Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver Lewis Hamilton said that his second place was “not that satisfying”, though acknowledged that “every point counts” towards the total Driver’s Championship.
Hamilton started the race from pole, though slipped down to second in the early stages of the race due to battery issues. He maintained this position through to the end of the race, whilst fellow title-challenger Sebastian Vettel fought from last place to fourth.
Although this result is far better than the team could have expected before the weekend, Hamilton says there are still things to work on coming out of it.
“It was a much better weekend than we had anticipated after our Friday, considering the issues we did have with the car this is a good result.
“But still we have a lot of work to do with the car, some of the corners really magnified the issues we have. These next races are going to be crucial in terms of ironing out some of the creases we have with the car.
“I was having some problems with de-rates at the beginning of the race, so I was struggling with battery power. Valtteri seemed to struggle a lot more; I was able to pull a little bit more out of it.”
Teammate Valtteri Bottas did struggle far more than Hamilton, finishing almost a minute behind race-winner Max Verstappen and almost forty-five seconds behind Hamilton.
Today’s second place brought to an end Hamilton’s run of three consecutive wins – the most of any driver this season – and although winning races is still his priority, he did concede that every point counts towards the title.
“Naturally, I wanted to win the race, winning the races is still the goal. So even to be second is not that satisfying. Today was a step towards in trying to win the world championship and every point counts.”
Hamilton extended his lead in the Championship over Vettel by six points, giving him a thirty-four point lead with five races still to go.
