Lewis Hamilton is stronger, more determined and surer than ever of what he wants as he heads into the 2008
Formula 1 season and that, he says, is all thanks to his experiences in 2007.
The McLaren-Mercedes ace wound up just one point shy of
Ferrari's
Kimi Raikkonen last year, having led proceedings for the majority of the way. Now getting revved up to begin his sophomore campaign in the top flight, he argues, he is better prepared than ever before and clearly intent on turning the tables on his Finnish rival.
I think for some people it seemed it came too quickly, he said of his rookie season, speaking at the launch of the new MP4-23 at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, but if you look back over my career I've been racing for 15 years. That has involved a lot of hard work on the part of my family, so it wasn't too much of a shock to the system!
Indeed, the recently-turned 23-year-old was quick to praise the role his family have played in his spectacular rise up through the ranks to where he is now, underlining their support and commitment, and he is well aware that the best way for him to pay them back is by way of on-track success, of which there was no shortage last year. Perhaps surprisingly, he also made a point of taking positives from his strained relationship with former team-mate
Fernando Alonso in 2007.
It was a steep learning curve, Hamilton acknowledged, and I think I grew as both a person and driver. With all the experiences you have whether they are good or bad you learn and move forward.
I learned a lot from Fernando throughout the season, as I do with every team-mate I work with. You learn things outside of the car about their personality and how they present themselves, and I'm always striving to be a more professional, competitive and all-round driver.
