Lewis Hamilton and pop-star, Nicole Scherzinger had an extensive relationship between 2007 and 2015. That said, their romance wasn’t all a fairytale. In fact, it is a well-documented fact that the duo faced several rough patches throughout their time together—making it more of an on-and-off alliance.
But during Hamilton‘s early days in F1 with McLaren, Scherzinger was a regular appearance by the Briton’s side in the paddock and the garage. Former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley had the opportunity of seeing the duo up close.
The Woking team were also working hard to ensure that they got the most out of the Briton—something that involved tracking the #44 driver’s mentality. This is when the team realized a spectacular link between Hamilton’s prowess on track and his relationship with Scherzinger.
Congratulations @LewisHamilton on your #MonacoGP. I’m so proud of you babe, you’re a true champion as always xoxo
— Nicole Scherzinger (@NicoleScherzy) May 25, 2014
“We were faced with an unbelievably talented racing driver whose performance was in some way affected by how his emotional state was which varied greatly,” he began explaining on his Pitlane Life Lessons podcast.
Priestley and the crew noticed how easily influenced Hamilton was by his lady love. This also turned into an inside joke on Hamilton’s side of the garage.
“When he first came into this sport we used to joke amongst the team that Lewis’s performance was so intrinsically linked to the state of their relationship. We joked that there seemed to be more lap time in keeping those two together than there ever could be with anything we could do with the car,” he added.
However, it also affected his performance severely when their relationship hit a rough patch. For instance, in 2011, Hamilton was having a lot of trouble managing his relationship with the American singer, which caused him to not be in the best frame of mind. As a result, he had several crashes and incidents that season, particularly with his 2008 title rival Felipe Massa.
Nevertheless, Scherzinger oversaw the Briton win two world championships during their romance (2008 with McLaren and 2014 with Mercedes). But since their breakup, Hamilton has actually gone on to experience success like no one in the sport ever has.
Since 2015, Hamilton added five more titles to his name, taking his overall tally to seven. This might have come as a realization of the impact a serious relationship had on his performance.
Recently, Hamilton even hinted at this when he told TIME Magazine, “I’m hungry, driven, don’t have a wife and kids. I’m focused on one thing, and that’s winning. That’s my No. 1 priority,” in response to his critics. Having said that, the Briton does want to have a family in the future—once he hangs up his racing helmet.
