Hamilton: Waving flag in home country ‘greatest single moment’
F1 News
- Bevan Youl
According to Lewis Hamilton waving the British flag in his home country is the ‘greatest single moment’ of being an athlete after his sixth win at the British Grand Prix.
In Thursday’s press conference before the race at Silverstone Hamilton was questioned on his ‘britishness’ due to the fact that he lives in Monaco.
But the Brit stated how much a win at his home race meant to him after edging out teammate Valtteri Bottas, saying success in a home country is one of the greatest moments for any athlete.
Hamilton, who drove round with a flag on the cooldown lap, said (quoted by GPFans): "This is the greatest single moment of any athlete in the world – to raise their flag as the number one or with the gold or whatever it may be in their home country.
"It's one of the single most incredible feelings and special moments an athlete can have.
"I come here and I've got this incredible support.
“They always talk about how much does it lift you up and it's a huge amount of energy but a lot of weight comes with that, a lot of responsibility.
"People save up so much money to come to this grand prix. Everybody is buying merchandise and flags and you just want to deliver for them so much. Not only for yourself and your own ability, you know you can do it, but for your team.
"And when you achieve something like today and you see all those British flags, I was looking the whole time for a flag, 'someone give me a flag', because one day I'm going to be able to look back and I'll have that picture of me in the car with that flag and I'll always be able to smile until my dying day."