Lewis Hamilton has accused Sir Jackie Stewart of lacking insight after the three-time F1 champion suggested his fellow British driver “no longer has the hunger” to succeed in F1.
In an interview with German publication Bild, Stewart acknowledged that seven-time title-winner Hamilton “is one of the best to ever drive in Formula 1”.
The 84-year-old Scot, however, then tempered the comment by adding: “But the truth is that in the last decade, he competed with Mercedes for a team that was virtually out of competition.
‘During this time, Lewis only had one real competitor – his respective team-mate. Except for 2016, he always emerged victorious from the duel. And then he lost to Nico Rosberg. With respect, a good driver, but not the most talented in the world.
“But Rosberg was hungry and had the absolute will to become world champion. Lewis no longer has that hunger. Because of that, and because the car is no longer quite as powerful, he has serious problems.”
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Hamilton was challenged about Stewart’s remarks, in particular, with regard to his apparent lack of hunger.
“There are short-minded people who make the comments they do, not knowing the work that’s being done in the background,” said Hamilton.
“One thing I hope is that in the future, when I one day stop, and I look at the next driver generation, I encourage them and let them know it’s okay to make mistakes.
“They’re going to make lots of mistakes. I am still going to be making mistakes for many years, so I want to be inspiring, rather than shutting them down. That’s the kind of figure that I want to be.”
It is now approaching two years since Hamilton scored the last of his record-breaking 103 victories.
Whilst Stewart is correct in one respect that Hamilton no longer has the best car, the latter feels that when Mercedes again provides him the machinery to challenge, he will be better for the experience of learning through the hard times.
“I think these past two years, whilst we’ve not had any success, it’s been a really amazing period of time,” said Hamilton.
“We’ve all had to pull together, lift each other up, so when we eventually get the car where we need it, I’ll be even better equipped than ever before.”
Hamilton was speaking on a visit to North Hertfordshire College in his old hometown of Stevenage where he met and spoke with a number of students.
The 38-year-old was continuing his work to “improve the pipeline” in helping children from diverse backgrounds attain their goal of a career in the STEM subjects of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Over the past few years, Hamilton’s Mission 44 charity programme has been instrumental in transforming the lives of many young people, offering them hope for a brighter future.
Part of Mission 44’s latest initiative is supporting the Young STEM Futures Programme in Stevenage, with Hamilton involved in a number of areas.
“These kids are the future,” said Hamilton. “There’s so much they can do but they need help.
“It’s also breaking down some of the barriers that some of these young people are facing. We need equal opportunity for these kids to come through and feel like there’s a home for them, or a career for them, within these industries.
“There are thousands and thousands of jobs, over 40,000 jobs within the (motorsport) industry, and only one percent, for example, come from black backgrounds, and there are very few women in the industry, which is also not enough.
“So there’s a huge amount of work to increase diversity and gender equality and these are the things that I hope to achieve with my charity.”
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