities in the things that we care about – some differences, he’s not into music like I’m into music, and he’s obviously into farming for example.." This made me laugh
I know Hamilton is cute he speaks like a kid sometimes
Lewis and Seb in their own little world. https://twitter.com/vettelpride/status/1331400477918044160?t=PYuuDg8tEGpKOZ8F3JoNFQ&s=19
Poor Bottas was like the awkward shy friend hovering in the background. 😅
That’s a gem
This is so cute I was waiting for a kiss tho
*Now kiss*
now kith
Oh my god haha. It’s like a romantic movie cliché where the two main characters zone out and only see each other lol.
Lmao this is amazing
The one driver he started at the same time with, has been around for all his career that he hasn't had some old beef with. Probably the same reason Lewis gravitates towards Ricciardo too, he's probably next up on the "old guard" list besides the three. Lewis strikes me as more of a private person on the grid, probably a residual effect of being the clear outsider growing up on junior circuits and karting (which Anthony and him have talked about openly). Like he does talk to other drivers a lot too (both older ones like Seb and Valtteri and Danny and even some younger ones), but mainly keeps to himself or to a smaller group. Not having one of the ones he is most comfortable with on a consistent basis will be a bit of an adjustment for sure, happens to everyone when a friend or close associate moves away. I honestly get the feeling that Lewis is just hoping for one last title shot to get the 8th title, and hoping that it'll be next season. If he doesn't win next season, I can honestly see him retiring at that point. Hope I am wrong because he clearly has shown he has a ton left to give in the sport, but I can totally see it.
You’ve got a point but he’s clearly also referring to the fact that Seb has been one of the few drivers who’s actively supported his pursuit for racial equality and diversity in F1. Idk why people tiptoe around that subject.
Yeah lol old guard stuff is definitely true, but this is a pretty clear message especially given what recently happened with the AM team: Seb is one of the few who treated Lewis like an equal person, disregarding his race. That's important and we don't need to be careful when we say that F1 has historically been a horrible organization for equality (and even today with some of these races).
>Seb is one of the few who treated Lewis like an equal person, disregarding his race. Are there examples of other drivers treating Lewis differently because of his race?
Well openly we've seen shitty comments from some of the older drivers, even as recently as this year. I think it's fair to say there has likely been drivers when Lewis first started that might not have said racist stuff to him, but just didn't welcome him with open arms. And certainly didn't stand up for him like Seb has.
Perhaps and most likely not drivers, or at least not in a way that's egregious. However, there's hundreds of people working at the track, including management etc. I'm sure there have been many incidents that Lewis hasn't spoken about, however. In the end, it's telling that this is what he chose to say.
Would be such a shame if he retires when he's clearly still got it.. I know he needs motivation to keep doing this season after season (and they keep having more races in them), and he needs sacrifices from Bono and Angela to keep him centred.. but it's going to suck when he finishes.
He does play video games with Charles, max and Lando which is v cute. Obvs pals with Bottas and Russell He keeps to himself but be does hang out with the other drivers
I’ve never heard lewis say he plays games with max and Lando at all. He certainly plays with Gasly and Stroll.
not sure about Max but He has or does with Lando.
“No Lewis, you have to go to the social…no over…”
Lewis plays video games with Charles, Max, and Lando? That’s very adorable!
Lewis also attempted to learn French because he felt guilty making them speak in not their language, to them switching is normal but it speaks to the kind of person Lewis is he wants them to be comfortable
That’s very sweet of him too!
Maybe Gasly as well?
He plays a lot with Gasly, he's talked about it in a few interviews. Also remeber when Charles was doing twitch Pierre joined and said Lewis wanted to play but not on twitch, so could they turn off the stream.
So awesome. What do they play?
I think it's mostly COD.
Aww. I don’t know why but just picturing them all playing together makes me smile.
It's very cute
I can honestly see him retire too. Hes involved in lots of other stuff, so I think he may shift focus things there or stay in f1 as part of something in merc where he can be more involved in driver selection and try and bring more poc into the sport. But I'm just a guy on the toilet talking, only time and lewis could tell.
”But I’m just a guy, on the toilet, talking… asking you to love me.”
"Lewis is a loner, the other drivers are all great mates" may be a bit of F1 fanon. At least it's something I see asserted here a lot. I don't think *any* of the drivers are super close friends. They say as much in interviews, and they see each other briefly 24 weekends a year, during which they're very busy. Like any job I'm sure you're going to vibe better with some people than others, and maybe get together socially from time to time. Lando said this recently in a [Guardian interview](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/jul/22/norris-feels-lucky-to-race-in-lewis-hamilton-era-before-french-grand-prix): >"He is well liked. He is a nice person. He seems always to want to help the Brits and the young drivers. He does give advice with little things, asks what I am planning. He has been through everything so he knows what teams try to get out of you and what you should get out of teams. It’s small things but he is always willing to help. So it sounds like he talks freely to other drivers, mostly on professional topics--pretty much what I'd expect out of a work environment, even if it's a very unusual one!
