Lewis Hamilton is beating lockdown blues with meditation & books, uses this time to strategise

Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton is not immune to the corona blues plaguing Formula One drivers. During a recent interview, the driver admitted that it’s been a ‘shock to the system’ to not be racing for the first time in decades. “I’ve been racing every year since I was 8 so this is quite a shock to the system to go into my 14th season and not be competing,” he said.

However, the six-time world champion has not been just cooling his heels in lockdown. Instead, he’s using this time to focus on other things like business plans, schedules and strategies. “I’m trying to understand what’s going to be the new norm. Trying to stay positive and healthy,” he said. “I’ve been reading as much as I can. Been getting into mediation, which is difficult because I’m a fidget (laughs).”

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Throwing it back to this moment. Such an incredible feeling. I can’t wait to be back behind the wheel #throwbackthursday . . . 📸: @motorsport.images

A post shared by Lewis Hamilton (@lewishamilton) on May 21, 2020 at 10:00am PDT

The Mercedes driver is also using this time to take a break from social media and focus on his mental and physical health. “I’ve been trying to pull away from it for a moment and give it a bit of breathing space to re-center, re-align and make sure that when I get the call that we’re going to be racing, I’m ready to go. I’ve got a few more years to push out in Formula One so I have to make sure I’m in the best shape possible.”

Racing Post Covid-19
However, it’s likely to be a while yet before Hamilton can get back in the car. The season is not expected to start until July 5 in Austria at the earliest, which is still a month away.

Asked if fans will see an improved Lewis Hamilton when racing begins, Hamilton said, “I do hope to come back better but we’re probably going to get in the car and have Friday practice and we’ll all be rusty as hell so it will be really interesting to see how we hit the ground running.”

Hamilton hopes to arrive at that first race as if the team has already raced the earlier races. “I’ve been on the phone with my team, speaking to Bono, speaking to James, discussing how we should arrive using the tools that we have. (We’ve been asking ourselves) How can we arrive in Austria, if it’s Austria, like we’ve already done eight races? I don’t know if we’re going to be able to do it but that’s a good goal to have.”