Lewis Hamilton: “Is there such a thing as perfect?”

Does that take away from the enjoyment?

No, no, I love that part. That’s why I generally don’t like testing days – there’s no competition. It’s like when you get a new toy and you have to build it: I don’t necessarily like the building part, I like to play with it.

When we last met, I asked you what a perfect lap would feel like. You said “It’s like playing PlayStation and chasing the ghost car that’s right in front of you. If you can’t overtake it, you might reach it at least …”

When you’re chasing the clock, it’s like chasing a ghost car: there’s a perfect ghost that achieves a perfect time every single lap, and you try to match that. But the ghost car doesn’t face the same issues you face in a real race, like someone coming out of a pit stop and being ahead of you. When you’re doing a race and you lose half a second in a corner, it hurts because sometimes it takes you 10, 15 laps just to gain that half a second. Once you lose that, you think, “I just worked so hard.” You can maybe relate it to having money to pay off your mortgage or pay the rent, and then you get your tax bill. It’s painful.