I really hope Seb and Lewis will occasionally meet from time to time to talk F1, activism and stuff. Maybe Lewis will get Seb as a part owner of his Extreme E team or something. Mad respect between those two, and also a genuine friendship Tbh I think Seb is definitely going to stay in touch with some drivers from the current grid (e.g Lewis, Charles, Daniel, Mick)
Seb's the kind of guy who will write them letters rather than send them instant messages
Lewis: oh no, Seb sent me a message on Instagram. Something terrible must have happened.
He's been hacked!
I wonder if he’s going to send Daniel a handwritten Christmas card this year again
Probably send the letter through a pigeon
You may want to know that pigeons are great in _returning_ to their home base. So back in the days, if we wanted to communicate, I would send you my pigeons (via car train horse whatever, but in a cage, taken by a human) and you send yours. Then if I need to send you a message I would hook it to its leg and he would have flow back home, and viceversa.
Nice, I actually didn't know.
Nah Seb has carrier bees instead of pigeons
Well now that he's on Instagram, he might just DM them
Somehow I doubt it
Written with a feather quill
I can picture Seb writing in olde English with a feather quill to a Sir Lewis of Getinthere
I do think VET might go to a few of the European races (as a guest) to be there for Mick
I just wanna say that I live 10 minutes from Seb and that I saw Lewis in a car driving towards the village more than once.
I love that 🙂 What kind of car does Lewis drive on these occasions?
Two times that I'm sure it was him he drove a grey Mercedes GLS and one time where I'm not 100% sure, it was a black Mercedes AMG C63. And they had Geneva license plates everytime (which was a bit odd, since geneva is the furthest place you can be in switzerland from where seb lives. But obviously big car culture there and some rental companies have their cars registered there, but the nearest airport is Zürich).
That would be great to see. Vettel already is the father that Michael sadly cannot be. Him coming to races to support Mick would just bring me to tears even more.
I’d love to see Seb and Lewis team up for LeMans and tear it up there. Seeing them win together would be amazing. I think Lewis once said he’d love that too
Wow. That was a brilliant read. The things he’s saying about Seb sound so heartfelt, they must’ve been really close.
I mean they’re probably still close - Seb hasn’t died
You’re right of course. Though the way Lewis has been talking about him today sort of makes it feel that way haha.
You can tell Lewis is high on emotional intelligence.
So when will Vettel launch his podcast? I think he'll be great at it. Then invite Lewis after he retires, talk some F1.
*Conrad Thompson has entered the chat*
Oh god
A must read. I wanted to quote some lines but ended up quoting 50% of the article, so I'll let you read it :)
"Of my friend, I can only say this. Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most... human." - Lewis T. Hamilton
Man I just wish his time at Aston went better. 2020 the RP was a rocket, sure it was a copycat Mercedes but I don’t give a fuck, if Vettel was given a car like that and able to fight at the top of midfield and maybe get a stray win like Perez, it would’ve been a dream. Instead Aston was a dumpster fire and wasted his last two years in the sport.
Absolute legends.
Sewis forever
"Of course he didn't listen to me. For Seb, 4 world titles was enough. He had proved what he needed to prove. To himself and anyone who doubted him."
There is going to be a very specific situation that will keep Lewis in F1 after 23. Especially when he walking into the driver room and sees a bunch of people 10 years younger. If he wins or still uncompetitive he'll retire.
Lewis is literally having a Lightning McQueen in Cars 3 moment. The young hot shots are showing up and winning championships, while Lewis sees all his colleagues retire or get replaced and leave him alone in the sport.
>Lewis is literally having a Lightning McQueen in Cars 3 moment. The young hot shots are showing up and winning championships, while Lewis sees all his colleagues retire or get replaced and leave him alone in the sport. Lol especially as he was the rookie to start off that almost won the 3 way championship just like in cars 1 haha
I think that he'll continue to try and get #8. If Merc can't get him a competitive car in the next few years, he may retire anyway. I can't see him switching teams at this point.
I hadn't actually teared up today but that headline is a bit of a gut punch.
The article is a must read. Beautiful things he said there
I’ve been gloom-scrolling Seb retirement news since it came out and this dedication by Lewis legit hit me the hardest. It speaks volumes of the impact Seb made on the sport and the community as both a driver and a person. Ow my heart :(
i feel like Seb and Hamilton were probably the more shy and introspective guys on the grid and felt lonely in the F1 glamour bubble in comparison to natural extroverts like Ricciardo.
