Hamilton's Hot Take: Starting From P1 And Leading Whole Race To Win 'Is Boring'

Thursday, 29 August 2024 at 14:00

Updated at Tuesday, 03 September 2024 at 09:35

Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton asserted starting from P1 and leading the race to score a victory is much more boring than fighting through the pack.

The seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton (who recently finished eighth in the 2024 Dutch GP), has been lucky to have had a dominant car in quite a few seasons of his career. During this time, he scored numerous pole positions, from which he smoothly sailed to the finish line in P1.

This has not always been the case, of course. In 2009-2013 and 2022-2023, for example, Hamilton didn't usually have a competitive car, which meant he had to fight super hard for all the victories and podiums he achieved during this period.

Having experienced both hard-fought victories and those where he just led the whole race to win it ultimately, the 39-year-old Mercedes F1 driver gave a clear verdict on which is more entertaining for him. According to Mirror, he said on the High-Performance Podcast:

"It's so boring, honestly when you're starting from first and leading the race all the way through, it's really boring compared to fighting from the back and having a race."

"It's not racing. You could be on a test (session), you are fighting a time gap behind you but you have to psych yourself into thinking there's a car ahead or something like that - you have to be chasing something."

Lewis Hamilton driving his black Mercedes F1 car at Hungaroring, leading the 2020 Hungarian Grand Prix after starting from P1.

Lewis Hamilton leading the 2020 Hungarian Grand Prix after starting from P1

This exactly was Lewis Hamilton's strategy in the past when he started races in P1. In another interview, he revealed he needed some sort of motivation to push, so he would imagine there was a car ahead of him all the time, which he was chasing. He continued:

"But it's different when you have a car, or cars, ahead of you, and there is a track where you can overtake, like Austin or Silverstone, for example."

"Different lines you're trying to discover, utilizing different tires, wind, crosswinds, all these different things, and then you finally get someone in battle, that's the best thing, that's the most rewarding experience as a driver."