F1 | Imola GP | Hamilton: "The trophy definitely is a keeper”
After his 93rd F1 victory, Hamilton made clear just how special his latest trophy was to him and that it was most definitely a ‘keeper’.
As a result of 93 victories in Formula One and countless many other successes in categories of motorsport, Lewis Hamilton no doubt has an impressive haul of trophies in his collection. Following the conclusion of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, referred to by fans as the Imola GP and won by the 6-time F1 Drivers’ Champion, Hamilton made clear just how special his latest trophy was to him and that it was most definitely a ‘keeper’.
Sunday’s race saw Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team claim a 7th successive F1 Constructors’ Championship following a 1st and 2nd place finish around Imola. The Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari Circuit is well known in the world of motorsport as a classic racetrack well-loved by all the drivers. Sadly, Imola is also the venue which claimed the lives of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna back in 1994 and last weekend’s trophy for the GP victor paid tribute to this.
The 3-time F1 World Champion, Ayrton Senna, had died following a high-speed crash at the Tamburello curve in his first season for Williams back in 1994. Now, as a result of COVID-19, the 2020 F1 season was able to return to classic racetracks and with the pinnacle of motorsport back at Imola - the occasion was not going to go unnoticed by the organisers.
Ayrton Senna was the jewel in the crown of Formula One and so it was fitting for the organisers to remember the 3-time F1 World Champion as exactly that, a jewel. Or, to be precise, a diamond - on the winner’s trophy.
The trophy, which Lewis Hamilton now has in his collection, was made in the shape of the Imola track and the diamond is located on the point where Ayrton Senna’s blistering on-track adventures ended – the Tamburello curve.
Due to the love Lewis Hamilton has for Ayrton Senna, the race victor of Sunday's Grand Prix was asked at the post-race press conference as to whether the trophy did mean something special to him after all:
“Well, every trophy does, for sure. When we came back, just before we came onto the podium, there was a lady there doing the engraving, which is probably the first time I’ve seen that being done.
“There was a time when trophies were…when you’re from the young days, from karting, little plastic [ones]. But they’re so special, they all had such a great meaning.”
“Then as you get through the categories they would get nicer, more expensive, and you got to Formula 1 and they were so stunning.”
However, as shown by the infamous gorilla trophy of the French Grand Prix, not every symbol of victory is a classic, as Lewis Hamilton also revealed…without naming any names of course:
“But then we went through a patch where they really did a cost-cutting scheme and we had some really dodgy, really flimsy trophies. Those ones didn’t survive the time.”
Every motorsport fan (and many non-race fans too) would be able to tell you where they were when the pinnacle of motorsport took one of the greatest drivers away from it. Already the industry was reeling from the loss of Roland Ratzenberger in qualifying the previous day but further tragedy was to come.
On race day, May 1st 1994, Ayrton Senna was taken from the world.
It was only fitting that following his 93rd F1 victory around the circuit of such a tragedy, Lewis Hamilton shared his thoughts of this tragic day and how it was experienced by his 9-year-old self:
“Being that we’ve not had a race here for a long time, it’s where I remember the day when I was karting in ’94 at Rye House when Ayrton passed away…To think we’re here, 26 years later, and to be able to win here, as he had done many times…So yes, the trophy definitely is a keeper and it felt like it had good weight to it, so it didn’t feel like a cheapy.”
At 93 F1 Grand Prix victories, Lewis Hamilton looks to be in the form of his life both physically and mentally. Despite this, there is speculation as to whether Hamilton will continue to race in 2021 but I for one cannot see Mercedes' talisman leaving them just yet.
For now at least, what can be assumed is that 2020 still has a few victories yet to come Hamilton's way and with it many more trophies for his impressive collection.
