Lewis Hamilton has enjoyed a myriad of memorable moments during his sixteen-year career at the pinnacle of motorsport, but one specific occurrence still stands out in the Briton's memory.
From 103 career wins in the sport to seven world titles, from heated fights out on the track to dominant victories, from battling racism in his formative years in the sport as a poor kid from Stevenage to becoming one of Britain's greatest ever sportsmen, Hamilton has seen and experienced it all.
But from all of his glorious wins and painful defeats, Hamilton's triumph in the Turkish Grand Prix in 2020 that delivered to the Mercedes driver his seventh world title, and allowed him to equal the outstanding record of the great Michael Schumacher, remains a seminal moment in the Briton's career.
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"Honestly, my whole life flashed by," Hamilton remembered, speaking to the Jay Shetty podcast.
"[On] that last lap in Turkey, my whole life, all the struggles, questioning whether you were going to make it or not, all those doubts, all those fears, kind of flashed through my eyes.
"[I] came across the line and I was like, 'I did it', and I want the kids out there to know that you can do it too. So that's what I try, every day, just try to be encouraging of kids."
Last season was an agonizing year for the Mercedes team and its star driver who failed to win a single race for the first time in 16 seasons in F1.
Lessons from 2022 in hand, Mercedes has set about to develop a machine worthy of its track record and deserving of Hamilton and teammate George Russell's outstanding skills.
However, while Hamilton knows that Mercedes has the resources and ability to turn around its fortunes, the Britain himself sometimes has second thoughts about his own ability to still be able to deliver the goods on race day.
"There are days where I do feel like I’m not enough, there are days where I don’t feel like I’m good enough," he admitted.
"People can be like, ‘Yeah, but you’ve won seven world titles’ but still there are days where I question ‘have you still got it, can you still be the best?’ I’m having that conversation with myself often."
To help him mute the voices of self-doubt, Hamilton still relies on his father Anthony to prop him up when necessary.
"But my dad’s also there," he said. "Sometimes I’ll say something that’s maybe not the most positive. And he’ll be the one there just reaffirming ‘you’ve got this, believe in yourself’.
"It’s so important for people to have people like that around them. I support myself, I surround myself with other positive people as well.
"I think it’s all our job to lift everyone up. I want everyone around me to win, and to become the best versions of themselves."
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