Lewis Hamilton's sportsmanship praised by Mercedes engineer: "He’s actually better at losing than most"

In his long career in F1, Lewis Hamilton has achieved so much that almost everyone in the paddock has nothing but respect and praise for him. However, only a few know the Briton's mindset when he wins or loses in a race. Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes' chief engineer, is among the few who have worked closely with the seven-time world champion.

Speaking about losing a race, Shovlin explained how good Lewis Hamilton is at taking defeats and bringing himself back up by learning from past mistakes. He said:

“You can’t ask Lewis to be happy when he’s lost a race; that’s not how he works. But he loses really well if you want someone to come back and win the next one. He’s actually better at losing than most I’ve seen because of how diligently he goes through the block of work of understanding what he needs to be better, where did he miss the opportunities. He doesn’t enjoy it, but it’s about the result at the next race, not whether he’s smiling or giving a nice interview."

Shovlin further explained that Hamilton is on such a level that his bad days are normal for others. The Briton is so used to standing on top of the podium that anything less than that feels unsatisfactory to the legendary driver. The Mercedes chief engineer said:

“Lewis has natural talent in abundance, but his work ethic and ability to continually develop and improve means that, for drivers trying to beat him, he’s a bit of a moving target. The thing with Lewis now is his bad days are so few and far between and even on his bad days he’s as good as the others. That’s what’s brought him to the level he is. It’s the consistency. And when he’s at his best, the level is just phenomenal.”

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Lewis Hamilton shows his respect for former Williams boss

Back in 2020, Lewis Hamilton expressed how much he respected Sir Frank Williams, who was the founder of the Williams F1 team. Even though the team has one of the slowest cars on the grid, they once dominated the sport and won several world titles.

Hamilton praised Sir Williams' contribution to the sport and his honesty towards everyone, saying:

"I'm a big fan of Sir Frank and his incredible contribution to the sport. He was always so positive to me and was one of the people I respected most here. He was probably one of the most honest, if not the most honest people in Formula One."

Back in 2019, Lewis Hamilton even took Sir Frank Williams around Silverstone in a Mercedes sports car, which was a memorable lap for both them and millions of F1 fans.