Lewis Hamilton Reveals the Trick to Avoid Complacence

2019 F1 championship leader Lewis Hamilton recently revealed the secret to avoid being complacent. The British driver admitted that he often chases an “imaginary” rival when he leads title rival and teammate Valtteri Bottas.

So far, Lewis Hamilton has a healthy 39-point lead over the Finn in the championship. The 5-time World Champion took over the lead in the standings ever since round five in Spain.

“We’re still fighting for the title,” he said ahead of winning the British Grand Prix. “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.”

When Bottas snatched third in Austria, with Lewis Hamilton down in fifth, it was the first time he took a bite out out of Hamilton’s lead. Also, in Silverstone, with a second place, Bottas was still able to keep tabs of his teammate. This is also Mercedes’ seventh 1-2 finish of the 2019 Formula One season.

“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].”