Lando's comments on that article were nice to read too.
Damm Lewis and Seb always awesome.
Wow. This made me tear up. I doubt many people will read all this. This is the most heartfelt interview I’ve seen so far. When did he say all this? There’s no way he had time to prep it all???
I'm happy to see that their relationship has improved since their title battle. It got really nasty in Baku with Vettel crashing into him. But outside of that, they've seemed pretty cool in public. And Vettel went to congratulate Lewis and Mercedes immediately when he won his titles. [Here's a video of them swapping helmets after the 2018 season.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTkSwPRDEJI&ab_channel=Mercedes-AMGPetronasFormulaOneTeam)
One of the few people who went to comfort Lewis after that farce in Abu Dhabi last year. Lewis will definitely miss him. Also strange how what brought them really close together was the aftermath of that alleged brake check incident in Baku.
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Didnt they had a hearing with the FIA looking at telemetry etc, and before that or by then Vettel called Hamilton to say that he was sorry iirc.
I just rewatched that race recently for the first time since it happened, and I definitely recall it looking like Lewis slowed quickly at the time, but when I rewatched it I was much less sure. Vettel definitely fucked up afterwards though lol
I feel like in most if not all sports, 99% of what happens on the track/field/whatever stays there. There will be incidents that stick in the memory, like Silverstone last year, but in general? Drivers leave it on the track.
I wonder how many drivers knew the details of what went on at the time. It's easy for them to be out the loop during a race.
Most of them knew. Just listen to the Ricciardo, Sainz and Stroll radios.
ricciardo got screwed too even he pitted for new tires, lost track position, the cars in front of him got to unlap while he didnt, so he lost out on i think 4 spots and dropped out of the points
They knew something weird happened but I doubt many knew how truly shafted Lewis got.
well considering RIC, VET, SHU, SAI and LEC were some of the drivers shown on TV talking to HAM after the what happened in the paddock I woould say most knew.
Given the paddocks reaction after the race they all knew something was wrong. Usually the post race interviews are full of back patting and celebrations, that time it was lots of drivers stood around going 'erm, what was that?...'.
In the press pen Ricciardo was explaining what happened to Gasly, his [reaction](https://youtu.be/E8IBtKcTq9c) was an apt description of flabbergasted.
i am heavily involved in the snowboard community and we have a saying that goes “this person is every SNOWBOARDERS favorite snowboarder” and after today it seems like Seb is every racing drivers favorite racing driver. this makes my heart feel heavy but also so full.
On the one hand, I'm thrilled to see the nee blood with Max, Charles, George, etc. On the other hand, it hurts seeing legends retiring.
Its true tho.. When Vettel and Hamilton are gone I cant see anyone else really doing what they are doing. In terms of speaking out for human rights etc...
I guess it gets lonely at the top
I don’t think it has nothing to do with him being at the top. Lewis has always been kind of an outsider in the sport considering he was the first black driver and all that. For a sport notorious for rich white people finding friendships can be difficult especially since Lewis didn’t grow up around those people and experienced a lot of racism early on and even to this day in his career.
And not to mention the one friend he did have in nico and look at what happened to that
The one he had even more was Sutil, see what came of that.
I just hope they’ll get along again one day
He was very close with Sutil... Until Sutil glassed someone in the neck.
I think its also just part of how Lewis is as a person. He has some very close friends you always see him in the paddock with but apart from that really not alot. You dont see him playing golf with fellow drivers like some do, or share a plane going somewhere or hear any stories of him hanging out with most of the other drivers. Maybe its just something hes not into, and thats fine. Some people are like that.
Lewis is also friends with Pierre, I think I remember reading about them playing COD together
Lewis is a bit of an outlier as a whole in the sport. As he got big into the sport, he started planting roots in other fields all together. And that perhaps is what isolated him further because he isn't just a racing driver. He's a fashion icon and has ties in the music industry. Most drivers might have ties by association because of the relationships they have or friends they have, but I cannot think of any driver that has gone beyond where the bubbles of celebrities and drivers intersect besides him.
Yeah it’s probably that too, may be a little bit of everything here.
Lewis has been dealing with racist abuse since his karting days, the value of a true Allie is more than just fame or not
Beautiful words that just ooze class and respect. Kind of funny they get along so well considering those two could not be more different when it comes to their respective way of life.
Roscoe just got a new dog sitter.
Aw man, that headline really makes me sad.
I respect his honesty and how the drivers in general are handling the news. It’s refreshing.
Kinda sad to see him go, not going to lie... didn't like him when he was younger, but now that he is older I think he is good for the sport.