13/11/2020
NEWS STORY
On the cusp of his seventh title, Lewis Hamilton says he is more proud of his activism for diversity and equality.
"Winning a world championship is very much a personal thing, and that doesn't necessarily impact people's lives," he told reporters at the start of a weekend which could see him secure his seventh title, thus equalling Michael Schumacher.
"Something I'm much prouder of is trying to improve conditions for people around the world," he continued, "that's the most important thing for me.
"I remember watching Michael get seven and thinking, 'wow!'" added Hamilton, who recently became the winningest driver in the sport's history. "But when you're in it, it's different. What's important with the journey this year is it's been combined with the fight for equality and a real growing process of learning what's happening around the world and being a little bit more aware of surroundings and starting to see progress with that."
"We're going to continue to fight for more championships, continue to try to improve and continue to race and do what we love doing.
Asked about that seventh title, he replied: "Matching an icon like Michael; I'd be incredibly proud of that. But it's more the message it sends to not just kids - but mostly kids - that you have to dream bigger than you think you can dream and don't let anyone tell you that you can't go for that."
However, the Briton prefers not to focus on such records, insisting that hew is "just focused on trying to do a good job, just taking it one race at a time, trying to do the best we can as a team, not thinking about anything else.
"I have learned not to add pressure that's unnecessary," he continued. "I have four races to battle for those points so I don't put it all onto one weekend, one day. For me it is another race, I need to approach it exactly as I have in the past.
"Maybe then that's why sometimes it's a shock," he added. "All of a sudden it hits you because you have not thought about it much and you don't know what to say, because you never truly know whether it is going to happen.
"I am not focused on the 'what if?' I am focused on preparing myself the same as before to try to deliver the way I have all season. The numbers and the figures and the titles and all that stuff perhaps appears to mean more from the outside.
Check out our Friday gallery from Istanbul, here.