Hamilton Is Now Past 'Most Difficult Period In His Career' Says Coulthard

Wednesday, 10 July 2024 at 22:00

Former F1 driver David Coulthard discussed Lewis Hamilton's victory at Silverstone after the 12th round of the 2024 season.

The 2024 British Grand Prix was labeled a fairytale story by the team principal of Mercedes, Toto Wolff. What made the race a fairytale?

The seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton finally managed to snatch a victory after 56 race weekends of drought. It might sound unbelievable, but the last race before that the 39-year-old won was the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

In the meantime, the Mercedes driver amassed 16 podium finishes, but not one of them was victory. However, he finally managed to break the spell, and what better place to do it than in front of his passionate home crowd at Silverstone? David Coulthard told Channel 4 after the race:

"This has been the most difficult period for Lewis of his career. When he joined McLaren as a rookie up against Fernando Alonso, he finished the season with the same amount of points, matching a world champion."

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"So he's only known success. He's only known brilliance. He's only known how to deliver pole positions and be a winning machine."

Hamilton has had an amazing run of 15 consecutive seasons with at least one victory. So when he then had to endure 2,5 seasons without standing on the top step of the podium, the seven-time World Champion admitted it was a very tough period for him.

Speaking right after the race, the Mercedes driver admitted to mental struggles and that even he sometimes doubted himself. But all that happened, all the adversity, only made Hamilton's latest victory better, sweeter, and more emotional. Coulthard added:

"The period of drought that he's gone through, and lacking performance to his team-mate, that I cannot compute."

"That's why it means so much to him, and that is what confirms that he's still got the hunger. That whole Ferrari journey is about trying to rediscover his mojo. Well, he's discovered it here."