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Hamilton labels Azerbaijan GP as his "most difficult race"

Published on 01 May 2018 10:49
3
By: Fergal Walsh

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

reg

Posts: 162

as far as he was concerned, not only was it not a race, but he barely turned up.
Given a present of a win owing to stupid safety cars and an idiotic tow truck that looked as if it has been borrowed from an East End rag and bone man.

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May 1 2018 - 11:40

F1 News Valtteri Bottas Lewis Hamilton Sebastian Vettel

Replies (3)

reg

Posts: 162
as far as he was concerned, not only was it not a race, but he barely turned up.
Given a present of a win owing to stupid safety cars and an idiotic tow truck that looked as if it has been borrowed from an East End rag and bone man.
- + 1
- May 1 2018 - 11:40
calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
The main reasons that he won was because he was at the right place at the right time, and because Vettel ran out of time to outrace him due to the long SC period. Not that he did a bad job, but he was very pale compared to some of his other performances. I honestly had hoped that they'd give us some more laps to "get going", but regardless it was a good race.
- + 0
- May 1 2018 - 12:08
Rindtchamp

Posts: 304
'Most difficult' yeah.. it must be incredibly hard to have a win handed to you on a silver platter. I'm sure Vettel and Bottas have a lot of sympathy for you.
- + 1
- May 1 2018 - 15:08