A different opinion almost twenty years later
In a recent interview given to the Brazilian podcast Pelas Pistas, former driver Nelson Piquet Jr. had reiterated Lewis Hamilton‘s superiority during his rookie season in Formula 1 compared to other debutant drivers in the Circus. The Englishman, according to the son of the three-time world champion, had indeed been the protagonist of high-level performances in 2007, such that he came within one point of winning the world title. Over the years, however, Nelsinho Piquet’s opinion of Hamilton has drastically changed.
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The hunger for victory
Nineteen years after the McLaren challenge between the Briton and then-teammate Fernando Alonso, it is the latter who most impresses Piquet today for several reasons, starting with his desire to return to success despite being 44 years old: “Lewis no longer has the love, passion, and hunger for victories that Fernando still has, despite being older than him – Piquet Jr. explained to Soymotor – he is five or six years older than my generation and Lewis’s, yet he has more passion than many other drivers; this is very admirable. Fernando is similar to Verstappen because he loves racing. He is a driver and incredibly fast. When I raced with Fernando almost 20 years ago, he was at the peak of his career and was very difficult to beat on race weekends.”
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“Twenty years later, he still has the same hunger – he continued – it’s admirable because it’s not easy. You don’t see the same grit in Lewis, for example, but Fernando has more of it than most drivers on the grid. I respect him a lot.”
