Lewis Hamilton isn’t focused enough on racing. Lewis Hamilton thinks he is too much of a superstar for F1. Lewis Hamilton should stop trying to be a music star and spend more time on F1.

The problem with all of the above is that Lewis Hamilton is the only superstar in F1 and it is for all of the above reasons (as well as being widely regarded as the fastest man in the sport). If you want to break as late or later than Lewis when he goes to overtake the likelihood is that you and Lewis will be taking early showers. Very similarly to the driving style of Ayrton Senna, Lewis is a truly gifted and extremely dedicated racer. I find it difficult to understand the argument that he doesn’t focus enough on F1 and with the British Grand Prix at Silverstone this weekend, this presents as fine a time as any to discuss Lewis Hamilton’s dedication to F1 and how he truly is its only superstar.

‘Lewis Hamilton will be a better champion for F1 than Nico Rosberg… most people haven’t heard of him!’ Bernie Ecclestone controversially backed Lewis Hamilton for the 2014 F1 title, clearly wanting to put bums on seats and lift the profile of the sport by backing the golden goose. Lewis has a huge backing wherever he goes, when he is on the podium, finishing 1st, 2nd or 3rd he always receives the loudest cheer. Ecclestone has gone further this year and decreed that Lewis is ‘the best World Champion F1 has ever had’, there are few that would disagree with Ecclestone’s assertion that Lewis is truly among the elite. Fans of Fangio, Senna and Schumacher might disagree that he sits atop all others. It is safe to assume that the pressure is truly on his shoulders. Nico Rosberg, realistically the only man who can challenge Lewis Hamilton for the title is not a superstar, he is not a racer, he is, similarly to Alain Prost, a safe driver, a points scorer and a driver that relies heavily on his team to help him around the track. He is also not yet a world champion, in a World Championship car.

Take nothing away from Rosberg; F1 is the pinnacle of motor racing, if you drive for a team at the front of the grid in F1 you are there on merit, ability and by proving yourself in adversity. There is obviously a reason however as to why it took so long for Lewis Hamilton to sign a contract extension with Mercedes while Nico Rosberg’s new contract announcement was lost in the melee of weekly F1 news. Lewis is faster than Nico, he will race to win and Nico will fight for second and steal the wins he can get. It is rare that you see Rosberg dominate a weekend – as he did in Austria. He is the epitome of a number two driver, although Mercedes would say that isn’t the case. Nico sits 10 points behind Lewis in the Drivers Championship and with little challenge from behind and reliability issues having an impact, the title will be close. It is the same two drivers finishing first and second each race. All it takes is a Monaco style mess up from the pit wall to award the points the wrong way and for a Ferrari to enter the mix for a gap, which can never really develop, to close. This technological dominance does not do testament to the skill of the drivers. I see the situation as very similar to Ferrari. If Lewis and Nico were in Ferraris then Lewis would be mixing it up with the Mercedes and Nico would be finding himself on the nose of a McLaren, as we saw with Vettel and Raikkonen in Austria. The cars do a lot for the drivers and the Mercedes certainly does a lot for Nico Rosberg. Lewis carried McLaren for years before he moved to Mercedes. He brought them profile, an air of ability and youth as well as podiums. He is doing the same for Mercedes, although now he has a car that can win World titles.

So why do people jump on his back?

He is the easy target. There are superstars, there are bad guys and there are the nice guys of F1 – these are whom people remember and who draw focus. The superstars of F1 are not Damon Hill. He is a credit to the sport, was a fantastic driver and is, deservedly, a World Champion. He deserves his credit for reaching the summit of motor racing and excelling, nevertheless he does not carry as much credence, celebrity, attention, or even memory as James Hunt. James Hunt was an F1 superstar. He was fast, he brought publicity, he drank, he womanised, he had passions and he was ultimately extremely fast! He was the atypical F1 playboy. For me, this is what F1 is; it is what drivers are, or who they should be. To be fast must mean you live at 100mph; it is more than to simply get a car from A to B and hope to be on the podium. You are through time, always moving, always busy, always occupied with personal, selfish and thrilling endeavors. Yes the example of James Hunt is a little extreme, however, there are similarities to Lewis that cannot be ignored and this is the same for all F1 superstars – they live at 100mph.

It is easy to forget that there are thin lines between the Damon Hill’s, the James Hunt’s, the Hamilton’s and, for example, the Eddie Irvine’s. Damon Hill is a World Champion but not one who pushed the sport forward yet Eddies Irvine was all of the above, he brought attention to the sport, he womanised, he lived life in the fast lane however, he failed to win a World Championship. Irvine is an example of someone who should have won a World Title but off track exploits drew his gaze. Lewis eclipses all of these drivers, not because he has won more titles, but the manor in which he has won them, he’s proactive, he’s dedicated and he has delivered a far more enhanced and desirable F1 product to fans and the target audience. All whilst trotting the globe, pursing a music career, modeling and mixing with A-List celebrities. He lives life in the fast lane and drives the same way.

In terms of lifestyle, credence and draw, there is no one who compares to Lewis on the current grid, however funny Lewis says that Sebastian Vettel is. Among his peers he is the anomaly. This is more a reflection of the line up on the grid in the pinnacle of Motorsport than of Lewis, his lifestyle and his character. There are drivers with equal titles, Fernando Alonso, or more titles, Sebastian Vettel, under their belt, but they don’t date supermodels or music stars, they don’t sit on the front row of fashion shows and they don’t pursue praise and credence in the public sphere outside of their profession – as Lewis is trying to achieve with his music. “If I dated a beautiful girl it made the front page of the newspapers, if I won a race it got buried in the middle somewhere”. Sir Sterling Moss had a similar experience to Hamilton; it was always his accomplishments off the track that drew more focus than his achievements on it. Although Sir Sterling is possibly the most talented drier to never win a World Title, his fast paced lifestyle lies in line with Hamilton’s.

Commentators, fans and journalists alike drew similarities between Rosberg and Hamilton’s title fight last season to that of the Prost/Senna rivalry of 1989. Similarly then it was the superstar in the shape of Ayrton Senna who drew the adulation and gaze of F1 fans the world over. Senna is another F1 superstar who lived life as fast off the track as he did on it, a pure racer, a womaniser and another driver who extended the sport past the realms that any other driver could dream to achieve. As mentioned previously, the similarities to Lewis are striking. Lewis credits Senna as his inspiration and I would assume that it was more than simply his driving style that Lewis admired, as similarities in their jet setting private life are clearly evident. Senna however, did raise awareness of poverty in Brazil and united a nation, I am not sure taking the 2014 Sports Personality of the year award is quite the same, and Lewis still has some way to go to have the emotional impact that Senna had on his country of Birth. British fans adore Lewis and they recognise his brilliance.

I admit that this article seems to blow smoke up the backside of someone who doesn’t need it, but I wish it wasn’t, he is a superstar and deserves recognition for carrying a sport through a tough time. I wish that Kendall Jenner and her supermodel friends were torn between spending the pre-Monaco race in Lewis’ garage, Vettel’s motorhome or Nico Hulkenberg’s yacht, but they aren’t. They are focused on the gold chain wearing, good looking, party going, fashion modeling, music aspiring, World Champion who drives for the classy Mercedes team. They are drawn to the superstar at the top of a sport for superstars, which at present are sadly missing.