Hamilton earns his fun in the sun
Grabs points lead with sixth victory in seven F1 races
Lewis Hamilton admitted he was surprised at his own good fortune on Sunday after winning the German Grand Prix to take a clear championship lead into Formula One’s annual European summer holiday.
“I hope everyone has an amazing holiday — I’m going to have one!” he said, shortly after posting an image on his Instagram page showing him sharing a surfboard with one of his dogs.
“I’ll be on a beach, in the sunshine with a pina colada ... and I will be smiling.”
Twenty-four hours after casting a sullen figure during his media duties after missing out on the pole position to Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, the champion’s sulk had turned into pure joy.
Having won six of the past seven races, Hamilton now leads Rosberg by 19 points with a four-week break before the Belgian Grand Prix on Aug 28.
When informed of his big points lead, Hamilton responded with unbridled pleasure .“I had not realized that,” he said. “That’s awesome.”
He went on to say his emotional reactions were about his own performances and not, as some observers had said, about being a sore loser.
“It’s really good, isn’t it?” he told Sky Sports TV. “It’s really nice. I was 43 points behind. What a day! It’s been a great race for me and I didn’t expect to be so strong on this track.”
Hamilton praised his team and thanked them for preparing his car and improving his starts. “I want to thank all of them,” he said. “I’m so happy.”
He added that in his 23 years as a driver he has learned what he needs to do for success — which explained why he was so joyful.
“You kick yourself when things go wrong,” he said. “And today I looked after my tires, made no mistakes, I had no ‘offs’ or anything like that.”
Miserable
Just a day earlier, he was explaining why he seemed so miserable as reporters asked him if he was hurt by losing the pole to Rosberg.
“No, it doesn’t hurt,” he said. “For me, it’s like when you write a bad story — you get hacked off by it. Or if you make a mistake.
“I’m not down. I’m just not happy with my own performance. I felt I was quickest and I had the speed and I brought it to qualifying, but I didn’t deliver it. I have to handle that.”
Hamilton said he had been kicking himself about his qualifying failure and felt he had let himself and his team down. But, he added, he did not dwell on the past.
“I have a lot of guys back at the factory, and also my main guys here, my mechanics, who work to build my car, who were hoping to get pole.
“I’ve got my engineers who work until 1 or 2 am every night.
“It’s a lot of weight when you don’t deliver the way they have delivered. That’s where I am in my head.”
He said he never felt threatened during Sunday’s race and deliberately managed his lead at around six seconds in the closing stages.
“I was taking it easy,” he laughed. “I turned the engine down when I could from the start and only put it up in the final stint.
“I figured six was enough. It was more than I expected and more than I needed ... but I’ll take it every time.”
I’ll be on a beach, in the sunshine with a pina colada ... and I will be smiling.” Lewis Hamilton, after winning the German F1 Grand Prix