Hamilton labels Azerbaijan GP as his "most difficult race"

Lewis Hamilton says that the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was the most difficult of his F1 career. The Briton took his first victory of the 2018 season around the streets of Baku last Sunday, taking the lead from teammate Valtteri Bottas with just three laps to go.

Hamilton was running in second place for the first half of the race, behind rival Sebastian Vettel. After Bottas inherited the lead following a late safety car, Hamilton dropped down to third. However, he would then move into second after getting past Vettel, who ran wide after attempting an overtake on Bottas.

"It was probably the most difficult race I can remember having, the most challenging race that I can remember having," said Hamilton. "All the wind, particularly, really made it the toughest race. It was like a wet race, and you know how tricky those conditions can be. It was very close to that," he added.

After dispatching Vettel, Hamilton then moved into the lead when Bottas was hit with a late puncture after running over some debris. The four-time champion admits that he felt weird to be standing on the podium after not performing at his best.

"It's definitely different when you think that somebody else has earned it," he said. "There's days when I've lost a Grand Prix and it's been gifted to someone else, be it one of the drivers who are here or one who has left. The happiness they would have, and it doesn't matter if they had earned it or not - there were fingers up in the air.

"I'm wired differently. I could have done that because I still won and you take what you get. But I like to win because I've outsmarted, outwitted and outclassed every driver out there. I'm grateful for the win but I felt the performance, not entirely me but also with the car, was not on par with what I'm capable of doing."

Fergal Walsh