Matt Kew: Would Hamilton want to become a 3 time World Champion?

Lewis Hamilton’s 42^nd win in Sochi places him joint 3^rd, alongside Sebastian Vettel, in the Formula 1 rankings of drivers with the most race wins. This is continuing evidence of how Hamilton’s form has rarely wavered over the last two years. As a result he looks set to carry straight on from his 2014 Formula 1 Championship to win another, and take his tally to 3. This would put him on level terms with his great hero Ayrton Senna. But consider this, would matching such an achievement go any way to dampening his admiration for Senna?

Abu Dhabi 2014: A double world champion

For many of us, we will fall short of our heroes in life; pessimistic I know, but realistic. Whether the achievements in mind be the 500 plus career goals of Cristiano Ronaldo, the 6 Olympic Gold Medals of Chris Hoy, or Beyoncé being the most successful female artist in history. All have been extremely successful and achieved incredible human feats. However, although not applicable to the vast majority of us, there will be those that have the wealth, talent or accessibility, to compete at the highest echelons of their game. It is these people who have the opportunity to match or even surpass the achievements of the true ‘greats’. But by being in this very position, would this be enough to make us question the talents of our heroes if we could go beyond their capabilities and success?

In the case of Hamilton having the platform to match Senna, perhaps less so. Senna’s untimely death at Imola in 1994 meant his career and success was cut devastatingly short. Thus ensuring he never went on to win more world titles which seemed favourable judging by history, but his legacy and achievements still remain. And ultimately, records live to be broken.

As a consequence, if the records can be broken, would Hamilton or any person be bold enough to consider their own achievements worthy of ‘legendary’ status? If so, how about a stage further, are the accolades comparable to those of the hero in question? Again, if this was the case, would this be enough to dampen your admiration for the triumphs of said hero? It is a difficult one to fathom, let alone answer, but I think a point of interest nonetheless.

There is scope to argue that the reason they become our heroes is because they accomplished what they did when times were harder. The opportunities were less making them the brighter star. But there must come a rare point when the ‘new greats’ have to evaluate their own success in relation to their heroes. Although Hamilton can owe his 2^nd and 3^rd titles in part to the dominant Mercs of the last 2 seasons, Senna piloted the McLaren MP4/4. An all-conquering piece of engineering, that won 15 out of the 16 races in the 1988 season, gifted Senna his first championship win. In the case of 1990, he risked both his and fierce rival Alain Prost’s life by deliberating crashing them both out of the Japanese Grand Prix in order to win his 2nd Drivers’ Championship. Hamilton and Senna have arguably possessed similar advantages in their career, but Hamilton thus far hasn’t resorted to dangerous ‘win at all costs’ methods in order to guarantee his success. As a result, is Hamilton more deserving of his achievements and as such a better man? If the answer to this is yes, then Lewis has every right to consider himself one of the few sporting ‘greats’ and, furthermore, a fractional loss of admiration for Senna is understandable.

Obviously the title of this post is taking such a proposition to the extreme. Naturally Hamilton will be doing everything on and off track in order to take 3 world titles. Of course he will want to maximise his success in order to achieve all that he can. After all, the career of a racing driver is fantastically short so missed opportunities for success are out of the question. But when Lewis Hamilton is driving the closing laps to claim his third world title and to match the achievements of his hero Senna, would there be anything at the back of mind to lesson his wonderment for the Brazilian? Potentially, because a predominant feature in our idolisation of these people is the fact that their achievements seem unattainable to us ‘mere mortals’. As such, once the accomplishments have been achieved ourselves, a natural reaction would be for our respect to be reduced.

Perhaps a possible answer can be found by turning attention to one of the men tasked with beating the number 44 car of Hamilton. Following a spectacular Sao Paolo Grand Prix in 2012 in which Sebastian Vettel claimed his third world title, he stated in a post-race interview, “To win that third title here, one of my greatest idols, Ayrton… He won three titles. I don’t like talking about myself really, it’s very difficult to imagine that you join them.” Even here, where Vettel has put his name in the history books alongside legends of the sport, he cannot fathom quite the meaning of this landmark in his career and the subsequent elevation of his status as a racing driver.

Vettel 2012 at COTA: well on his way to become a triple champ.

No clearer an answer is offered away from the world of F1. With Rooney’s penalty against Switzerland, Wayne took his tally of goals for England to 50. In the process he surpassed Sir Bobby Charlton’s 45 year-old record. Rooney’s reaction? "It's a dream come true and a huge honour… It's right up there, if not the best. To be a country's leading scorer before the age of 30, I'm extremely proud.” Whilst this is evidence of Rooney acknowledging his own achievements, no comment is made on his respect for Charlton. Quite rightly no star would ever publicly claim a loss of respect for their heroes upon beating their record, but the thought must have occurred. It would be a natural human response.

Naturally by progressing to the highest tier of competition, egos become bigger. Confidence verging on arrogance has often been attributed to success in such a competitive environment. As a result it is to be expected that Rooney, Hamilton or whoever, would rank themselves highly in today’s field of talent. Would they also consider their own name alongside the already established legends of their games irrespective of pundits’ praises? Again this reverts us back to the two questions of greatest interest: do they consider themselves great? And more intriguing, does the matching of their heroes’ achievements dampen their admiration for the aforementioned?

Little material is offered on the subject and as a result, individually we can do little more than imagine ourselves in such a high profile situation. One day when my flatmates are broadcasting the most listened to radio show, or are a more renowned lawyer than Clarence Darrow, or editor of a prestigious magazine, then maybe I can go some way to answering the questions at hand as they become the new ‘yard sticks’. But until then, it is only something we can speculate about. Perhaps, in the case of our heroes it is best left that way as they remain the few rare talents that we look up to leaving them exempt from post-career scrutiny.