Lewis Hamilton has admitted that he is fearful that he may never win a Formula 1 world championship again.
Hamilton is arguably one of the sport's greatest ever drivers having won seven world championships during his remarkable career. The British star is the joint most successful world champion with his tally of seven equal with fellow great Michael Schumacher. With Hamilton still actively driving, he no doubt has hopes to eclipse Schumacher's record and become the most coveted driver outright.
However after going two years without winning the F1 drivers' championship and the Englishman now 38, he does have some fears that he will never add an eighth crown.
Hamilton came agonisingly close to doing so in 2021, but was controversially pipped by rival Max Verstappen on the very final lap of the F1 season. One year later, the Englishman was well off the pace and finished sixth in the standings, as Verstappen went back-to-back.
The 2023 season gives the Mercedes man another chance to clinch title number eight, but he does have some concerns that he may no longer have what it takes to become a champion once more. Speaking on the Jay Shetty podcast, he said: "There are days where I do feel like I’m not enough, there are days where I don’t feel like I’m good enough.
"People can be like, ‘Yeah, but you’ve won seven world titles’ but still there are days where I question ‘have you still got it, can you still be the best?’ I’m having that conversation with myself often.
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One man who has been an ever-present around Hamilton during his remarkable career is his dad Anthony. And whilst Hamilton may be losing some belief in himself, his old man is still firmly behind him. "But my dad’s also there," he went on.
"Sometimes I’ll say something that’s maybe not the most positive. And he’ll be the one there just reaffirming ‘you’ve got this, believe in yourself’. It’s so important for people to have people like that around them. I support myself, I surround myself with other positive people as well.
"I think it’s all our job to lift everyone up. I want everyone around me to win, and to become the best versions of themselves." Hamilton will kick off his hunt for a record eighth world title when the 2023 F1 season kicks off in Bahrain on March 5.
