Hamilton seeking improvements to become F1's "all-time great"

Lewis Hamilton has asked his Mercedes team to send him feedback via email on the areas he can improve for 2019 as he sets his sights on becoming Formula 1’s “all-time great”.

Hamilton beat Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel to claim his fifth drivers’ world title with two races to spare this year, edging him closer to Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of seven championships.

The Briton took 11 victories across the season to move onto 73 career wins, 18 shy of Schumacher’s record tally of 91. In winning the final two rounds in Brazil and Abu Dhabi, Hamilton also ended his streak of having never won a race in a year he has already sealed the title.

“This next month I’m going to sit down and figure out where I can be better,” Hamilton said at an event for team sponsor Hewlett-Packard.

“I asked my team to send me an email from several different departments, asked them to be blunt.

“They don’t even need to tell me who the email’s from, just tell me the things [they] think I can improve on.

“If there’s been a certain experience this year you felt that could be better or something I’ve said that’s swayed the energy within the team.

“Because I’m looking to be the all-time great and that means winning in all areas.”

Hamilton said the prospect of facing additional challengers in the shape of new Ferrari recruit Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen is providing him with additional motivation to raise his game ahead of 2019. 

“I feel like I’m still not at my best,” Hamilton admitted. “I’m just on the way there, I’ve still got lots of work to do.

“We’ve just signed for another two years so ’19 and ’20 are going to be interesting. My goal is to make such Ferrari don’t win a championship within those two years – or Red Bull.

“We’ve got the Red Bulls who are really trying to come at us strong, we’ve got young Max Verstappen who wants to steal a world championship. We’ve got now Charles Leclerc in Ferrari who’s going to want to impress next year.

“And these guys are all much younger. I’m the third-oldest driver now in F1, which is ridiculous because I’m only 33. But these guys, they’re all in their young teens now.

“So how do I remain relevant, how do I remain fitter than all these guys, how do I remain mentally more focussed and more diligent than all these other guys? That’s my super focus, to stay ahead of them.”