‘I shed a tear’ – Hamilton makes Arsenal prediction after title win

Arsenal fan Lewis Hamilton says he shed a tear when the Gunners clinched the Premier League title and predicts they will now go from “strength to strength” after ending their 22-year championship drought.

Hamilton, an Arsenal supporter since childhood, was a 19-year-old F3 driver the last time they were champions in 2004 – when Arsene Wenger’s Invincibles went through the league season undefeated – and still three years away from making his debut in F1.

The now-41-year-old Ferrari driver posted ‘COYG’ [Come on You Gunners] on his social media after Arsenal’s title win was confirmed by Manchester City’s 1-1 draw with Bournemouth on Tuesday night.

And speaking in Montreal ahead of this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, seven-time F1 world champion Hamilton said of Arsenal’s triumph: “I think, like for everyone, [it was] very emotional.

“I shed a tear, to be honest, because I remember I was five years old and I used to play in Stevenage, in Peartree Way, around the corner football with friends.

“I was the only black kid in the area out of the people that I was playing with and I remember trying to fit in and all of them supported different [teams] – West Ham, Tottenham and Manchester – so I was bouncing between all these when I was like four or five years old depending on who I was with.

“My sister, I remember exactly, I messaged her the other day, she was walking me home and she asked me what team I supported.

“She gave me a dead arm back then, a little dig in my arm, and said: ‘You have to support Arsenal!’ We had a laugh yesterday about it.”

After three runner-up finishes in the Premier League, Arsenal secured this year’s title with a game to spare after Man City’s draw at Bournemouth.

“We’ve had so many close moments and to finally get it was ‘wow’,” added Hamilton.

“A lot of emotion came up for me, as I’m sure for so many people – they’re just so happy and proud of the of the team.

“Obviously Arsene was great. I think the direction they’ve gone in the past couple years has been just fantastic so very inspired by what they’ve done.

“Really, really proud of the team and I think they can go from strength to strength from here and only get stronger.”

Arteta’s side will now aim to add a first Champions League trophy in the club’s history to their season’s trophy haul when they play Paris Saint-Germain in the Budapest final on May 30.

“I’m always looking for other leaders that are doing great things and how they work with teams,” added Hamilton.

“I’m always learning how I can be a better colleague, a better team-mate to the people around me. How I can extract more from myself but also from the groups that I get to work with because team work really does make the dream work – it’s a real thing.”

Can Hamilton enjoy strong Canada weekend in Ferrari red?

After celebrating Arsenal’s title success at the start of this week, Hamilton will now hope to have a strong result of his own in the red with Ferrari as Formula 1 returns to action this weekend in Montreal.

Since finally breaking his podium duck for the Scuderia at the 26th attempt at the new season’s second round in China back in March, Hamilton has finished only sixth in each of the two grands prix since.

“Hopefully it will be a better weekend,” said Hamilton, a seven-time winner in Montreal.

“There’s a lot of learnings taken from the first races, and particularly from the last race.

“There’s been a huge amount of work, which I’m really grateful for. All the team back at the factory are working incredibly hard to try and analyse where we’ve been good, where we’ve been not been so good, and we’ve adjusted processes and approach.

“I’m hoping that we’re able to extract more from the car because I think we’re still trying to extract the most from the package that we have.

“Then also just being realistic of where we stand currently compared to Mercedes, for example. But lots can happen, so it’s just about trying to extract the most from the car this weekend.”

On where Ferrari stand relative to their three chief rivals, Hamilton added: “Mercedes are at the top. McLaren looked incredibly strong last race as well, they took a good step, and obviously Red Bull have made a huge step, so I think we’re kind of in and around McLaren and Red Bull.

“Mercedes have a big upgrade this weekend. Even without an upgrade, they were very quick in the last race and still won the last race, so, our focus is just going to be on ourselves and just trying to optimise.

“For me, I’m really excited to hopefully have a better weekend.”

Sky Sports F1’s Canadian GP schedule

Friday May 22
1.55pm: F1 Academy Practice
3pm: F2 Practice
5pm: Canadian GP Practice One (session starts at 5.30pm)*
6.55pm: F2 Qualifying*
7.40pm: Team Bosses’ Press Conference*
9pm: Canadian GP Sprint Qualifying (session starts at 9.30pm)*
10.55pm: F1 Academy Qualifying*

Saturday May 23
2.40pm: F1 Academy Race 1
4pm: Canadian GP Sprint build-up
5pm: CANADIAN GP SPRINT
6.30pm: Ted’s Sprint Notebook
7pm: F2 Sprint*
8.10pm: Canadian GP Qualifying build-up*
9pm: CANADIAN GP QUALIFYING*
11pm: F1 Academy Race 2*
11.45pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook*

Sunday May 24
3.40pm: F1 Academy Race 3
5pm: F2 Feature Race
7.30pm: Canadian GP build-up: Grand Prix Sunday*
9pm: THE CANADIAN GRAND PRIX*
11am: Canadian GP reaction: Chequered Flag*
12am: Ted’s Notebook*

*Also on Sky Sports Main Event

Formula 1 heads to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix and another Sprint weekend. Watch live on Sky Sports F1 from this Friday. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime

Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: skynews.com