Following Sunday's Valencia grand prix, Lewis Hamilton once more gave the media a sound bite, “In the next race we will really really struggle.” Even though this seems an innocent comment given his more recent outbursts, he, like Alonso, seemed to be admitting that the 2011 season belonged to the Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel.
Despite often sticking to his word, Hamilton took to twitter the following day to set the media straight, “To all our supporters, ignore what u read in the papers today. My team will never give up & I WILL NEVER GIVE UP!!!!.” This teamed with the infamous Monaco quote recently is not doing his media reputation any good and the fact that Lewis continued to say “It's never over until it's over,” to try and rectify the situation, is leading him to be judged as weak.
Yet, those who understand Hamilton will know that whilst he may feel like the championship is over he knows that the season is not, and will therefore get in the car to win. When asked about the championship situation Hamilton said “I'm quite a realistic person, so I know what we're up against,” showing that he knows that mathematically it is still possible, but the overall feeling is one of acceptance.
In many ways it is no great surprise that Hamilton has been commenting on how he is feeling to the media as he is becoming increasingly irritated that, for a third year in a row, he may not be within a chance of the championship. However, never one to stay in a downtrodden mindset for long, he said “I feel like I've turned all the negatives I've had into positives.” In this the fans will hope that he and his team mate Jenson Button are able to deliver the podiums that Britain are craving, a feat that by no means is easily achieved by Button who has never been on the podium at Silverstone before.
On the 10th July the flags will be flying for the British drivers spurring them on and giving Hamilton a chance to get out of his slump in form.
