Lewis Hamilton says the 2021 F1 title fight was way different from 2016 and that he is a much different person now than that time.
Much like the 2016 F1 season, the year 2021 also had a last race tussle to declare the world champion. In both cases Hamilton lost out where in the former it was against Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, while the latter was against Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
But there was huge contrast in the two seasons, not just from the view that this year saw two teams having a go at each other, but also that both the team and the driver grew from 2016 to 2021, especially in terms of experience and learning.
Hamilton noted about it during the Abu Dhabi finale – the last time he spoke to media before his radio silence due to the way he lost the F1 title to Verstappen. “[The feeling is] a million times different,” he said, when asked how different he felt in 2021 to 2016. “It was a much, much different scenario, completely different.
“A million times better I feel now than I did then. Yeah, I feel good. It’s not something that I particularly really want to go into but I’m just in a different place in life to in 2016, facing different resistance in life and this time we’re just in a much better and happier place,” summed up Hamilton, who stated ‘yes’ when asked if he is a better driver than 2016.
He even added that he is a better ‘teammate’ too now to Valtteri Bottas than he was probably against Rosberg at that time. Ever since that loss and the German’s retirement, Hamilton has stayed away from bringing him into any conversation – which he is probably saving it for a book that he intend to release in years to come.
Now how the 2021 season panned out to be, Hamilton may just need more than one book to describe his feelings and shell out some unknown stories for the public. For now, most are waiting for him to break his silence, but it seems like, he is taking a much needed break to recollect his feelings and prepare for the bigger fights ahead.
Here’s Toto Wolff on F1 not doing things to spice up
Here’s Adrian Newey on Red Bull being slightly quicker than Mercedes
Here’s Toto Wolff on what he expects from the F1 commission
Here’s Max Verstappen, Toto Wolff on Lewis Hamilton and if he continues on
