Lewis Hamilton has delivered a stinging rebuke to criticism of his move from Mercedes to Ferrari, dismissing it as an irrelevance from what he describes as older, white men and insisting he “welcomes” the negativity.
Hamilton is making his debut with Ferrari this year and is currently taking part in pre-season testing in Bahrain, where he was quickest in the morning session. This will be the 40-year-old’s 19th season in F1 and comes after 12 years at Mercedes with whom he won six of his seven titles. Speaking in an interview for Time magazine he addressed criticism he has received from the former F1 team chief Eddie Jordan and the sport’s former chief executive Bernie Ecclestone.
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“I’ve always welcomed the negativity,” he said in the interview. “I never, ever reply to any of the older, ultimately, white men who have commented on my career and what they think I should be doing. How you show up, how you present yourself, how you perform slowly dispels that.”
Jordan questioned the wisdom of Ferrari signing Hamilton and letting Carlos Sainz go to bring him in. Similarly Ecclestone queried Hamilton’s motivation and stated he doubted the British driver would see out even two years at the Scuderia.
Hamilton has endured similar brickbats throughout his career and has insisted he has been reinvigorated by the switch to Ferrari and that he was motivated like never before to return their first drivers’ title since 2007.
“Don’t ever compare me to anybody else. I’m the first and only Black driver that’s ever been in this sport. I’m built different. I’ve been through a lot. I’ve had my own journey,” he said. “You can’t compare me to another 40-year-old, past or present, Formula One driver in history. Because they are nothing like me. I’m hungry, driven, don’t have a wife and kids. I’m focused on one thing, and that’s winning. That’s my No 1 priority.”
The British driver is on a multi-year contract with Ferrari where he will drive alongside Charles Leclerc. He is looking to secure his record-breaking eighth world championship and maintained that he felt there were many years of racing still left in him.
“Retirement is nowhere on my radar. I could be here until I’m 50, who knows,” he said. “I know where I need to go. I know how to get there. It’s far, and it’s going to be tough to get there, but I know I’ve got all the ingredients, all the people, an amazing team around me.”
