Lewis Hamilton was forced to settle for second in the Mexican Grand Prix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Sunday, but revealed he had enjoyed the race despite finishing behind Mercedes AMG PETRONAS team-mate Nico Rosberg.
The triple World Champion knew he had to make a good getaway to challenge his team-mate at the first corner, but was not in a position to make a move, and was forced to concede the race to his team-mate despite feeling he had more pace than Rosberg during the race.
“Today was a pretty good race,” admitted Hamilton. “I actually really enjoyed it and had a lot of fun. I was pushing so hard, giving absolutely everything that I had, and I think I had more pace than Nico.
“But, unfortunately, you can’t really follow another car here. The closer and closer you get it’s like two negative poles of a pair of magnets repelling each other, so there was nothing I could do.
“I knew I needed a good start to get the run on Nico into Turn One. But I had hardly any tow and, from there, he made no mistakes.”
Hamilton was heard over the radio disputing the call to make a second pit stop during the race, but backtracked on his comments post-race, insisting he still has every faith in the team and their decision-making going forward.
“When it came to the pit stops, there was no real stress,” said Hamilton. “At the time, I just didn’t agree with the decision to pit a second time, that’s all.
“The team takes these decisions and I abide by them but I initially wasn’t sure on this one. As it turned out, there was then a Safety Car anyway. I have full confidence in these guys and we still got the 1-2 as a team, so that’s positive.”
Hamilton finished off by praising the Mexican fans for making the weekend memorable on so many levels, feeling the support Formula 1 has in the country is exciting to see.
“I have to say, it’s been the best week and the best crowd I’ve ever seen here in Mexico,” said Hamilton. “There are so many people with so much energy and so much excitement for the sport here.
“All the other countries we go to need to make a big effort to keep up with these guys. Next stop Brazil and I’ve never won there, so that’s the goal in two weeks.”
