Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton has demanded he actually has ‘a lot of fuel left in the tank’ in the wake of completing second in the French Grand Prix, his 300th race. He joined an elite group of drivers who have made it past the 300 mark and the list includes the legend Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso, and others. Follow Formula 1 LIVE updates with InsideSport.IN
After finishing second in the French GP, Hamilton said, “That is a lot of races. Firstly, I want to be grateful to get to this point. But I still feel fresh, and I still feel as though I have got plenty of fuel left in the tank. Meanwhile, I am enjoying what I am doing and I am proud of arriving every day and working with this incredible group of people.”
He’s only just joined the 300 club 👏
Could Lewis be the first driver to complete 400 races? #FrenchGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/fCh2VoIPhf
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 25, 2022
“I am enjoying working with the sport more than ever. Moreover, I want to get back to winning ways and that is going to take time, but I am sure we will sit down at some stage and talk about the future. I want to keep building. One thing is having the races, but another is to continue doing more outside of the sport, which I think Mercedes and us can, and will do,” Hamilton added.
Hamilton has persevered through a troublesome year up until this point, yet recorded his best finish of the season by completing second subsequent to beginning the race in fourth. He was at last 10 seconds behind champ Max Verstappen, who extended his lead to 63 places.
DRIVER STANDINGS 📊
Verstappen increases his lead out in front 💪
Russell moves to one point behind Sainz! 👀#FrenchGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/Mqny7s8XVH
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 24, 2022
There have been ideas that Hamilton could leave toward the finish of the season but, with a year and a half left on his Mercedes contract, the Brit says he is ‘enjoying working with the sport more than ever’.
Hamilton also paid tribute to everybody who helped him through the course of his career and helped him reach his milestone. “The 300th Grand Prix was mentioned at the beginning of the weekend, and I didn’t think much of it,” Hamilton further added.
“But this morning I woke up and felt incredibly grateful, thinking about all of the people that have been with me along the way – Ron Dennis and Mercedes giving me the chance when I was young. Martin Whitmarsh and Mansour Ojjeh at McLaren, Toto Wolff, Niki Lauda, [Mercedes chairman] Ola Kallenius, [Mercedes board member] Markus Schafer, and [former chairman of Mercedes’ parent company, Daimler] Dieter Zetsche. All of these incredible people have supported me since I was 13,” The seven-time F1 champion added.
“All of my races have been powered by Mercedes and I am very proud to be up here representing them. We have to keep pushing, and every weekend we hope we will get closer,” Hamilton concluded.
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