At the risk of earning either a rebuke or scorn from the esteemed and learnt editors of the celebrated Oxford English Dictionary I have dreamt up a new adjective descriptive of the ongoing grand prix greatness of Lewis Hamilton and his fourth world championship triumph.
It is ‘four’-midable! A tribute to his success and his ongoing genius, a gift unlikely to waver as he winds up his season of crowning glory, more than likely with wins in his final two GPs in Brazil and Abu Dhabi, and eagerly readies himself for next season’s high-powered onslaught.
Fourmidable! And here I am joined and supported by his Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff — not in my newfound description — but in his mountainous heaps of praise for his 32-year-old hero of a race driver breaking records at every turn with the distinct certainty there are more to come … many, many more.
Ahead of Sunday’s Brazil Grand Prix clash at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, just outside Sao Paulo, Wolff, broke his dour and reserved countenance to unashamedly shower Hamilton with glowing tributes in recognition of his title takeover when hot rival Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari had amassed a 25 point mid-season advantage and looked all set for a fifth crown.
He gushed: “Lewis is operating at the peak of his power — and he is determined to add another Brazil victory like last year’s win at Interlagos. In the five years I have worked with him I have never seen him do the business at such a high level.
“He came into the season with an impressive mind set and he has grown stronger and stronger over the season. And because of his attitude, commitment, talent and will to win with all-out effort we as a team have developed a fantastic spirit. And that was an important part of our jigsaw.
“ This season Lewis has shown the best and most constant performances of his entire career and he has a giant stride forward in every single aspect of his racing.
“It might be tempting to think that with both championships … the Drivers’ and the Constructors’ … titles now secure that the pressure is off for the two remaining races. Not so. Nothing could be further from the truth. Inside the team we are looking at the final two grands prix as the first two of 2018.
“There will be no backing off from either the crew or Lewis simply because we are champions and the business of being world rulers has been done. Our aim is that we race to win … every time. And the battle for 2018 has already begun.”
Hamilton, fast becoming an F1 folklore figure, has been the winner 62 times from 206 races — nine of them this season — with a record-breaking pole tally of 72 as well as clocking 38 fastest laps and logging 116 podium places.
He is poised for an all-action replay of his 2016 win from pole in Brazil with an eye on the long standing lap record of 1m.11.473s set by Juan Pablo Montoya in 2004. The all-conquering great Briton faces 71 laps and 190.083 miles of hectic competition from the likes of fast rising star Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel.
A critical bout of Ferrari failures and questionable wheel-to-wheel antics from a frustrated 30-year-old Vettel only served to sharpen Hamilton’s cold-eyed commitment and he says: “It has been a battlefield, but it has been a fantastic experience.
“Even when Seb was so far ahead I never gave up and it just made me even more determined to catch and overtake him and win the champion ship. I never let go. I never quit. Never will. And, believe me, there is more, much more, to come from me.
“I am proof that you should never give up on your dreams. Never surrender. Never lose hope. And that is the way I am.It is my character. I will never stop pushing and giving it my all every time I get behind the wheel of this terrific Mercedes.
“It will be a real treat to go out on top and that’s why I’ll be going for it in the final two races. I am sure there will be a strong challenge because everybody will want to shut down their season on a high. Just like me.”
And that’s a typically fourmidable sign off from the F1 king.
