“He couldn’t have done another season like that or he’d be dead” – Heikki Kovalainen was Lewis Hamilton’s teammate in McLaren before he conquered the world time and again with Mercedes.
Heikki Kovalainen was Hamilton’s teammate in 2008 and 2009, seeing the Brit win his maiden world title in 2008. Since then, only former Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg and reigning champion Max Verstappen have managed to beat him in equal machinery.
The Finn is in awe of his former teammate and recalls how energy-draining it was to compete with him. Not just for him, he says, but also for Rosberg, who retired just a few hours after defeating Hamilton in 2016.
“Occasionally I could match him but over the full season, I had to stretch every session to match him.
“You can only do so much stretching and then you run out of energy and that was the case with me, I didn’t have enough margin in my capacity to do the times and the races that he did, so it was not easy.
“His level of performance is so high that even for super talents like Max it requires a lot of effort, a lot of focus, a lot of energy, so it’s not going to be easy, not everyone can handle that, it’s as simple as that.
“I think Rosberg had to use all the tools from his toolbox to be able to beat Lewis and that nearly killed him, he said it himself, he couldn’t have done another season like that or he’d be dead.”
Can Lewis Hamilton win another title and become the GOAT?
After leaving McLaren, Hamilton replaced the GOAT Michael Schumacher in Mercedes, as only a one-time champion then. Little did the world know, he would end up winning another six in just seven attempts.
Kovalainen is surprised too, but always knew Hamilton had it in him to become a champion. Now, it remains to be seen if he can win another one and break Schumacher’s record of 7 world titles…
“When I was there you wouldn’t have thought that he would beat Michael’s record. But even then everyone knew that he was very good. He was super talented and dedicated in all kinds of ways that you can measure, he’s right at the top.
“I believe that the setbacks that he’s had in his life he’s been super good at dealing with them much more than any other athletes, not just race drivers, he’s very good at turning things around and coming back stronger.”
