Lewis Hamilton says taking pole and victory at the British Grand Prix amounts to the ‘perfect weekend’ for him and Mercedes.
Hamilton dominated the race, leading every single lap to take his fourth consecutive British Grand Prix victory and the fifth of his career.
Speaking on the podium after cutting the deficit to Sebastian Vettel in the drivers’ championship down to just one point, Hamilton thanked the Silverstone crowd for their support.
“The feeling, I can’t really describe,” Hamilton says. “It feels amazing to be up here. The support this weekend has been immense and I’m really proud that I could do this for you all. Thank you so much for all your support. It’s the perfect weekend for us.”
After starting from pole position, Hamilton held off Kimi Raikkonen at the start and settled into a rhythm that saw the Ferrari driver unable to challenge him for the lead.
“I didn’t make any mistakes, I had a good, solid start,” explains Hamilton. “After that, just managed the car. Managed the balance. Fantastic pitstop. So I really can’t find a fault at the moment.
“I think the team did an exceptional job this weekend. Valtteri [Bottas] obviously drove a stormer today. It’s a very unique and unusual scenario with Valtteri and I. I’m purely happy for him. I think it’s also the way he is towards me. So that’s great to have as a team.”
Hamilton was handed a late bonus in his champioship challenge to Sebastian Vettel after both Ferraris suffered almost identical left-front tyre failures, forcing them both to pit and dropping them out of position.
“I’m really surprised to see the issues that the Ferraris had with the tyres,” Hamilton says. “I didn’t see any debris on the track, so it must’ve been a surprise.”
“I had some blistering on my tyres in the last laps and I was like ‘urggh, I’m going to back off’, because before that I did some fast laps. It was just about bringing the car home and being smart.”
Despite some criticism over his decision not to attend the midweek London F1 parade, Hamilton believes the strong support of the British home fans helped to spur him to victory.
“It was amazing. Throughout the race, I was looking out of the corner of my eye and every time I came around Turn 7 [Luffield] I could see them cheering every single lap. It was really reminiscent of 2008, my first British Grand Prix win, when everyone was spinning off and I came through Abbey and everyone was cheering.
“That just spurs you on and it’s amazing to know that there are people with you. Really really with you. Even if it may be a boring race, I don’t know. But I’m like ‘I don’t care!’ – I’d rather be as far out as possible.”
2017 British Grand Prix
- 2017 British Grand Prix Predictions Championship results
- Dominant Hamilton wins Driver of the Weekend
- British GP rates below its average despite late-race drama
- 2017 British Grand Prix team radio transcript
- 2017 British Grand Prix Star Performers
barryged (@barryged)
16th July 2017, 19:26
After all the hype of him not showing up in London, and he produces a result like that and then makes as much time as he can to go to the fans in the crowd, shake hands, take pictures. More than any other driver does in they’re home, or any other, grand prix.
Don’t care what people say, he’s a good guy, and probvably does more for the sport than anyone else.
barryged (@barryged)
16th July 2017, 19:28
Yes i know i made a spelling mistake, before anyone else says anything ;-)
Ju88sy (@)
16th July 2017, 19:59
@barryged Absolutely, I know it is hard to appreciate from TV, (I am lucky enough to be able to attend a couple of races a year) Hamilton has such a connection with supporters, no other Driver on the grid comes close.
Obviously the British Grand Prix crowd is pro-Lewis, for good reason! he came out to the pit lane 2 hours after the race, climbed up the fence interacted with the supporters, went crowd surfing then got down on his own in the middle of the mob on the start finish straight.
I watch a lot of live sport, and I can’t think of many sports-persons who will so directly interact, feed from and reciprocate the ‘energy’ of supporters.
Lewis talks about ‘energy’ a lot when interviewed on TV, I understand that it appears cliched and sterile on TV- it’s impossible to understand what he means without seeing it yourself!
Saturday afternoon on the main stage in the F1 Village he was introducing Billy Monger and stepping back for the crowd to recognise Billy. Then was off in the crowd signing caps, slapping hands talking to kids, who cares if he wasn’t in London on Wednesday!
mystic one (@mysticus)
16th July 2017, 19:35
It is all due to negative press covfefe if anything…
Chip Hilton
16th July 2017, 23:52
If Lewis hadn’t gone to Greece, he probably doesn’t win this race.
David BR (@david-br)
17th July 2017, 0:08
Yes, but there’s a bunch of over-weight sanctimonious journalists who’ve never even won an egg and spoon race ready to tell him how to prepare mentally and physically for a crucial race mid way through a fiercely contested championship.
De
17th July 2017, 13:16
Yeah, it must be a real sacred place or what!
Seriously, I thought Hamilton should have realized, it’s motor sport and it’s F1, there are probably millions of things that can go wrong, so just by being the best and preparing your best, giving your absolute everything, it’s not going to guarantee success, which you may think you rightfully deserve. That’s just the way it is.
Surely it must be extremely hard to be let down by the team in Baku and Austria, but looking at the bright side, at least he got a car and team that allow him to show his talent most of the time, to fight for the championships every year, so it couldn’t be that tough to take?
Anyway, that was a brilliant win. If a day or two holidays could help him probably such brilliant result, that’s great, but there might not always be a choice.
Ajaxn
18th July 2017, 7:02
Speaking of relaxed, did you notice how shell shocked Kimi looked on the podium?
Otoyo Sibuor
17th July 2017, 3:40
It must really irk his dislikers that, after they spent a whole week slaking him about missing London, he comes out and simply shuts everyone up with this weekend. Astonishing driving. Damon Hill mentioned something after the race – the records Lewis is quietly accumulating.
On this forum, there are quite a few members of the Hamilton Dislikers Society – thank heavens they are hiding in the shadows after this and other performances. We can finally breathe!
Otoyo Sibuor
17th July 2017, 3:41
See, @keithcollantine, your ‘filter’ is very easy to get past. hahahahaha