"There is no I in team" - Lewis Hamilton on how much a driver impacts a team's race-winning ability

Seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton has come out vocally advocating the notion of 'team before driver'.

What several people fail to understand when they think of F1 is that this is largely a team sport, even though it may not seem like it. Hamilton, in particular, emphasized that behind every victory that a driver achieves in the sport, there stand hundreds of men and women belonging to the organization.

In a press conference ahead of the 2022 F1 US GP, Lewis Hamilton emphasized that the team's contribution cannot be quantifiably compared to the contribution made by a driver in an F1 race. When asked whether a driver's performance on the track is 90% a result of the team's work, the Briton said:

“It’s impossible to say what the number is really. There is no I in team, and there is no one individual that’s bigger than any other people within the organisation. Yes, the one that gets to sit in the car is a part of bringing the attraction, and obviously putting the finishing touches to the amazing creation of all the people that you get to work with, but I think it’s silly putting numbers on it, because it’s irrelevant. It doesn’t make any difference, does it? At the end of the day, it is a team and every single person in the team has to be pulling, when we’re rowing all together, in the right direction with the same amount of might.”

Despite their domination over the last eight F1 world championships, Mercedes have had a rough 2022 season and are yet to secure their first win of the year.

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"We've just got to hold on to those values," says Lewis Hamilton amidst Red Bull's cost cap regulation breach

Lewis Hamilton claims that F1 should work towards staying true to the values of the sport by maintaining transparency amidst the drama surrounding the FIA's cost cap breach report. According to the report, Red Bull was found to be in minor breach of the 2021 cost-cap regulations.

When asked what he believes would be an appropriating consequence for being in breach of the cost-cap regulations for Red Bull, Lewis Hamilton said:

“Yeah, I mean, I don’t think the sport’s trying to make mistakes, but we’re going to continue over the years to be coming up against things and hurdles. But I do think when we talk about integrity, it’s how we navigate through those whilst keeping the core values, while being transparent. And being true to the values of what the sporting regulations have put there to be policed. And I think, you know, it can be a confusing time for fans. Without the fans, the sport is nothing. So, yeah, I think we’ve just got to hold on to those values.”

Despite the team's refusal to accept these accusations, Red Bull's Helmut Marko insists that Max Verstappen's 2021 championship title will remain unaffected.