Lewis Hamilton would rather be late for work than skip this healthy morning habit

The careers of elite athletes are notoriously short – footballers might enjoy 15 years at the top, sprinters usually peak in their 20s, and American football players are lucky to last more than a few years in the NFL. But there are exceptions to this rule.

In a sport with only 20 seats, Lewis Hamilton has dined at the top table of Formula 1 for the last 18 years, claiming a record-equalling seven drivers’ championship titles in that time.

At 40 he swapped the silver of Mercedes for Ferrari red, and while he is yet to fully click with the car, there have been promising signs. The driver placed fourth in both the race and sprint race at the US Grand Prix, and qualified in third for the subsequent Mexico City race before dropping to eighth after a costly penalty.

“This has been a really, really, really tough year, I'm sure, for so many people,” the Lululemon ambassador told a crowd at the brand’s Slow Down to Speed Up event.

“[It’s been my] hardest season so far, but I'm really enjoying the process, and the fact that I'm seeing progress. I'm also being kind to myself, [thinking]: ‘Well done, we are seeing progress, but in the next race I want to do better; the next day, I want to do better’.”

In a career spanning nearly two decades, Hamilton has learned a lot about the behaviours that support peak performance, and adapted his lifestyle accordingly. Below, he shares the changes that made the greatest difference to his physical health and mental wellbeing, including the morning ritual he refuses to skip – whether he’s late for work or not.

“I stretch every morning, without fail,” Hamilton reveals. “Even if it means I’m going to be late for work, I have to make sure I stretch.

“I guess that habit developed over time, as a response to injuries [picked up] when you’re pushing your body. It’s kind of crazy in my industry because I don’t think you ever hear about racing drivers being injured. But the fact is you’re training all the time, you pull hamstrings and you have injuries along the way.”

For Hamilton, this list of career injuries includes wear and tear on his knees from running and a dislocated shoulder which nearly derailed one season. Stretching, he has found, reduces his risk of injury and helps his body function better.

“That’s been a new thing for me over the past few years – and when you’re stretching, you are taking deep breaths. It’s a great way to start the day,” he adds.

He also pairs conscious breathing with physical activities to amplify the benefits. Rather than going to the gym and “pounding out a session” as he did at the start of his career, he aims to move intentionally and synchronise his breath with the exercises he is performing. This, Hamilton says, was not a consideration for most trainers when he entered the sport.

“Generally, we go about our days not realising that our breathing is very shallow,” Hamilton says. “[Over the years] I’ve learned a lot about different breathing exercises – box breathing, for example.”

Read more: Expert recommends doing these four breathing exercises every day to reduce stress and anxiety

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“There are so many more tools out there nowadays to add into your armoury, in terms of wellbeing,” he explains. “When I was really, really young, I didn't know about that stuff – I was just push, push, push, and I was not being kind to myself.

“I think that's something else I've learned; we really need to be kind to ourselves, because we live in such a harsh environment. There's beauty all around us, but there's also destruction and distraction with everything that's going on in the world, so trying to find ways to block that out [is important].”

One of his favourite ways to do this is meditation, whether that’s while sitting on the sofa or racking up miles.

“I don't get to do it every morning, but even if you just have 10 minutes, that’s something that helps me focus,” Hamilton explains. “Going for runs is almost like meditation for me as well. That’s where I come up with all of my ideas. I have this discussion with myself about where I’m going, because it’s really important to know exactly where you want to go.”

Goal-setting plays a pivotal role in this. Each January, Hamilton sets himself 10 goals for the year, and while he says it is unlikely he will achieve all of them, “the most important thing is to have something to focus on”.

“If you don't know where you're going then any path will do, so I think it's really important to have a goal and know exactly where you want to be.” As Hamilton states, “it’s important to know exactly where you want to go”. Positive affirmations – short, positive statements to challenge negative beliefs – have been “life-changing” in this regard.

“We all try to control everything that’s going on around us,” says Hamilton. “But sometimes you have to take that moment, be present and realise that you are where you’re supposed to be. It may be difficult, but you’re meant to go through that process, and ‘this too shall pass’ – that’s one of the best things I’ve read recently. It’s about being intentional, and trying to be positive each day – I know that’s not easy to do, but positive affirmations are something that’s changed my life.

“Every morning, while I’m brushing my teeth, I say, ‘This is what I’m going to do – I can’. If you keep telling yourself ‘I can’, you will eventually get there.

