Breaking news

Formula 1

Hamilton might need different motivation for 2019 - Prost

Four-time F1 world champion Alain Prost says Lewis Hamilton may have to find a different kind of motivation next season after securing his fifth title in 2018.

Adam Cooper

Edited: Nov 8, 2018, 9:12 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 celebrates in parc ferme

F1 2019

The 2019 FIA Formula 1 World Championship starts in Melbourne on March 17 – and here you will find F1 news, photos and videos covering many topics such as: technological advancements, 2019 F1 rules, team and driver articles, in-depth analysis and expert opinion, and much more. You can also check out the 2019 F1 calendar, buy F1 event tickets and merchandise.

Prost says that going ahead of Ferrari rival four-time champion Sebastian Vettel in the record books spurred Hamilton on this year, and that won't apply in the future.

Prost still believes that Hamilton can go on to match seven-time title winner Michael Schumacher, but he will have to take it a step at a time.

Read Also:

Why Hamilton might not trump Schumacher’s F1 record

"We all thought it was impossible," Prost told Motorsport.com. "I always said this year, if you are Sebastian or Lewis, you cannot have a problem of motivation.

"Because they were both four times champions, and they knew that there would be a fight between them, so they'd be the first one at five.

"After that it's personal. Is the target to be at least seven, or not?

"I think the target is to be again world champion, and see what happens next year. It's the first step, a personal decision. When you are on five, you think about six, you don't think about seven or eight.

"Sometimes if for example like next year you have a change of regulations, it can always give you an extra motivation, because inside the team you don't know how to manage that, and it's again going to be a long season.

"That's why it's difficult to tell. You know one day you wake up and then say do I want to do that again? You don't know, nobody knows."

Prost says it's hard to compare Hamilton with champions of the past.

"It's always difficult to compare the generations, because I think it was very difficult to be a multiple champion at one stage, especially also because the level of performance of the teams was up and down sometimes, and reliability was also a big problem.

"Today it's different, but it doesn't take away the merit. Lewis is for sure one of the best if not the best of his generation. It's difficult to be champion every year, or almost every year."

He believes that Hamilton did a near perfect job on his way to the 2018 title.

"This was maybe one of his best seasons, because the competition was there from the beginning to the end.

"What you ask of a driver and his team, to be world champion in this situation, is a mix of stability, being consistent, not trying to get stupid points when you can't because you need to accept sometimes to finish second, third or fourth.

"If in a few places where you really need to find the time to get on pole, like Singapore, he was there. He had a small bit of luck sometimes, because it's a long season.

"Also when Sebastian did one or two mistakes, after that you could see he was so strong and motivated, because he knew that if Sebastian left the door open, he had to come in. Ferrari did a lot of mistakes, and Sebastian, if you think of Baku, Germany, China.

"Then what do you do, do you put more pressure to them? That's why the season was really well managed by Lewis and the team."

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article F1 reveals 2020 Vietnam GP track map

Next article Honda's upgraded engine returns for Brazilian GP

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

IndyCar 2026 season review: ECR

IndyCar

Indy IndyCar 12 h

IndyCar 2026 season review: ECR

Toto Wolff reflects on Mercedes’ non-title years: ‘We weren’t complete losers’

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

13 h

Toto Wolff reflects on Mercedes’ non-title years: ‘We weren’t complete losers’

Renger van der Zande moves to IMSA’s LMP2 class full-time with Tower Motorsports

IMSA

IMSA IMSA 13 h

Renger van der Zande moves to IMSA’s LMP2 class full-time with Tower Motorsports

Nick Sanchez will compete for 2027 NASCAR Truck title with McAnally-Hilgemann

NASCAR Truck

NSTR NASCAR Truck

Homestead

13 h

Nick Sanchez will compete for 2027 NASCAR Truck title with McAnally-Hilgemann

Feature

Discover prime content

Tough love and F1 titles – A key life lesson behind Wolff's Mercedes success

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Ronald Vording

Tough love and F1 titles – A key life lesson behind Wolff's Mercedes success

How Brazil showcased everything that's good about F1 - plus some that isn't

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Filip Cleeren

How Brazil showcased everything that's good about F1 - plus some that isn't

Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s

Formula 1

By Kevin Turner

Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s

Why Rafael Camara should take heart from a tough F1 debut in Brazil

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

Why Rafael Camara should take heart from a tough F1 debut in Brazil

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts