Mercedes AMG PETRONAS driver Lewis Hamilton was somewhat down-hearted after last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, when a terrible start put paid to any chances of him winning the race.
The Brit was happy with his damage limitation efforts however, which saw him rise back up the order from sixth, to eventually finish in second place.
“It’s tough to take when you lose a race because of such a poor start. From there it was just about managing the tyres during the first stint and I was delighted to get back up to second after the first stop.”
Having looked supreme throughout the Italian Grand Prix weekend, putting in a fantastic final lap in qualifying that saw the Brit take pole position by three tenths of a second from team-mate Nico Rosberg, Hamilton was disappointed to not carry that dominance through to race day.
“I kept pushing as hard as I could and came within 15 seconds of Nico when we crossed the line. I’m happy with my performance this weekend but after such an incredible qualifying day yesterday it was disappointing to be unable to capitalise.”
Although the Brit initially conversed over team radio that the start had been his fault, it is believed that the W07 did not accelerate as would usually be expected following discussions during a team debrief after the race. The German squad will be investigating exactly what happened prior to the next race.
Hamilton also hinted that his starts would be worked on ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, and perhaps some practice runs would not go miss.
“I’m sure we’ll work on what happened at the start between now and Singapore.”
