© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Lewis Hamilton could equal Michael Schumacher’s most career wins record if he wins this weekend’s Russian Grand Prix. The Briton talks about what the accomplishment would mean to him.
Hamilton is one win away from equalling Michael Schumacher’s 91 Formula 1 career wins record. However the six-time champion says he is not focusing on numbers.
“I don’t know why I am the way I am and why numbers are not necessarily something I focus on,” Hamilton said at the Russian Grand Prix Thursday press conference.
“I come into this weekend as it being no different to any other weekend. I’ve got to work my backside off to beat Valtteri and everyone else out there and I know how hard that is, as do the other drivers. I just don’t think of anything else really.
“I think championship numbers are perhaps a little bit different. When you win a championship, it’s something that is so far in the distance it’s almost impossible or seems out of reach.
“You try to get there but you are never really sure if you are going to get there, and when you do get there, you are already focused on what’s next. Perhaps it’s not until long after that I will realise.”
“I’ve got my work cut out, this is a track where Valtteri got his first win, he’s very quick at this circuit and the Red Bulls will be quick here as they were last year.
“So it’s a real tall order to come into a weekend and win. If it happens… It’s going to happen at some stage as I’m not quitting any time soon, I can’t tell you how I am going to feel, or what it’s going to mean, or if it’s going to mean anything.
“There’s other and bigger issues happening in the world. Of course it’s an honour, but that doesn’t really mean anything either.”
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Pressed on how he would react if he does equal the record at Sochi, Hamilton said he would probably first contact his father Anthony, who was the biggest influence on his early career.
“I’d probably call my dad. We talk a lot, me and my dad, we always reminisce about the past and I think these are really beautiful moments to have with someone who has sacrificed, as parents do, so much of their lives for their kids to give them a better opportunity.
“I think the roles are reversed now. My dad was telling me I could do anything, now I’m telling him ‘you’re amazing, there’s so much you can do, you’re still so young, you’ve got so much more to do moving forward and you’re an inspiration to so many parents out there’, blah blah blah. So it’s pretty cool.”
However Lewis made sure that everybody knew he believes this achievement would not be possible without all the people at Mercedes.
“It’s crazy, I’ve been here a long time. It’s crazy to think of the success we’ve had as a team,” Hamilton explained to Sky Sports F1.
“But it’s no coincidence when you look at the people, the structure we have, the communication and hard work that goes on, the partners we have involved and how passionate they are.
“It’s been the best eight years of my life but there was a lot of success before that with McLaren and that was a great period of my life also – a lot of learning, a lot of success together, which was awesome,” concluded the six-time champion.
