On Sunday, after his fifth win in seven races this year, Lewis Hamilton recalled how, as a teenager, he responded to watching Michael Schumacher’s seemingly endless series of victories with Ferrari in the early 2000s.
Hamilton says he “would have woken up, had my bacon sarnie and watched the start and gone to sleep and woken up at the end, then watched the highlights because it’s much shorter”.
So the Mercedes driver has sympathy with those who may feel the same way about his success now, which will before too long see him break the records Schumacher set 15 or so years ago.
“I can’t speak for the fans but, having been a fan growing up and lived in different eras and watching the Schumacher era, of course I know what it’s like,” Hamilton said.
“I enjoy myself in the car. I am still able to enjoy the battle, looking where Valtteri (Bottas, his team-mate) is, what times he’s doing, the gaps, trying to get the perfect balance every lap. That is still a massive challenge for me but it is just not as fun for people to watch.