Jeremy Clarkson Interviews Lewis Hamilton On The State Of Modern Formula 1 Cars

In Episode 5 of Top Gear Series 15, Jeremy Clarkson and his co-hosts Richard Hammond and James May celebrated what would have been Aryton Senna’s 15th birthday.

“Had he lived, Ayrton Senna would have celebrated his 50th birthday this year,” James tells the camera after celebrities Top Cruise and Cameron Diaz drive the Reasonably Priced car around the iconic test track.

Jeremy Clarkson then takes us on a story that covers Senna’s successful career, looking specifically at what made him the greatest driver of his era. To help him with this, he brought in F1 champion Lewis Hamilton, who talked us through what happened when he found out the racing legend had died:

“I think I was 9 years old, and I was racing that weekend,” Hamilton told Jeremy. “I just came in from a heat and my dad’s working away on the car and I remember him telling me… I remember going around to the back of the car and just balled my eyes out.”

Jeremy continued with the film, saying:

“The figures suggest that Schumacher and Fangio were better, but the people who know, they tell a different story.”

In a spectacle of a moment, Lewis then lowers himself into the driver’s seat of the legendary McLaren MP4/4 that was driven by Senna. You can watch the incredible clip below:

Lewis often gets a lot of stick for his car being more capable than others on the F1 grid, and while this may be true to an extent, he is well aware that he has it easier than those who drove in the ’80s and before.

In this brilliant interview by the now-presenter of Clarkson’s Farm, Jeremy questions Hamilton on his feelings behind the current cars compared to the cars that used to run in Formula 1.

It’s a brilliant piece of history.