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Former Formula One driver Nicolas Hamilton says having Lewis Hamilton as his brother and wider family is an enormous amount of pressure.
The Mercedes driver, the most successful driver of his generation, and his brother are both 30 years old and will compete this weekend in the Singapore Grand Prix.
“Everyone gets under pressure. As far as pressure to win, it’s extremely big because you have three kids that love motorsport and you have his brother trying to do it and doing incredibly well,” said Hamilton.
“There’s no pressure from my family,” said Lewis. “They give me so much support but as far as pressure, the only pressure that I have is on myself.
“The pressure that you put on yourself is the biggest pressure that you’ll ever have.
“I think, so far, so good. I think there are still things that I can improve on. It’s nice to have this family atmosphere. Everyone is really supportive.”
Hamilton is currently second in the drivers’ standings, behind Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari. But his chances of catching Vettel at a time when the German is struggling have been enhanced by the success of his team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
But Hamilton believes Mercedes is the best-equipped team of the three in terms of race experience.
“We’ve got great team racing,” he said. “We’ve got the most experience in the team, particularly in terms of seat time. So we’re able to do these full-takes, understanding of strategy.
“We’ve got a tremendous amount of information that we can draw on. We’ve got that. It’s about working on the time to deliver it.”
Lewis Hamilton was 14 when he raced for junior teams in Formula One and spent 11 years at Williams before going to McLaren and then returning to Mercedes two years ago. His record in 2018 has not yet been as successful: his ninth win came in Austria, a race which was played out in the darkness because of the rain.
The 47-year-old former Ferrari and Williams technical head Matt Roberts, working as Hamilton’s principal engineer, was sacked this season after a disagreement.
“Matt and I have a great relationship. It’s not just one thing that led to it,” said Hamilton. “It’s been brewing over time and when the time came and it didn’t work. It doesn’t matter who’s sitting at the helm, it doesn’t work.
“That’s why I never complain about whoever is at the helm. In a given situation, you’ve got to make the decision that’s best for the team. I had to take it on the chin and it is what it is.”
