Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff believes that Lewis Hamilton won't be fully appreciated until he takes the decision to retire from the sport. Hamilton took his fifth world championship last year, his fourth with Mercedes.
The Briton is Formula 1's most successful qualifier of all time and is closing in on the records set by seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher. In 2019, Hamilton can mathematically beat the German's win record - but will have to take victory at 18 of the 21 races to do so.
"We’re only going to realise when he retires one day,” Wolff told the Middle East newspaper The National. “We tend to never acknowledge somebody’s great performance while it happens.
“We are always full of the types of people who retire or die. But they are never saying ‘This guy is really unbelievable, we’re alive to witness an exceptional performer’. I think we should recognise that while we are still racing.”
Schumacher's current win record sits at 93 victories. Last year, Hamilton extended his contract with Mercedes that keeps him at the team until at least the end of the 2020 season. The Silver Arrows will launch its new car on February 13th.
Rindtchamp
Posts: 304
I think his achievements would be acknowledged a whole lot more if he had a competitive teammate and not purely a #2 to let him past when needed. Put Ricciardo, Alonso, Verstappen or Vettel in the other Merc and then if Lewis wins, yes we'll know how good he is.
but until then, he's just collec... [Read more]