“It saddens me people get a different view of me. But I'm young and I'm going to be here for a while. I'm going to do everything I can to open their minds. Hopefully, I'll be able to win them over and show them that I am a normal person and have good values and morals,” argued Hamilton earlier this week for British newspaper The Sunday Mirror.
The newly-crowned world champion added that people in and out the F1 paddock should not mistake over-confidence with arrogance. The fact that he's in F1 to win and only focuses on that – rather than playing poker or go bowling with fellow drivers – should not lead to wrong conclusions about him thinking higher of himself as compared to the other F1 drivers.
“There are some people who express things better than others. Some are a lot quieter. It's just so happens I'm a bubbly kind of guy,” added Hamilton.
The British driver previously stated that he's not interested in 'bonding' with fellow drivers and join them at poker or any other such 'reunions' because his main goal in the Great Circle is to win championships. Also, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who's Hamilton's mentor on the matter, as McLaren principal Ron Dennis is known to be quite strict in terms of spending time outside his team's 'technical area'.
Dennis himself insisted that everybody's image of Hamilton is totally wrong and argued that his protege is misunderstood within the F1 paddock. “He wants to win and, sometimes, people see that positivity as arrogance - but they're wrong. He is a remarkably level-headed young man and you have to remember he is still maturing,” The Sun newspaper quoted Dennis as saying earlier this month.
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