Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMercedes

Hamilton: ‘I’m close to my full potential’

Lewis Hamilton says he is close to his full potential but is eager to improve on last year’s showing in a number of upcoming races.

2014 was a straight fight between Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg, with the Briton winning four straight races to take the championship lead having retired from the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. However, after Hamilton’s victory in Barcelona last year he was then beaten by Rosberg in Monaco and retired from the Canadian Grand Prix having been running second behind his team-mate at the time.

Having won three of the four races so far this season, Hamilton says he is keen to keep improving even though he believes he is close to his peak.

“Yes but that’s just natural for I imagine anyone who has a competitive streak, the competitiveness that I have,” Hamilton said when asked if he will keep pushing himself. “All the people who are at the top are not saying thats enough for me they always want to do better.

“For me I know the potential that I have, if I am not living to that potential then I wouldn't be satisfied. I am close to my full potential.”

And Hamilton admits last year’s experience is acting as motivation for the next three races, having only won once in Monaco.

“I want to improve when I get to Barcelona. I don't want to be back where I was last year, I want to have the same kind of thing as I've had [in Bahrain]. In Monaco we've had the car to win for the last three years and we've come second … And fourth once, so thats not good especially as [Ayrton] Senna won it so many times, so I've got to get on it.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.