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‘I turned down Anna Wintour . . . I can’t afford to catch Covid’

Lewis Hamilton tells Rebecca Clancy how he fought back from a huge deficit to be within sight of an eighth F1 title.

LEWIS HAMILTON appears remarkably relaxed as he sits in a central London hotel the day before flying to Saudi Arabia for the penultimate race of what has been one of the best seasons in recent years.

Two races ago Hamilton was trailing Max Verstappen by 19 points, but after two consecutive victories the 36-year-old has narrowed the Red Bull driver’s lead to only eight points.

The momentum has swung between Hamilton and

Verstappen all season, with sparks flying during their regular clashes on the track. The two most notable incidents occurred at Silverstone, after which the 24-year-old Dutchman required hospital treatment, and Monza, where Verstappen’s car ended up on top of Hamilton’s Mercedes.

Hamilton has never overturned such a large deficit, which stood at 32 points, to win a title, but must win in Jeddah in a race that’s due to start in the early hours of tomorrow, New Zealand time. If he can also take the bonus point for fastest lap, and Verstappen is second, the pair will start the final race on the same number of points. By this stage in the past four seasons Hamilton had already been crowned the champion, but with 15 years in Formula One he is seemingly unfazed by the challenges that await him over the next eight days.

Hamilton has a rich perspective on the sport, having won seven titles – the first two, in 2008 and 2014, were won at the final race of the season – but also suffered the agony of two second- place finishes, in 2007 and 2016.

‘‘I am excited,’’ he says. ‘‘I guess I feel different than in my first year. I remember my first year and my second year, the nervousness I had in Brazil the night before and then in Abu Dhabi, the double points and not sleeping.

‘‘There is a different calmness this year, I don’t know why, I guess because I have had that experience.’’

Hamilton is in the UK to visit the Mercedes factory in Brackley, where he has spent more time this season than in the past eight years combined. One reason for his trips to Northamptonshire is to make use of the team’s simulator, spending seven hours in it on Wednesday and another four on Monday, as he got used to the street track on which he will be racing in Jeddah. The dedication in learning the new track, with Saudi Arabia making its F1 debut, is crucial given that practice has been reduced from three hours to two, but it also reveals the lengths to which Mercedes are prepared to go to edge out Red Bull.

That is not all that has changed at Mercedes this season. Hamilton speaks to his team more than ever, with Andrew Shovlin, the Mercedes director of trackside engineering, often receiving a call from him.

‘‘Everyone has lifted their game,’’ Hamilton says. ‘‘I speak to ‘Shove’ more than I have ever done and we still challenge each other but it is less bumping heads and more collaborative, and that is so good to see. I am proud of everything we have done. There were times when we were 32 points behind and it feels

impossible, but somehow we recovered.’’

Apart from spending more time in the factory and on the phone, Hamilton insists that he has not changed his routine. His focus, he says, has been on training and avoiding catching Covid.

Hamilton is extremely cautious given that he had the virus last year and was forced to miss a race. If that were to happen now, it would end his title hopes. He was due to be at the Fashion Awards dinner this week on a table with Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue, but chose not to attend.

‘‘I honestly have not changed anything,’’ he says. ‘‘I have been working, this is the best I have been able to give in a year, the training, the time balance that I have,’’ he says.

‘‘I was supposed to be on a really nice table and sitting with Anna and I was like, ’I have got to be up training, I have got to be focused, I cannot risk getting Covid.’ I have made every sacrifice.

‘‘I don’t think I have left anything undone, so at this point of the year there are no regrets.’’

While in the UK, Hamilton took time to join his father Anthony and brother Nicholas, for a vegan Sunday roast. Hamilton recalls how they spoke about his karting

‘I don’t think I have left anything undone, so at this point of the year there are no regrets.’ LEWIS HAMILTON

days and, in particular, the times when he came from the back of the field to win.

‘‘These past few days I have been watching my karting races,’’ he says. ‘‘At Buckmore Park [in Chatham, Kent]. [My brother] knows all my races, he’s my biggest fan, probably, and he was like, ‘This was your best race,’ ‘‘ he says.

‘‘When I started at Rye House [in Hertfordshire], I always started last because the kart was bent, it was really not great and I worked my way through.’’

When Hamilton was disqualified from qualifying in Brazil, in which he had set the fastest lap, he was relegated to the back of the grid and admits that his heart ‘‘sank’’ when he received the news. A fourth or fifth-place finish seemed possible but not the win that he somehow pulled off, achieving what he describes as one of the best of his 102 victories in F1.

Hamilton and Verstappen have spoken of their enjoyment at the battle this year, in particular that they are competing against another team, rather than a colleague.

Hamilton has enjoyed the rivalry so much that he decided to commit to Mercedes for another two years.

Hamilton, though, will have a new team-mate next season in the form of compatriot George Russell, but greatly values the camaraderie he has shared with Valtteri Bottas, which has been more enjoyable than his rivalry with Nico Rosberg in 2016, when his fellow Mercedes driver beat him to the title.

‘‘Valtteri and I have worked the best we have this year and it has been really special — there are days he beats me,’’ Hamilton says.

If Hamilton manages to claim an eighth world title and move clear of Michael Schumacher, with who he shares the record of seven championships, would this one be the best of all?

‘‘If I get the job done, it will, yeah,’’ he says. ‘‘It is a new position.

‘‘Uncharted territory.’’

SPORT

en-nz

2021-12-05T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-12-05T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/281973200940243

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