Legacies are hard to come by. The sport of F1 has many legacies to be honest and a tremendous history from drivers, teams, cars, tracks and tragedy. McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton wants to be one of those legacies. To be honest, I don’t see any reason why he couldn’t or hasn’t already. The youngest driver to win a title and the first black driver to win a title are both facts that will always be with him. His achievements in such a short time and the controversy that has surrounded him adding to the story of Hamilton all play a role.
Hamilton has done well in Monaco and I suspect the young man will do well this weekend. Perhaps even adding to his legacy in F1. He shared his thoughts with Reuters:
“When I leave F1 I want to be remembered as one of the best drivers of all time,” he told Reuters in the harbourside paddock.
“I am not really bothered if I am remembered or not. But clearly I am going to be remembered. I am part of the sport, I’m part of its history, I am a world champion,” he added.
“I think as I am going to be anyway, I would like to be remembered in the best way and the best light,” added the driver, who was himself embroiled in a furore over lying to race stewards last season.
He said that was not just as a champion.
“I want to be remembered as a fair driver as a clean driver and one that always drove with my heart and battled through thick and thin to score the points and the championships I will hopefully earn by then,” explained the Briton.
“For me, when I think about the history it is not just about me, it is about how my family raised me, and where we came from.
“For that to be potentially tainted by something like that (Schumacher’s Monaco controversy) would be really devastating for me. That is definitely something I don’t want to be remembered for.”
You have to hand it to the British champion, he is incredibly motivated and sets lofty goals, which he has attained so far. Many factors play a part in Hamilton’s success and perhaps he picked the right time to drive for McLaren. The team and driver seem to be a terrific combination and I have every reason to believe they will be for several years to come.
What I find a bit odd is that yet again, the press seems intent of making a meal out of the fact that this Michael Schumacher’s the first race back at Monaco since his Rascasse incident. If they can’t goad him into some sort of repentance or tearful apology, they’ll ask other drivers about their careers and then heap on the Schumacher analogy. Seriously…this may be news from a journalistic side of things but as a consumer of their product, I really grow weary of the character assassination attempts in the name of news.
We could have had a nice piece about Hamilton’s aspirations and what he liked so much about Senna and why he feels he can achieve a legacy like his hero. No, that would be boring apparently. Better to drag Schumacher through the mud and heap his incident on Hamilton to lure the young McLaren driver into some controversial comment about Schumacher.
Look, I’m sure it’s just me. I am sure–as a complete novice and hack who couldn’t carry the pen of such seasoned journalists–it’s just that I don’t understand what truly “makes” news. I just can’t grasp the nuance of human nature and how journalists have a duty to drag Schumacher through the grinding mill until he relents and offers some form of apology for his horrible actions that have rendered his legacy useless and then inform readers about it. How Hamilton’s discussion on his own legacy should be shared but only in the penumbra of Schumacher’s dubious and barely recognized legacy. For what is Hamilton’s desires if not juxtaposed to the antithesis of a real legacy? How best to assess a young mans dreams without offering him a nightmare for which to compare his most coveted desire?
Okay, I guess news to me is not news to “real professionals”. I’m a bit old fashioned when I say that a journalist must maintain integrity and filter information with minimal personal prejudice and bias. What separates a journalist from other disseminators of information, such as advertisers and propagandists, is their commitment to accuracy and objectivity. Unfortunately no one, these days, has a lock on “the truth” and this, in return, creates a moral dilemma regarding the balanced approach.
Fair enough. I stand down as I am not there and maybe all the talk about Rascasse and Schumacher has whipped everyone into a feeding frenzy which can only be redeemed by a blood letting or verbal mea culpa from the Mercedes GP driver. WEll done to hamilton for not taking the bait–too much– and avoiding character assassination.
Asking Hamilton about his desire to create a legacy is certainly gathering information to share with the journalists community of readers but asking Hamilton what he thinks of legacies like Schumacher in light of the Rascasse affair is something completely different. Pleasing to see that AUTOSPORT didn’t undress itself to embarrassing levels this week with the “big news” that Schumacher has returned to Rascasse!
