Lewis Hamilton had been tipped to become a world champion even before he had made his debut in F1. The Briton proved his well-wishers correct when he presented a cutthroat competition to Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard was already a 2-time world champion and his first F1 teammate in 2007 in McLaren.
With his sheer will to win and become the top driver on the grid, he impressed former 3-time world champion and F1 legend Niki Lauda. The Austrian driver later played a huge part in the Briton’s career as he convinced him to join Mercedes in 2013.
In the latest video released by Mercedes, Hamilton reminisced about his first interaction with the legend. Hamilton recalled feeling shocked and confused as he received the life-changing call from Lauda.
Lewis Hamilton misses Niki Lauda
Remembering Lauda, who passed away in 2019, Hamilton said that he misses the Austrian star so much. He said that he and Niki had some of the best and funniest conversations ever.
Although, at the time when Lauda had called Hamilton to convince him to join Mercedes, Hamilton remembers feeling confused as he always thought that the former champion was always too critical of him.
Hamilton said, “He was doing commentary and had an assumption of who I was and some comments that he made.” These comments made him think that “Niki doesn’t like me.” Following this he got a call from Niki in 2012 asking Hamilton to join Mercedes. The 7x world champion recalled saying, “Niki you don’t even like me what are you talking about? But we met and we had a very in-depth conversation.”
“He[Niki] said, ‘Oh you’re just like me…’, from that moment we realized that we had a lot more in common than we both anticipated. We had an amazing relationship, we used to fly together from races, particularly from Japan,” Hamilton further added.
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How Hamilton impressed Lauda?
Hamilton challenged for the title in his first season in F1 and finished as runner-up. Hamilton went for the title again in 2008 and came home winning his maiden title. In doing so, the young McLaren driver also won the hearts of many F1 fans. Hamilton had also become an inspiration to all the underprivileged people as he was the first and only black driver in F1 history.
However, his success saw a slump as his years with the British-based team progressed. Many deemed problems in his personal life had been a reason for that slump while Hamilton blamed the 2009 McLaren for being the worst car of his career at the time among many other factors.
Nevertheless, the Briton continued to bag wins and podiums. As his McLaren contract neared its termination at the end of the 2013 season, talks of Hamilton’s future flooded the paddock.
This was the time when Niki Lauda entered and convinced Hamilton to join Mercedes. The young Briton took the gamble and well, the rest is history.
