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Lewis Hamilton is one of a kind. The British driver has done so much in his career that he deserves all the praise that he can get. Coming from Stevenage, debuting with McLaren in 2007, winning his first title in 2008, and then racking up multiple title wins with Mercedes has placed Hamilton amongst the pantheon of greats.
So what is it specifically that makes him what he is? In this piece, we will take a look at the top 5 qualities that make Lewis Hamilton an all-time great.
#5 Rising against the odds
A black kid from Stevenage walked up to Ron Dennis in the 1990s and told him he wanted to drive for him. That kid, with limited means, climbed through the junior categories smashing everything in his way until he reached the biggest stage of them all.
He was supposed to be the understudy of a two-time world champion in his team. Over the year, he ended up beating that teammate, and then in his second year in the sport, he became a world champion himself.
Today, he is the most successful driver in the history of the sport. All of this by a black kid from Stevenage. Something like this is hard to imagine, but Lewis Hamilton's career in itself is one where he has beaten the odds daily. It's stuff like these that legends are made of, and Hamilton is undoubtedly part of that category.
#4 His never give up attitude
Often, Lewis Hamilton's stint at Mercedes faces undue criticism. Sure, he would not have achieved what he has in terms of statistics if it was not for the superiority of the Mercedes car. Even then, through the years at Mercedes, he has shown that he does not give away an inch until it's all over.
Be it the race in Turkey in 2020, or the race in Germany in 2018, or be it his fightback in the 2021 season where he won multiple races on the trot to climb back into contention. In all of them, Hamilton has shown that he does not give up even when it appears that it's all over.
#3 Lewis Hamilton's sheer talent and consistency into his late 30s
One of the key qualities of a legend in any sport is longevity. Nigel Mansell raced in his 40s, Prost raced in his late 30s and so did Michael Schumacher. Looking at the level at which Lewis Hamilton is performing right now, it's hard not to identify that he is driving at a very high level. To add to that, he's doing it in his late 30s. For any high-level athlete, the late 20s to early 30s are considered the prime years of their careers.
After that, the reflexes slow down, the physical peak is not the same and you fall off your peak. Lewis Hamilton has still not shown any signs of slowing down. He's still one of the best drivers on the grid and it's hard to identify if, and where, he has lost a stride in all these years.
#2 His off-track actions focussing on global events
F1 has faced criticism for its growing association with the Gulf nations. Some of them are consistently at war, while others are always in the news for human rights violations. Apart from Lewis Hamilton, there aren't many drivers on the grid that have been vocal about these issues. The Mercedes driver wore a solidarity helmet last season when F1 raced in the Gulf states like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and others.
Even this season, after everything that went down in Saudi Arabia, Hamilton was one of the more respected voices that had taken a stand against going ahead with the race.
To add to this, Hamilton taking the knee in the 2020 F1 season, or racing a black liveried Mercedes were the actions of someone looking to make a change in the world of F1.
#1 Those statistics!!!
Keeping everything aside, let's take a look at some of the statistics that Hamilton has accrued over the years. He is a seven-time world champion. He has more than a hundred wins and pole positions. He's won a race in every season he has featured in. He has the highest number of points as well as the highest number of podiums scored by a driver.
This is just a glimpse of the kind of records Hamilton has achieved throughout his career. You can't achieve such records without having a relentless pursuit of perfection or without an unquenched thirst for success.
Lewis Hamilton is at the top of a sport that has been around for more than 70 years. It's not a coincidence that he finds himself there and not others.
