F1 News
'You have to be physically and mentally strong to drive that car'
- GPblog.com
The victory in Portugal meant the 92nd victory for Lewis Hamilton, and thus the breaking of Michael Schumacher's record, something that no one imagined until a few years ago.
Huge achievement
Someone who has a lot of experience with one of these two drivers is Mika Hakkinen. He was Schumacher's biggest rival in the 1998, 1999 and 2000 seasons, before stepping out of Formula 1 before Schumacher became virtually unbeatable. Now he is dwelling on Lewis Hamilton's performance.
"It's a tremendous achievement for Lewis as he won his first win in 2007 and is still competitive today. I know how much effort it takes to win one Grand Prix, so to do it 92 times is very special," says Hakkinen in his column for Unibet.
"A lot of people say Lewis drives the best car, but there's nothing easy about driving these complex machines and driving them to their limits," said the two-time F1 champion. "You have to be strong physically and mentally to do that."
Lots of praise for Bottas
But Hakkinen is also enthusiastic about his compatriot Bottas. "I thought Valtteri did a fantastic job. His qualifying was strong, and he made a great start after which he took the lead when Lewis made a mistake in the first lap. The light rain made it even more challenging."
"However, the tire temperatures and grip were very important and when Valtteri's car couldn't maintain the right temperature and grip it was inevitable that Lewis would overtake him. From that moment on both Mercedes cars drove away from the field," said Hakkinen.