Lewis Hamilton had 'a surprise' with his car's pace at 2022 F1 Spanish GP, says ex-F1 driver

Juan Pablo Montoya believes Lewis Hamilton was surprised with the pace of his car in the Spanish GP after wanting to retire after the opening laps. The former F1 driver felt the Briton was motivated to drive as his car pace improved.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1, Montoya commented on the Briton’s radio messages saying:

“It’s kind of weird that he went on the radio and told the guy ‘let’s park the car’, and kinda gave up. I understand why he did that, being at the back and thinking there’s nothing to do and the car hasn’t been competitive the last few races. So I think it was a surprise for him how quick the car was through the race. If you look at it, I think if he didn’t have the incident in the first lap, he probably would have had a chance to win the race. The other thing that is different, I think he got excited halfway through the race when he started getting to the points and he saw his pace being really quick. I think he got excited to run harder and harder and harder. It’s fun!”

The seven-time world champion had radioed his team saying it was best to retire his car and save the engine after he clashed with Kevin Magnussen on the opening lap of the race. His race engineer, however, assured Lewis Hamilton that he would finish in points and it was best that he continued.

According to Montoya, Hamilton is accustomed to winning and finishing in the top-3. So finishing in a race outside the top-10 is heavily demotivating for a driver of his calibre. The Colombian believes the Briton did not start enjoying the race until the improved pace had assured him a points finish. The seven-time world champion was later grateful to the team for not listening to him.

Overviewing the situation after Lewis Hamilton clashed with Kevin Magnussen, Montoya explained:

“Well, think about it, you just got hit on your first lap, and you did a whole in-lap with a flat tyre. You’ve gotta go and do a pit stop that took a long time to change because when the tyre is flat, they cannot get the jack under the car. You would think there is front wing damage and everything. So, at that point, you start the race and you’re 60-70 seconds behind the leader. You’re like ‘What are we doing, what are we going to achieve?’”

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Mercedes were right not to retire Lewis Hamilton from the Spanish GP, according to former F1 driver

Juan Pablo Montoya believes Mercedes were correct in not listening to Lewis Hamilton’s suggestion of retiring the car from the Spanish GP. The former Williams driver felt that the Briton was persistent and relentless after the team assured him a points finish was a possibility. Viewing the situation from the Briton’s perspective, the Colombian, however, felt his reaction was understandable given the level of racing he has become accustomed to.

Explaining the situation from Hamilton’s perspective, Montoya said:

“When you look at it from Lewis’ point of view, I understand it because he’s used to cars that can win races and score 25 points every weekend. But when you’re scoring eighth to 10th place, it’s hard. But the team made the right call telling him to stay in it and, impressively enough, he really didn’t give up. When they told him he needed to go, he got on with the job and that was good to see.”

Lewis Hamilton dropped down to 19th and surged back to 4th place, only to lose a place to Carlos Sainz after his engine overheated. The Briton is outside the top-5 in the drivers’ championship for the first time since 2009, running 6th. His record so far since his debut in 2007 has been to finish in the top-5 of the championship, irrespective of his car's competitiveness.