“Witnessing you making history, man!” – Sebastian Vettel had said to Lewis Hamilton in 2020. At that time, the Briton was sitting in the cockpit of his Mercedes W11 as he shook his head in disbelief. He had achieved the impossible. He had won his 7th World title to equal the Championship tally of the great German racer, Michael Schumacher. And celebrating his rival-cum-friend’s achievement, Vettel had proudly said, “I think he is the greatest of our era for sure.”

Now, it has been 4 years since that day at the Intercity Istanbul Park circuit where Lewis Hamilton had scripted history. Maintaining a difference of 124 points to his teammate Valtteri Bottas, the Stevenage native had bagged the highest position in the pinnacle of motorsports. But that day has not returned for him ever again. In 2024, Hamilton is still chasing an eighth World Championship win as he has not found the form he had in 2020 even now. And a video compilation of his W11 soaring to victory brought back all those glorious memories for the Briton.

An Instagram user with the name @lh44.edits took to social media and shared some clips from 2020 of the gorgeous W11. To add some effects, the fan even gave The Weeknd’s ‘After Hours’ as background music. And he tweaked the lyrics to show how Lewis Hamilton might be missing his last World Championship-winning car right now. The lyrics said, “‘Cause this house is not a home without my W11.” And this video got its stamp of approval from Lewis himself as he commented on the post.

Perhaps overwhelmed by how his ‘LH army’ remembers the brilliant win he had had in 2020, Lewis Hamilton gave a heart emoji to show his love for the fans. This endearing gesture also caught the eye of the admin of Mercedes‘ official Instagram page. He commented, “W11” with a heart eyes emoji. And thus, Hamilton joined all the people in the comments section to remember his outstanding performance in 2020, which is yet to be repeated in the upcoming seasons.

However, winning the 2020 Championship does not mean Lewis had it easy that year. In fact, he had said it was one of the most difficult seasons for him—but why?

Lewis Hamilton once described the hardships of the 2020 F1 season

In 2020, the world was grappling with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic when Lewis Hamilton captured his seventh World Championship. Because of travel restrictions in various countries, the race calendar only had 17 Grand Prix that year. And the toughest challenge came up for Lewis when he contracted the coronavirus infection after the Bahrain GP. Thus, he had to skip the Sakhir Grand Prix and could only race in 16 out of the 17 GPs in 2020.

Speaking on how difficult it was for him, Lewis said, “I think this year, for me personally, I would say it’s been one of the hardest years, if not the hardest year because, you know, we’ve all dealt with isolation; we’ve not been around people. There’s been a great loss of life. Life is not normal.” However, Hamilton still managed to build the biggest points gap in his F1 career as he won the ’20 World Champion over Valtteri Bottas with a difference of 124 points.

But Lewis Hamilton might not need to dwell on his past victories anymore because his form seems to be returning now. The Briton won his first race in 2.5 years at his home circuit in Silverstone and since then; he has also clocked victory at the Belgian GP. So, how long do you think it will take Lewis before he returns to the top step of the World Championship once again?