SILVERSTONE, England — Lewis Hamilton said the emotions poured out of him after the British Grand Prix because he had started to doubt if he would ever win a Formula One race again.
Hamilton’s record-extending 104th career win, his ninth at Silverstone, was his first since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in December 2021.
Hamilton managed a topsy-turvy race to win his final race on home soil before joining Ferrari next season.
After the finish, the F1 feed played a radio message from Hamilton as his voice cracked with emotion.
The TV broadcast also showed him in a long embrace with father Anthony.
“Yeah, I can’t stop crying,” Hamilton said. “It’s been since 2021, I just every day, getting up, trying to fight, to train, to put my mind to the task, and work as hard as I can with this amazing team.”
Asked if he ever doubted he might stand on the top step of an F1 podium again Hamilton said: “Absolutely.
“The feeling, it feels different to previous races, and particularly races where you’re having race after race after race, or seasons where you’re having multiple wins. I think with the adversity we’ve gone through as a team, and that I personally felt that I’ve experienced, those challenges, the constant challenge like we all have to get up out of bed every day and give it our best shot.
“There are so many times when you feel like your best shot is not good enough, and the disappointment sometimes that you can feel. We live in a time where mental health is such a serious issue, and I’m not going to lie, I’ve not been… that I have experienced that.
“There’s definitely been moments where the thought that this was it, that it was never going to happen again. So to have this feeling coming across the line, I think honestly, I’ve never cried coming from a win. It just came out of me. It’s a really, really great feeling. I’m very, very grateful for it.”
Anthony Hamilton told Sky Sports on his son’s win: “How crazy was that? He was never going to give that up. You just have to watch the times, it was a tenth [of a second] here, a tenth there, it didn’t matter what was happening. Lewis was in full control. There’s no way with that current car and the tyres he had that he was going to allow that win to slip in front of the British public. And that’s what drove him on.
“Lewis was second yesterday and he was disappointed with himself, he was like: ‘I could have done better’ after qualifying. So he goes home, refocuses and comes back and you know that he’s calculated everything and he’s waiting for the environment to change, and when the environment changes, he’s in his element.
“It’s great for the team, it’s great for the British crowd … and it’s great for motorsport.”
First appeared on www.espn.com