Lewis Hamilton recalls Niki Lauda’s blunt message that still drives him at Ferrari

Ferrari prepares to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Niki Lauda’s first Formula 1 world championship win at this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix. While the team has released a special livery and blue team kit in tribute to the late driver, Lewis Hamilton has opened up about his relationship with Lauda, revealing the pep talk he used to give him that he still carries to this day. 

Speaking ahead of the Monza race, where the seven-time champion hopes to bounce back following a DNF at Zandvoort, the Ferrari driver opened up about the bond he used to have with the former Mercedes stalwart. 

“Well, firstly, I have so much love for Niki, but Niki didn’t convince me to join Mercedes,” Hamilton explained when asked about Lauda’s influence on his career decisions. “It was more Ross [Brawn] really back then when we sat together in my mum’s kitchen and he told me where the team was going, what they were doing.

“Niki definitely was a part of it, but it was mostly that meeting that was the one that really pulled me in.”

Hamilton left McLaren for Mercedes in 2012, where he would ultimately deliver six drivers’ championships and eight consecutive constructors’ championships from 2014 to 2021. 

“And Niki and I had an amazing relationship,” he continued. “So definitely when I joined Ferrari, I hadn’t even thought of Niki having driven at Ferrari. It was literally just because, as a kid, I obviously watched Michael and was generally a really big fan of the team. And I just always looked at the response, the reaction from the crowd.

“I always would see every time I was on the podium, just to see the passion, it doesn’t matter what position they would come in. They were just so passionate at the bottom. There was no other team like it. And I wanted to feel what that was like.”

Niki Lauda, Ferrari, puts on his helmet before the start

Photo by: Rainer W. Schlegelmilch / Motorsport Images

Working so closely with Lauda during his time at Mercedes means this weekend will be incredibly special for the Briton, who excelled under the guidance of the three-time world champion. 

“Obviously, now having joined the team and learning more about the history, I think it’s amazing this weekend because I got to celebrate Niki at Mercedes. I got to celebrate winning with him, winning championships with him.

“And then to be able to come to Ferrari and then also be able to celebrate him here is really, really cool because his legacy continues to live on,” Hamilton continued.

“And I know right now, I know what he would be saying to me nowadays. And he’s always in the back of my mind, that thought. ‘Yeah, when I didn’t do well, he would do this.’ And he would always say, ‘give ’em hell’, but he would always say the word ‘assholes’.

“That was always his thing. And I remember the beginning, I never understood. I was like, ‘what do you mean? You mean, give ’em hell?’ And he’s like, ‘no, give him assholes!’ But yeah, he was just such a fighter.”

Photos from Italian GP – Thursday