“Other teams are talking us up, but we really don’t know where we stand. We
know our place. I’ve come to a team who have struggled for the past few
years. You can’t expect us to make ridiculous improvements straight away.”
Hamilton is working on a broader canvas. This complex and often misunderstood
soul felt that he needed to leave McLaren, where he had come to find Ron
Dennis’ culture of control and precision almost suffocating, to prove his
gifts elsewhere.
And as Niki Lauda has observed, it is this very brand of risk-taker, the
driver capable of winning a championship for more than one team, that can
help to cement a legacy.
Hamilton talks freely, and sometimes with a slight lack of self-awareness,
about the concept of greatness. His idol remains Michael Schumacher, who won
two titles with Benetton and then another five with Ferrari,
but one hesitates to imagine even the German being quite so preoccupied with
his own reputation.
“We all want to be the one. I was the one for a short period of time – now
it’s toppled over to Sebastian. But I want to be at the forefront. People
see Michael Schumacher as a god, and that’s where I want to be.”
It might be a touch unkind to accuse Hamilton of a god complex, but he is
animated by an intense religious conviction, having once said: “I feel quite
safe on the track. I know He’s looking after me.”
He is also not shy of buttressing his image with celebrity accoutrements,
having just bought a £20million private jet, painted blood-red.
Then, of course, there is his new bulldog Roscoe, the hound to which Bernie
Ecclestone has granted a paddock pass for the season.
Hamilton’s management company, XIX Entertainment, has helped him to negotiate
greater image rights at Mercedes, and while the wisdom of his move will be
judged ultimately on results he claims he could not be more content with his
team environment.
“The more people I meet here, the more excited I get. It’s just a beautiful
place to be. I have just been on a good curve lately, going from strength to
strength and making the right decisions.
“I’m absolutely 100 per cent happy and confident in the decision I made.”
His switch also ensures that this year, the two top-line British drivers will
be competing for rival teams, with Jenson Button elevated to the No1
driver’s seat at McLaren.
The pair endured a detached, sometimes downright frosty relationship as
team-mates, and Hamilton is already dismissive of Button’s challenge in
2013. “The rivalry with Jenson doesn’t excite me,” he says.
“It’s more the rivalry with Fernando [Alonso]. He’s the most experienced
driver there now, the fastest from what I can see.”
A rekindling of the fires between Hamilton and Alonso would form an engrossing
sub-plot, given that the two almost came to blows during a ferocious season
together with McLaren in 2007.
Alonso looked in ominous form during this month’s final round of testing in
Barcelona, recording the second fastest time, although both Ferrari and Red
Bull were reluctant to show their true hands.
Vettel, the youngest ever triple world champion at the age of 25, is still the
man to beat.
But Button, a relative elder statesman at 33, is determined to exert his
influence. He draws motivation from the time in 2009 when, having won the
first five races for Brawn, he almost contrived to lose the championship
with a scrappy second half of the season.
“Singapore was probably the worst moment, when I didn’t qualify in the top
10,” he recalls. “I remember going back to the hotel with my girlfriend
Jessie and she was amazing.
“She’s always so supportive. But she could see that I was really down.
That was the most difficult part for me. I had such a massive low.”
And yet he would go on to become Britain’s 10th F1 world champion, 12 months
after Hamilton. Button discloses that while his ambition still burns
powerfully, he envisages himself finishing his career in McLaren overalls.
“I feel very at home,” he explains. “I’d like to end my career here. There’s
no reason for me to leave.
“Some people decide to leave because there is another challenge, or
something is missing from their position, but but there is still so much
more to achieve.
“The McLaren history is spectacular and I want to add to that, not just this
year but in coming years.”