Lewis Hamilton on Sunday saluted actor Chadwick Boseman on the podium after a majestic 89th career win at the Belgian Grand Prix and then said he would prefer to have to fight harder for victories.
The championship leader and six-time Formula One champion made the crossed-forearms gesture from the Black Panther movies in respect for Hollywood star Boseman, who died on Friday last week.
Hamilton said that he had been inspired by Boseman to produce another flawless performance.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“It feels great to finish on a high this weekend, particularly with Chad dying, because he made everyone feel like a superhero,” he said.
Hamilton claimed his fifth win in seven outings this year to increase his lead in the title race to 47 points. His teammate Valtteri Bottas was second.
“I know it is not necessarily what everyone wants to see — the two Mercedes at the front,” Hamilton said.
The Briton said that he would prefer to have closer, multi-stop racing, instead of one stop, as most drivers finished the race managing their tires.
“Today was really all about tires. Everyone doing this one-stop thing — it’s really boring. At the end of the day, we are all managing out there, which is not racing. At the end, we are backing off, maybe it would have been fine, but it was too big a risk today,” he said. “I really, really would like to have more of a fight, but that is not on me.”
Hamilton said that the Mercedes domination was a product of the team’s approach.
“No matter how much success we have, we have to keep our heads down,” he said. “It’s an incredible mentality and I feel so privileged to be a part of this team.”
Hamilton said that although his race appeared to be under control from lights to flag, it had ended tensely as he nursed his car to the finish on worn tires.
“It was a bit of a struggle, but nonetheless it was OK,” he said. “I was a little nervous that we may have something like that which we had at Silverstone with the tire — so I was nursing it to the end.”
Hamilton won the British Grand Prix on three good wheels after suffering a puncture on the final lap.
He added that, on a personal level, he felt confident, fit and strong ahead of the races ahead, starting with two in Italy.
“I am 35 now, going towards 36, but I feel better than ever,” he said. “That is a positive.”
Bottas said that he had been unable to catch Hamilton.
“Lewis played the start really well and I couldn’t get the momentum. I think he was faultless today, and yesterday, of course, he was quick. I did my best and I am glad there is another opportunity next weekend,” Bottas said.
The next generation of running talent takes center stage at today’s Berlin Marathon, in the absence of stars including Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian world record holder Tigist Assefa. With most of the major marathon stars skipping the event in the wake of the Paris Olympics just more than a month ago, the field is wide open in the men’s and women’s races. Since 2015, Kipchoge has won five times in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele has won twice and Guye Adola once — with all three missing today. Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie and Ethiopian Tadese Takele are among the favourites for the men, while
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
Taiwanese martial artists bagged one gold, four silver and three bronze medals at the World Junior Wushu Championships in Brunei, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Brunei Darussalam said yesterday. Liu Yu-tzu won the gold medal in the girl’s taijiquan A group and also picked up a silver medal in the girl’s taijijian A group. Hu Hsin-ling, Yu Min-hsun and Chen Chao-hsiang each won a silver medal in the girl’s jianshu B, boy’s nangun B and boy’s taijijian A groups respectively. Hu also won a bronze medal in the girl’s qiangshu B group, while Yu and Lin Shih-hung picked up bronze medals
RSS