Hamilton: There's nothing you can throw at me I can't handle

Lewis Hamilton believes he now has the mental and physical toughness required to be a Formula 1 champion, compared to when he was a younger driver, now that he has won the drivers' world championship for the fifth time, and says there's now nothing he can't handle professionally.

At the Mexican Grand Prix, Hamilton successfully acquired enough points to win the 2019 title at the expense of Sebastian Vettel, putting him on the same amount as legendary driver, Juan Manuel Fangio.

The Brit reckons he has matured significantly in the 10 years since he won his first championship, meaning that he is able to handle the emotional demands of top-level sport more than when he was younger.

“I think in 2008 I was still really a kid, I was still maturing," Hamilton said ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

"I naturally had all the talent that I needed but not really had the stability, the core strength mentally and physically, to take all the different blows from all the different angles and handle them and still stay balanced.

"Now, with age and experience, I’m able to do that. There’s not really anything you can particularly throw at me that I can’t handle. I still have that ability that I had as a kid but I have the mentality side of things particularly and the stability and that centred approach. [It’s] what allows my to drive and handle myself and steer myself through the year the way I do."

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WIth a fifth world title secured, Hamilton recognises 2018 to be the pinnacle of his career so far, but admits there is always room for improvement going forward.

“I think to this point in my life, this is the highest point of my career in terms of my own performance, how I perform with the team," he continued.

"But I do believe there’s always areas to improve so we’ll definitely look at the season at the end of this year and there’ll always be areas you look at. We didn’t win every single race, some mishaps particularly at the beginning of the year.

"There’s always room to improve so I expect to do that. That’s my expectation of myself."

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