“In the end,” Hamilton says, “there will be times when you wonder, ‘Is it me, or is it the car?'” Have you got it still? Is it gone?

Because you’re missing that, you know? When the magic happens, when the car and you come together with that spark, it’s amazing. That’s what you’re looking for.”

People who play a sport where faith in your ability to push yourself and a high-tech piece of equipment to their limits at speeds of over 200mph should really be able to say that. It’s not even close to being the best driver ever. On the other hand, Hamilton doesn’t think it’s anything special.

“I’m only human,” the 38-year-old says. “Everyone in the world who says they don’t have those things is lying.” “We are all people.””

“They didn’t make the changes I asked for.”
To mark the end of the season, Hamilton is giving a long interview. He’s in a mood to talk about a lot of things.

A driver and team that were used to having a lot of success have had a long, hard season. This is his second year in a row without a single win. He says he knew that from the first time he drove this year’s car.

This season, Mercedes engineers chose to stick with their own unique way of designing cars, which went against both Hamilton’s wishes and the general trend in the pit lane. And Hamilton knew they were wrong as soon as he drove the car at Silverstone in February.

He says, “I remember it feeling the same” when he thinks about last year. “That was not a good feeling at all.” I had a lot of hopes.”

It turns out he was worried even before that.

“My nerves were a little higher in February when we did a download of where the car was going. Last year, everyone said, ‘The car is amazing, it’s unique, no one else will have anything like it.'” The first test comes next…

“Even though I was listening, I was a little more careful. I thought, ‘We’ll see.'” After that, the car had all these issues. I knew the year would be long.

It was clear right away at the first race in Bahrain how bad Mercedes’ problems were. In fact, Hamilton said the team was “on the wrong track” in Friday practice, before there had even been a competitive session.