LEWIS HAMILTON FEARS HE MAY NEVER BEAT MAX VERSTAPPEN TO F1 TITLE EVER AGAIN

has admitted that he is worried about the possibility of never beating to another Drivers' Championship title before he eventually decides to retire from the sport. The 38-year-old has been pipped to the grand prize by his Dutch rival in each of the last two seasons and will seemingly face a tough battle to reclaim top spot over the course of the upcoming 2023 campaign.

Hamilton will be chasing a record-breaking eighth individual title when the on-track action gets back underway as he looks to surpass his own tally of seven, which is also jointly held by German legend Michael Schumacher. However, the man from Stevenage has expressed grave concerns over whether he will ever be able to clinch the honours again before the end of his racing career.

"There are days where I do feel like I'm not enough, there are days where I don't feel like I'm good enough," said Hamilton during an appearance on the Jay Shetty podcast.

"People can be like, 'Yeah, but you've won seven world titles' but still there are days where I question 'have you still got it, can you still be the best?' I'm having that conversation with myself often."

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Hamilton went on to highlight the influence of his father Anthony in helping him to stay grounded and fully dedicated to the task at hand in spite of the damaging and negative thoughts that occasionally fill his mind.

"My dad's also there," he added. "Sometimes I'll say something that's maybe not the most positive and he'll be the one there just reaffirming 'you've got this, believe in yourself'.

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"It's so important for people to have people like that around them. I support myself, I surround myself with other positive people as well. I think it's all our job to lift everyone up. I want everyone around me to win, and to become the best versions of themselves."

It remains to be seen whether Hamilton will be able to wrestle back control from Verstappen over the course of this year, with Mercedes hoping to put things right by giving the Brit a title-winning car when the racing gets back underway. The Silver Arrows were considerably slower than Red Bull for the vast majority of the previous campaign but will be desperate to begin clawing back the deficit as they seek to return to the top of the pile over the coming weeks and months.

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2023-01-29T13:17:04Z dg43tfdfdgfd