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Lewis Hamilton has expressed gratitude towards his Mercedes team, who did not give up on him after a horrible start to the 2022 F1 Spanish GP. That belief buoyed the Briton to a P5 finish at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, a result that seemed near impossible after the opening lap of the race.
Hamilton suffered a puncture on the opening lap after colliding with Haas F1 driver Kevin Magnussen at the entry to Turn 4 and had to hobble back into the pits before rejoining the race in last place.
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The seven-time world champion felt it was futile to continue racing and offered to save his power unit by retiring, only to be told to keep his head down and try and salvage the rest of his afternoon.
Hamilton recounted the entire episode during a post-race interview, where he said:
“I was thirty seconds behind. so I thought if I am going to use a whole engine to drive around in last or out of the Top 15 and at some point take a penalty we may as well save the engine so we can live to fight another day. Thank God we didn’t, that is why we never stop, we never give up and that’s what I did.”
"I was hoping for a smoother race" - Lewis Hamilton felt it was 'impossible' to score points at 2022 F1 Spanish GP
While he was overjoyed with his resurgent drive to claim P5 at the Spanish GP, Lewis Hamilton admitted he was hoping to have a smoother race than he did in Barcelona.
In the aforementioned interview, the 37-year-old said:
“I was hoping for a smoother race without the issue at the beginning. Having seen what it was like back in Jeddah where I started 15th and struggled to get into the Top 10, I was thinking it was impossible to get back into the points. But they said no I was on for eighth... I couldn’t understand it and thought they were being super optimistic. But I thought let’s give it everything and see where I come out.”
Hamilton is now sixth in the World Drivers' Championship standings with 46 points. His focus will now be on the 2022 F1 Monaco GP, a race the Briton has won three times in the past. His most recent win in the Principality came in 2019, days after the passing of former world champion Niki Lauda.
