Lewis Hamilton has not given up on his dream of taking part in a Formula One race in Africa, something he expects will be a reality in the near future.
Miami will host the F1 event this weekend for just the second time after its introduction to the calendar last season while Las Vegas will host a race weekend for the first time this campaign as the newest addition to the schedule.
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Former South African Grand Prix host venue Kyalami has been rumoured to rejoin the calendar in the future, and Hamilton said it is a “huge dream” for him to race in the continent.
“Yeah I’ve been chatting about having a race in Miami and the next one I’ve been talking about is South Africa and that’s what I’m pushing for in the background so hopefully you’ll see that come to light soon as well,” Hamilton told ESPN.
“It’s a real big dream for me to race in South Africa, and race in Africa in my career is a huge, huge dream for me. I know I have a big following out there and I know a lot of people are into Formula One now there so I’m pushing as hard as I can in the background and I’m going high up to make sure we have that race happen.”
Hamilton has reiterated ahead of the Miami event that he has no intention of quitting the sport despite repeated reports of unrest after a difficult 2022 season which saw him finish without a victory for the first time in his 16-year career.
The record F1 race winner earlier this week reposted Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo’s viral claim there is “no failure in sports.”
In the video, Antetokounmpo responded to a news conference question on whether their season had been a failure after his team’s elimination from the NBA playoffs by saying “it’s not a failure, it’s a step to success.”
Hamilton said he related to the NBA star’s “inspirational” response, stressing the importance of learning lessons gained from not winning.
He said: “I reposted it because I felt like I’d been in that position and I could feel the frustration and I knew exactly how it is like that because when you’re working towards something it’s all about … success is made up of a tonne of failures — you fail far more than you succeed and I think people are a bit complacent.
“Sometimes they’re complacent when they’re asking you questions because they’re like ‘how does it feel to be failing?’ There are no mistakes, there are only lessons, as I keep saying, and you can’t always win but it’s not how you fall it’s how you get back up. It’s how you show up day-in day-out and train to get to wherever it is you’re trying to get to which is obviously the top.
“I thought it was really inspirational, I thought he spoke very well, and I think he was very elegant with how he put it down.
“Also, the emotional stress you go through when you’re working with a team, the emotional feeling you go through, the physical where you are just constantly having to dig deep. All sports men and women out there will know what it’s like. It’s great to see there’s so many people super competitive.”
Hamilton came closest to his first victory since the 2021 season as he finished runner-up to two-time champion Max Verstappen at the Australian Grand Prix in April. The Mercedes driver suffered his lowest placing of the campaign at last weekend’s Azerbaijan event with a sixth-placed finish.