After being hit by Kevin Magnussen on the first lap at Barcelona, Lewis Hamilton thought he would have to retire from the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix, and unbelievably admitted that he wanted to bring in the car and call it a day. In the end, the seven-time world champion fought back to finish in fifth place.
It’s fair to say Hamilton has experienced some difficulty since the beginning of the F1 season, and the British driver experienced a catastrophic start to his race in Barcelona. Hamilton was hit by Kevin Magnussen on the first lap and had to return to the pits to put on soft tyres. The seven-time world champion managed to make up ground and finish fifth in the Spanish Grand Prix, well behind winner Max Verstappen. After the race, Hamilton admitted that he had thought about retiring after his puncture.
Hamilton too emotional says Damon Hill
“I was obviously hoping for a smoother race without the incident at the start,” said Hamilton,
“At one point I was 30 seconds behind everyone else. When I saw where I was, I thought back to Jeddah where I started 15th and it was very difficult to get back up to 10th, so I thought it would be impossible to get back into the points today,
“I was 30 seconds behind, so I thought there was no point in pushing the engine for a top 15 and taking a penalty later in the season. I thought it was better to save the engine and fight another day. But I’m glad we didn’t and it proves that you should never stop and give up,
“The team told me not to give up, that I was still in the race to finish 8th. I couldn’t understand it at the time and I thought they were being overly optimistic. But I told myself that I would give it my all and see where it would take us. And in the end it was much better than 8th. It wasn’t great to have that engine problem at the end, but I’m happy to have finished,”
That was the first race at which there was a glimpse of HAM looking comfortable in the W13. Bono might just have helped kick-start his driver as he, for the umpteenth time, arrested an emotional meltdown in the cockpit of car #44. Here’s hoping Merc have gained sufficient control over the porpoising to concentrate much more on performance than driveability. The prospect of a genuine three-time battle is mouthwatering.
“After being hit by Kevin Magnussen” – for “being hit by” read “hitting”. The clumsy fool lost the back end.
Now the golden child knows what it’s like to be making up the numbers (so to speak) The most talented driver ever Michael Schumacher was competing he was able to drive the Benetton F1 car (according to many one of the most difficult cars to handle) to many podiums, but LH is only successful if his car is in perfect working order, I rest my case…..