Lewis Hamilton shows true colours with untelevised speech to F1 fans at Spanish GP

Lewis Hamilton has admitted he has a "love-hate relationship" with after such a long time of being out of title contention. But in the same speech he insisted he still loves competing in the sport and sees it as "a real privilege".

Aged 40, Hamilton is in the first season of a new era for his F1 career having chosen to join . He has fulfilled a childhood dream by doing so but, so far, it has not led to an immediate return to the sharp end of the grid.

Ferrari are not currently in a position to be winning races and has yet to score a podium for the Italian team. His team-mate has managed it twice but he too is frustrated by their lack of performance n 2025.

But for Hamilton, it has been a long wait already for the chance to add to his seven F1 titles. Since he was cruelly and controversially denied by in 2021, he has been out of the fight with suffering a decline in their performance.

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He will be frustrated that his move to Ferrari has not immediately pushed him further toward the front of the grid. But, speaking to fans in the F1 Paddock Club at this weekend's , he made it clear that he is still hungry for more success.

In the speech, footage of which was recorded and posted on social media, the Ferrari driver told fans: "To be able to be here for that long is a real privilege, you know? And there's only 20 of us in the of eight billion or nine billion, whatever it is, that get to do this.

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"And what I would say is I'm so thankful that I still love what I do today. Like, I love my job the same as I did at the beginning. And don't tell my boss I'd do it for free, fortunately I don't have to. You know, it's... I can't explain it.

"Naturally from racing as a competitor, there's a love-hate relationship you have when you're not succeeding, you're not getting to where you want to go. But you also always have to remember that it's a part of the journey and you will have seasons that you're not successful.

"You'll have seasons that are difficult and you just have to take the highs with the lows and understand that. We're kind of at the start or kind of lower part of the mountain and we're building up to get back to the top. And that's what I'm working on."

Hamilton qualified fifth for the Spanish Grand Prix and started a race higher than Leclerc for only the second time this year.