Lewis Hamilton has set a target for the type of person he aspires to be in response to comments made by Sir Jackie Stewart claiming that he “no longer has that hunger” showed earlier in the turbo hybrid era.
Three-time Formula 1 world champion Stewart, who has captured headlines for controversial comments against current drivers in recent years, made an attack against Hamilton in an interview with German newspaper BILD.
He said the Briton “no longer has that hunger” that his bygone title rival Nico Rosberg exhibited as his teammate and that “because of that – and because the car is no longer quite as powerful – he has serious problems”.
Still searching for his eighth title, Hamilton hit back after being asked directly about the comments made by 84-year-old Stewart by the BBC.
He said: “There are people who are very short-minded that make the comments that they do, not knowing the work that has been done in the background.”
Hamilton’s personal target
It’s not Hamilton’s first eye-catching interview response in recent weeks having critiqued the teammates that Max Verstappen has had to contend with compared to his own before the Dutch Grand Prix.
However, Hamilton, whilst in Stevenage meeting young students as part of work for his charity Mission 44, outlined the type of person he hopes to be in the future.
“One thing I hope – and I never want to do is – in the future, when I one day stop and looking back on the youth or the next driver generation, I want to be encouraging them and let them know it’s okay to make mistakes,” he explained.
“It’s about being inspiring rather than shutting them down. That’s the kind of figure that I want to be.”