Lewis Hamilton has achieved everything there is to achieve in F1: winning seven drivers' championships, helping build a Mercedes dynasty and becoming a global icon while driving the entire sport forward.
And this year alone, the champion has twice returned to the top of the podium after periods of poor performance that made one wonder whether he would ever win again.
But winning is not the norm for Lewis Hamilton, and he is often open and brutally honest about when his performances don't live up to his lofty expectations.
The latest example was Saturday at Monza after qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix.
talk Sky Sports F1 In qualifying, Hamilton topped the timesheets in multiple practice runs and early in Q2 to finish sixth, but lamented that Mercedes “deserved better than this”.
“That could have been Paul,” he said. Sky Sports F1“I could have had a front row seat, or at least a front row seat. I just didn't get the role in the end.”
“I lost 10-and-a-half seconds in turns one and two and then another 10 seconds in the last corner, so I have no one to blame but myself.”
Hamilton has two wins this season, including an emotional win at Silverstone to top the podium in his final British Grand Prix before joining Ferrari, but qualifying has been a thorn in the side of the legendary driver this season. He is yet to take pole position this season and his best qualifying run came at Silverstone when he started second.
“Qualifying has been my weak spot for a while now and I don't know why,” he added. “I'll keep trying.”
“I'm going to be a little bit hard on myself over the next few hours,” he said, “and ultimately, I have to move forward. We have a good race car. The team has done a really good job this weekend. The car feels a lot better than it did in the last race.
“And the team deserves better. With Kimi there we could achieve even better results.” [Antonelli, the driver who will replace him next season].”
In a sport that is filled with incredible, and sometimes brutally honest, personalities, Hamilton leads the pack. His status as one of the sport's all-time greats allows him to be open and honest about not only what goes on on the track, but also outside of sport. As Hamilton makes the decision to step away from the sport he has contributed so much to for so many years, there is no doubt that the next chapter of his life will be filled with even greater achievements.
But one thing Hamilton has shown through his openness and honesty over the years is that even the best in the world have moments of self-doubt, as he admitted after his emotional win at Silverstone that he doubted whether he could win again.
His comments today raised doubts about whether Mercedes will get any better from their young driver, who crashed his W15 into the barriers during his first F1 FP1 session, but they also reflected a willingness to be honest and an openness to the self-doubt that creeps into everyone's mind at one point or another.
Even the heart of the seven-time world champion.
There are many reasons why Hamilton is a champion, but his openness at a time like this is championship worthy.
