Mercedes' Hamilton chases "imaginary" F1 rival to avoid complacency
Formula 1 championship leader Lewis Hamilton says he makes himself chase an "imaginary" rival whenever he is ahead of title rival Valtteri Bottas, to avoid getting complacent
Hamilton has a 31-point advantage over team-mate Valtteri Bottas in the championship and has been ahead in the standings since round five in Spain.
The five-time world champion will line up behind Bottas for Sunday's British Grand Prix, after his four-race winning streak was ended at the previous race in Austria.
But Hamilton, who was outqualified by Bottas by 0.006s, said he is always adopting a "chasing" mentality, even on days he is out in front.
"We're still fighting for the title," said Hamilton. "I don't feel necessarily that he's the only one chasing, I'm still chasing.
"I try to put an imaginary individual ahead of myself.
"I generally kind of put the previous year's performances - so last year's [version of] myself - ahead of me, for example.
"That's my target: to improve and beat that. But on days like this [qualifying at Silverstone] I'm behind another, so he's now the guy that I'm chasing.
"As long as you've always got a goal to chase, then you can always make improvements, you always have strides to make.
"So that's my approach, always."
Bottas's third-place finish in Austria, combined with Hamilton finishing fifth, marked the first time in five races that the Finn took points out of Hamilton's lead.
Pole position at Silverstone was Bottas's fourth qualifying triumph of the season, a better record than Hamilton has but one that has not translated into enough victories.
"The championship fight is still on. Obviously I'm the one chasing, I'm behind, but there are so many races to go," said Bottas.
"It's going to be a lot up to me and my performance. So every single opportunity there is I need to get those.
"If I don't get those then Lewis is going to be far away and I will not be able to reach him in terms of points so [Sunday's race] is super important.
"But so is the race after, and the race after.
"The season is still long so I really need to try and take those opportunities and will do everything I can to keep that lead [on Sunday]."
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
The driver who can wreck F1's "super exciting" 2020 silly season
Red Bull's Verstappen now has basis for first F1 title challenge
Ferrari: Mick Schumacher a good candidate for seat in Formula 1
Hamilton "never had so much understeer in my life" in F1 Chinese GP
The 10 best Formula 1 drivers ever: Hamilton, Schumacher & more
The status factor that made Ferrari impossible for Hamilton to turn down
Wolff: Mercedes can't just keep living off F1 ‘bright spots’
Mercedes plans Miami F1 upgrades as Russell urges back to basics approach
The F1 breakthroughs Mercedes made in Japan - and what's next
Erik Jones sidelined with compression fracture after Talladega crash
Alpine confident for 'good news' in Habsburg injury recovery
Ferrari "made too many mistakes" for podium fight at F1 Chinese GP
What is a wildcard in MotoGP and why is it used?
Did F1's new sprint format work?
Chinese Grand Prix Driver Ratings 2024
Why Verstappen's China F1 win was a sideshow to the real battle
How the pursuit of marginal F1 gains caused Sauber's pitstop stumbles
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments