"I remember looking down from the podium and seeing my dad": When Lewis Hamilton opened up on how he felt after his first F1 win

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton had previously shared that, after winning his first F1 race in the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix, he looked down from the podium and saw his father, who was filled with pride. The British driver had arguably one of the greatest rookie campaigns in F1 history, being in title contention from the very start.

In 2007. Hamilton joined McLaren alongside the then-reigning two-time world champion, Fernando Alonso. After securing a series of podium finishes in his first five races, he claimed his first victory at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in the sixth race of the season.

In a 2007 interview with "Interview Magazine," Hamilton recalled the core memory of his first win while speaking with tennis legend Serena Williams. He said:

"Yeah, it was in Montreal in 2007. I remember looking down from the podium and seeing my dad, and the smile on his face from ear to ear. He was the proudest person. I felt like I’d finally done everything he’d hoped and expected of me. As a kid, there was a lot of pressure on me.

"My dad wanted me to have a better life than he had ever had. He wanted us to succeed so badly. And I never wanted to let him down. So to finally get up on that podium was really magical," Hamilton said.

Lewis Hamilton finished his debut season P2 in the driver's standings just a point behind eventual champion Kimi Raikkonen and had the chance to win the championship but could not get over the line in the final two races.

---

When Lewis Hamilton spoke about the role of winning

Former Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton had previously mentioned that he was obsessed with winning and struggled to cope with failure. However, he believes that with age and experience, he has learned to handle the emotional challenges of the sport much better.

As quoted by the aforementioned source, the seven-time F1 world champion said:

"It used to be the be-all and end-all. You know how it is—you’ve trained, you’ve made mistakes before, you know how not to do it, and then you do it again, and you fail in such a spectacular way. The fall feels like it’s never-ending. It used to take me days to recover, literally.

"One time I didn’t leave my hotel room for four days, I was so stuck in my head. But now, with maturity and age, I’ve realized that winning isn’t everything. It’s very much about the journey, particularly in my sport."

Lewis Hamilton has gone on to become statically the most successful F1 driver in history and holds several records, including the most race wins, pole positions, podium finishes, and fastest laps. He also shares the record for most championships (7) with Michael Schumacher.