Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton previously spoke about his struggles with McLaren during his disappointing 2009 season. The British driver had captured eyeballs in the initial years of his Formula 1 career, as he had fought for two championships in his two years and emerged victorious in his sophomore year in 2008.The following year, there were some regulatory changes to the tires and aerodynamics that affected the performance of Ferrari and McLaren severely. The two iconic teams found themselves out of points and fighting for the last few positions in the races in the first half of the season.Ahead of the European Grand Prix in Valencia in 2009, Lewis Hamilton was interviewed by former three-time F1 world champion Niki Lauda, where the former confided his troubles of the year with the Austrian and said:"This year's been the hardest time in my life. Emotionally, yeah, winning the championship, we know how to win races, but living your life and preparing yourself to win and then arriving and finishing last, it's demoralizing... As a driver, you want to show the world that you're the best and you can win races when you can't, when people start questioning how good you are, people say, 'Oh, this person must be better.'"It's frustrating that you can't react and fix it by going fast because you don't have the car. Lots of sleepless nights, lots of hard work with my engineers. You want to be a part of a team that always pushes, because for me, I'm always pushing, so I want the team to have the same mentality," View this post on Instagram Instagram PostLewis Hamilton and McLaren were successful in turning their fortunes around in the second half of the 2009 season, as they went on to claim four pole positions and two victories to end the season on high. Later in 2012, Niki Lauda played a pivotal role in signing the British driver to Mercedes and ending his association with the Woking-based outfit.When Lewis Hamilton spoke about his dynamic with Niki LaudaFerrari driver Lewis Hamilton stated that Niki Lauda was not a "fan" of the former during the initial years of his career, but their relationship developed and improved during Hamilton's time at Mercedes.Speaking with Autosport, the seven-time F1 world champion provided an insight into their dynamic and said, via TNTSports:"When I started out Niki wasn't a big fan of mine, not always the most complimentary towards me. It wasn't until we started talking mid-2012 that our relationship started from scratch. We like the same things, we're very similar in many ways, so our relationship started from then."Lewis Hamilton won six of his seven titles with the German team and had a formidable bond with Niki Lauda until the latter's death in 2019.