“I Deserve My Respect” – Lewis Hamilton Shuts Down Critics Following Emphatic Turkish GP Win

With Lewis Hamilton, nothing is ever impossible. Even if it meant him starting in P6, with poor weather and disastrous track conditions in the Turkish Grand Prix.

Such was the might of the British driver, however, that he kept going and backed himself to cross the line. One must remember that he had overruled his team’s decision to pit in for fresher tires later into the race.

However, a lot of Hamilton’s critics put his success down to the fact that he has gotten a dominant car in his hands. The British driver feels that he deserves more respect after having driven a car past the checkered flag, majorly based on his racecraft in a chaotic Turkish GP race.

Lewis Hamilton believes no driver has won the title without a great car

Speaking in the post-race press conference, Hamilton stated, “Yeah. I want more of these weekends. More tricky conditions like this. The more opportunities like this, the more I’m able to show what I’m able to do.

“And I think today hopefully you can see… I think I deserve my respect.”

Over the years, his critics need only remember the racing greats to have won the world championship. The mighty Michael Schumacher also had some of the best cars, courtesy of Ferrari, to go on a title winning streak.

“ Of course you have to have a good team and of course you have to have a great car. There is no driver that’s ever won – really won – the Championship in the past without it,” concluded Hamilton.

Mercedes is a contributor, but not the only reason for Hamilton’s success

The ‘car vs driver’ topic is a long-standing debate in the Formula 1 community, and rightly so. However, to say that all of Hamilton’s success has come courtesy of having a powerful car at Mercedes is simply untrue.

This is shown by his teammate Valtteri Bottas driving almost similar machinery and finishing P14. All afternoon, he just struggled to find any grip and slid around the track surface to have a disappointing race.

It is time then that his critics realize that Hamilton’s experience and driving ability counts for something in the sport. Whilst he is on the track, he doesn’t back away from any challenges that come his way.