I was really just racing myself: Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton is on a roll. After a faltering start to his season, the Briton has delighted in calling upon every ounce of the formidable speed that his Mercedes possesses and has taken three sublime wins, the latest a dominant cruise to the flag in Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix. Hamilton is a racer in the purest sense. In the same mould as the legendary Gilles Villeneuve, the 29-year-old enjoys nothing better than hustling a car around a track, and is happiest when he is on the limit, drawing the maximum satisfaction one can get from driving a racing car by balancing it on the knife edge to stay just this side of disaster. [caption id=“attachment_1489775” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The good times are here for Lewis Hamilton again. AFP[/caption] “Naturally every time you go out, you want to go faster and faster and be at the top and get pole positions and win races,” Hamilton told reporters hours after taking pole position by a dominant margin at a dripping wet Shanghai International Circuit. In China, he was able to do just that as he stretched his legs at the front, at times pulling away from his rivals at over a second a lap, clearly revelling in the advantage his car had over the opposition. “It’s incredible. I honestly can’t believe how amazing the car is,” Hamilton said after the race. “I was just really racing myself.” Any driver would be immensely happy to find himself in Hamilton’s position, or for that matter, Sebastian Vettel’s over the last four years. But Hamilton’s joy is perhaps all the more greater because he knows that, sat in arguably the most dominant car he’s had all career, this season offers him his most realistic shot of winning the title since he first claimed it in 2008. Yes, Rosberg continues to have the edge on him in the title standings but each time the two team-mates have competed on track this season, Hamilton has come out on top. His run of three successive wins has allowed him to whittle Rosberg’s advantage to just four points and winning races like Bahrain, when he was able to keep his rival back despite the German having the quicker car, hands Hamilton a crucial psychological edge. “Naturally that has a psychological effect on your competitors,” Hamilton said referring to when a driver consistently wins races. “So that’s what they’re trying to do to me and that’s what I’m obviously attempting to do to them.” Despite his recent run of defeats, it would be foolish to write Rosberg off. Like Hamilton, the son of 1982 world champion Keke has his own point to prove and will pick himself back up. He will race Hamilton hard for that title. In the end, it will come down to who wants it more. Hamilton has had a taste of what winning the championship feels like. But ever since that sole title triumph, the former McLaren driver – who many hailed as on his way to becoming an all-time great barely a handful of races into his debut season – has had to look on as Sebastian Vettel has racked up the wins and the championships. It has been frustrating viewing for Hamilton who, knowing that his talent deserved more than that sole title win but also aware of his inability to take the fight to Vettel in his dominant Red Bull, admitted last year to fearing for his legacy. “Time is slipping away,” Hamilton told the Britain’s Sunday Times in an interview last year. I’m getting older and I don’t have forever in this sport. So I definitely start to think what I want people to remember me as… It’s been five years since I won the World Championship. “I got to F1 and nearly won in my first year, then I won in my second year. I’ve never had a car to really compete since then. The car makes such a big difference so you’re just wasting away your best years.”