Lewis Hamilton hails the best start to a race weekend in 2024: "The best sensations that the W15 gave me"

Lewis Hamilton is delighted after having the best start to a race weekend in the 2024 F1 season at the Japanese GP.

Ever since the 2024 F1 season started, Hamilton has been struggling to keep up with other top teams and drivers of the grid. In the first three races of the season, he has not even finished above P7. In the Australian GP, the seven-time world champion suffered an engine failure and did not score a single point.

Lewis Hamilton finally had great practice sessions at the Japanese GP on Friday (April 5). In the first practice session, he drove 23 laps and finished fifth in the timing sheet. Since the second practice session was mostly disturbed by rains, he only did six laps but managed to clock in the second fastest lap of the session.

According to formulapassion.it, Lewis Hamilton excitedly talked about how great the first two practice sessions were for the team. He stated that it felt great driving the Mercedes W15 for the first time this season. The Briton expressed his excitement to race at Suzuka.

He said:

"It was an excellent session for us, the best we have done this year, and with the best sensations that the W15 gave me. It's been absolutely positive for me, and I'm really excited because Suzuka is a circuit that I really like, and in recent years I've always struggled to find the balance with a difficult car to drive."

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Lewis Hamilton calls his start to the 2024 F1 season the 'worst' of his career

Lewis Hamilton has stated that the start of the 2024 F1 season has been the worst one he has had since he joined F1.

The seven-time world champion has enjoyed success in the single-seater series for quite some time. He won his first world championship in 2008, just one year after he joined the sport with McLaren. He shifted to Mercedes, where he started his long dominant era, winning six titles from 2014 to 2020 (except 2016).

In the 2024 F1 season, however, Lewis Hamilton was nowhere near the top of the table for the first three races of the season. After he retired from the Australian GP due to engine failure, he told the on-site media, that the start of 2024 was the his worst. The Mercedes driver added that it was worse than 2022, 2023, and even 2009.

"This is the worst season start of the season I've ever had....Oh yeah, for sure. And it's worse than 2009, I think," Hamilton said.

Coming into Japan, Hamilton is below Aston Martin's Lance Stroll at P10 in the drivers' championship table and only has eight points in his pocket.