Hamilton - Constructors' titles “almost more exciting” than drivers' championships

Lewis Hamilton has claimed that winning the constructors’ world championship is “almost more exciting” than clinching the drivers’ crown as Formula 1 is more of a team sport than for individuals.

A one-two finish for Hamilton and Mercedes team-mate Valterri Bottas at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday secured a record-breaking seventh consecutive constructors’ crown for Mercedes.

With the team dominating every season since first winning the title in 2014, six-time drivers’ champion Hamilton revealed the focus on teamwork makes it hard to decide which championship is most important.

“It’s almost more exciting winning the team one,” said Hamilton. “It’s is a very strange sport in the sense that it is a team sport but then there is an individual championship.

“The core of our job is to deliver points and results for the team. So when you win a team championship I think it’s almost better than an individual because it’s something you do collectively, with a large group of people.

“Whilst we are the ones standing on top of the podium, we’re not above anybody. We are on the same level, we are all part of the chain links. You can tell that everyone is so happy when they get the constructors’ title.”

Mercedes operates out of two UK bases, with around 950 people working at the race team’s Brackley site and an additional 700 on the High Performance Powertrains [HPP] side in Brixworth.

That includes a team that works to integrate F1 technology into other industries and teams running the F1 customer units used by Racing Point and Williams, as well as powertrains for Formula E and high-performance road cars.

The traditional Christmas party is likely to be very different this year - if it happens - but Hamilton said getting together with the team behind the title success is always a moment of pride.

“When we do the Christmas party and we celebrate with everyone, everyone just knows that they did a remarkable job and that they have done something that nobody else has done before," added Hamilton.

“That’s cool to be a part of. Even if I was to stop today that would be something that I would be able to share with that large group of people for the rest of my life.”

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