Motorsport: Motor racing-Hamilton hungry for record eighth title

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(Reuters) – Lewis Hamilton will likely be in a league of his personal if he can safe a record eighth Formula One world championship in Sunday’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The 36-year-old Mercedes racer is already probably the most profitable driver within the sport’s historical past having equalled Michael Schumacher’s seven titles and overtaken the German on wins, pole positions and podiums.

But if he beats 24-year-old Red Bull rival Max Verstappen at Yas Marina, Hamilton will break the final of the Ferrari nice’s main information.

“It wasn’t unimaginable however I feel it was seen as not possible,” Hamilton, degree on factors with Verstappen after profitable the final three races, informed F1TV when he clinched his seventh title in 2020.

“However I nonetheless dreamt of it, I dream of going to area… I consider in issues and I feel if you dream all of us provide you with these loopy concepts.”

Those goals have pushed the game’s solely Black driver as he emerged from an underprivileged background removed from racing to develop into one of many world’s wealthiest and most distinguished sportsmen.

The grandson of immigrants from the Caribbean island of Grenada, Hamilton — now a winner of 103 races — has stayed near his roots and household.

His mother and father separated when he was two and father Anthony held down a number of jobs to fund his son’s early karting actions till McLaren and Mercedes stepped in.

Hamilton’s success and various pursuits, starting from making music to selling younger Black style designers and embracing veganism, have earned him a world crossover enchantment not like some other champion of the previous.

Subjected to racism from his karting days, when he was the one Black child on the grid, he has used his profile to marketing campaign for racial equality, environmental points and LGBTQ+ rights and towards cruelty to animals.

“It’s clearly no secret that I’ve actually walked this sport alone: the one Black individual right here, or the one individual of color right here,” Hamilton, who has arrange a fee to spice up participation by Black folks in motorsport, stated final yr.

“When I used to be youthful, I didn’t have anyone within the sport that appeared like me.”

UNCOMPROMISING ADVERSARY

Hamilton, who has worn a rainbow-themed helmet within the remaining three races within the Middle East in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ group, stated in October that his campaigning had given him contemporary vitality.

“This yr I’ve not been drawing on previous experiences, I’ve been drawing on feeding off this vitality of doing this constructive work,” he stated.

“Is it serving to me race? I feel so, yeah. It’s like my new drive and I really feel prefer it’s giving me extra longevity as a result of it is a number of work we’ve got to do. I really feel prefer it additionally provides my life actual objective.”

In Verstappen, one other pure expertise who has set information of his personal as youngest F1 driver and race winner, he faces his hardest struggle in years.

The Dutchman is unafraid to push the restrict and sometimes cross it.

The pair have collided thrice already, together with within the final race in Jeddah, and Hamilton has needed to bail out in wheel-to-wheel fight to keep away from an accident.

If the pair crash out on Sunday, Verstappen, who leads the Briton 9-8 on wins, will win the title however Hamilton thrives underneath stress.

“It’s undoubtedly an extremely intense yr and time,” stated Hamilton, who made his debut with McLaren alongside double champion Fernando Alonso and beat the Spaniard to second within the standings.

“I’ve raced for 28 years, I’ve had so many intense battles by means of karting, by means of single-seaters, and that is one in all them.”

(Reporting by Abhishek Takle/Alan Baldwin; modifying by Toby Davis)



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