“On those days where you think, ‘I’m not good enough’, ‘I don’t look great’ or ‘I hate this’ – if you use those words, it will just continue to pull you down. Those are things I try, in the best way I can, to put aside.”

Read more: Jonny Wilkinson on waking up to wellness and living each day mindfully

When it’s someone’s job to hurtle around corners at 180mph, sitting just centimetres above unforgiving tarmac, it would be fair to assume they are partial to adrenaline. As Hamilton discusses some of his hobbies, it becomes clear this is the case.

“Fear has never been a big issue for me – I jump out of planes and do all that kind of stuff,” he says. Spiders are the exception, thanks to his older sisters showing him the horror-comedy Arachnophobia when he was very young.

“But for my job, I’ve been really fortunate because I love going head to head with fear,” Hamilton continues. “Skydiving was something I decided to get into, and like anyone I was terrified the first time. But I love the fact that you have to surrender when you leave the plane – you can’t control it; it is what it is.”

Another adventurous hobby he has acquired recently is free diving – swimming deep underwater without a tank of air.

“I like to try everything,” Hamilton says. “Most people I speak to will say, ‘Oh, that’s not for me’, but how do you know if you don’t try it?”

His affinity with breathwork has helped him in this new pursuit, allowing him to hold his breath and stay underwater for prolonged periods.

“I used to go to the pool and try to swim a whole lap underwater – I’m sure a lot of people have done that,” says Hamilton. He recalls gasping for air as he resurfaced, but by attending breathing courses he has since learned alternative breathing methods which allow him to hold his breath for longer.

“I learned to hold my breath for two-and-a-half minutes,” he says. “I got down to 26 metres, but I’m looking to go further. Then when you come back up, because you’ve done all of this deep breathing, you feel amazing. It reminds you: breath is one of the most important things [to consider in life].”

Read more: Do these five things daily for 90 days to see a ‘profound difference’ in your health, fitness and energy levels

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Hamilton is famous for being fast. But he has learned that slowing down away from the track can help him speed up come race day.

“I try to be really intentional if I get time off,” he says. “I don't always want to be in the most busy, hectic environments. Nature is something that I love; going on hikes and walks on my own. I usually do it at 5am when there are no cars on the road.

“I spend my winters in the mountains, hiking every morning with those early morning sounds and sunrises – that’s what I enjoy.”

Of course, with his unrelenting schedule, this routine is not possible year-round. But even when he is away from the mountains, Hamilton likes to rise early and go for a walk.

“I’ve always naturally been a night owl,” he adds. “I like making music, and when you work with everyone in music they stay up super late – they call them studio rats. We don’t start work until 2am. But now when I’m away from that I get to bed at 10 o’clock, read for half-an-hour then get up at 5am and go for a run; that’s my best day.”

“Progress for me is knowing that every day I'm taking a step forward,” he says. “All the time, I take two steps forward and five steps back – you're trying to climb a mountain and you slip. Progress is also about being okay with that, and knowing that it's part of the process.”

Somewhat unexpectedly, Hamilton quotes Will Ferrell flick Talladega Nights: “If you ain’t first, you’re last.” This, he admits, was his outlook for most of his career and formative years.

“Whether I was running track at school or playing football, I thought if you ain't first, you’re nothing,” he says. “That gave me so much pressure as a kid.”

This pressure is heightened when you become a professional athlete, with no shortage of external sources. For this reason, Hamilton swerves comments sections. “That's been a really helpful thing for me professionally”. This is not the only method he uses to deal with pressure.

“Firstly, you need to understand that you can't always win,” he continues. “To get to win and get to where you want to be, that's perhaps the ultimate goal. But it's about the journey. It's about the people you get to work with, it's about how you show up at work, it's how you lift people up that you're working with, and it's all about your attitude.

“On a Thursday, I get to the track and all my mechanics are in the garage,” he says. “You go around and make sure to look everyone in the eye and you gee them up, because you're all in the same rowing boat. You need to lift everybody up and try to extract the best from them, in the hope that they also try to attract the best of you.”

This mutual accountability, he says, is why he enjoys working as part of a team. Outside of the free diving, breathwork and 5am runs, you’ve got to step back into an world that acts as a mirror.

“No one's perfect – we're all human beings. I'm far from perfect, making so many mistakes every day, but the most important thing is to try and learn from those.”

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