Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Bahrain International Circuit, 2019

Hamilton relieved to win on ‘track I struggle at one of the most’

2019 Bahrain Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton says his Bahrain Grand Prix victory was especially satisfying as he considers it one of his weaker venues.

“This is a track that I struggle probably one of the most of the lot of them,” said Hamilton following his victory on Sunday. “And so to come out ahead of Valtteri [Bottas] who is really, really quick here always – so was Nico [Rosberg] – and to be in the mix, I was really happy with that.”

Hamilton was running behind the two Ferraris as the final stint began but was able to capitalise on Charles Leclerc’s technical problems after overtaking Sebastian Vettel.

“Naturally you have to get yourself in a position to have opportunities to open,” he said. “I’m sure that overtake with Seb was quite a decisive point today to enable the opportunity to win.

“But honestly I was really happy with how I drove in the race. We did struggle with the balance of our car throughout and it kind of worsened as we got more into the race.”

The world champion also admitted he was frustrated to lose a position to his team mate at the start for the second race in a row despite having concentrated on his getaways.

“I can’t express to you how hard I’ve been working on my starts and then the start really wasn’t good,” said Hamilton.

“I’m just going to keep working at it. Basically you stumble and you fall and you get back up. I always keep pushing.

“Fortunately I was still in the mix and got past Valtteri which, I was happy with that manoeuvre. Then got that battle with Sebastian which was awesome.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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19 comments on “Hamilton relieved to win on ‘track I struggle at one of the most’”

  1. 6x WDC .

  2. Kudos for quite an honest account and recognising that his team mate has out-performed him at the last 2 starts.

    Despite being a superb driver – Lewis gets a lot of criticism (all champions do), but he always seems to recognise the talent around him and talks with great humility.

  3. Bones Gambino
    4th April 2019, 9:39

    Whether or not you enjoy his social media exploits and his life outside of F1, there is no denying we are watching an all time great and he won’t be truly appreciated by some until he has left the sport.
    He isn’t a machine and he makes mistakes, as have all the greats, but if you looked at the grid and decided to back one driver with all your money, LH would be the name on most lists.
    His starts are probably the weakest area for him but he still delivers.

    1. Yes, I agree with all what you said. I’m a big fan of F1 for a very long time and you see drivers of his quality only once in a generation or less. I was a school boy in the 60’s and my dad watched F1 on a black and white telly. The outstanding driver of the day back then was Jimmy Clark, there was other very good drivers around too but he was the man!! Then I did not see much of F1 in the seventies as I was away in the Merchant Navy but Nicky Luda was probably that man. The eighties and nineties was my time I started attending GPs Villeneuve snr, Senna and Prost were outstanding others were very good. Then Schumacher and now Hamilton. Notice I never mentioned Alonso who is very good lacks judgement. I think Verstappen could be the next after Hamilton. Far too early to say Leclerc yet.

      1. i think max has aggression and pure talent…….but i dont think his talent is enough to over come is brain yet…..or i cant tell

  4. I don’t remember it ever looking like he had a Bahrain problem in the past but it’s well known that he can never gloat. Isn’t it a bit weird that no matter how self deprecating, no matter how kind and empathetic Lewis talks and acts compared to other drivers, people still jump on the bandwagon to slag him? I heard him called a baby again in a recent podcast by a newbie follower who doesn’t have a clue. Just copy catting. So many other drivers get more upset and nasty post race than Lewis ever does. I think they’re pretty much all great guys, but nose ring aside, where is the perspective?

  5. please say when he ran everyone off the track. ive seen him go toe to toe with vettel, riciardo, rosberg etc in the passed but i dnt recall him running any1 off the track or not giving enough space. i know of 1 newush driver who does exactly what u say. but is heaped with praise as the next great. and please give some quotes where he gives retarded comments.

  6. The words of a man who has nothing left to prove. Full of confidence. Probably he would love the challenge of winning a championship in a Ferrari but at the same time he is very loyal to Mercedes Benz.
    Vettel has indicated he might not be in F1 after 2020 so probably Lewis to Ferrari is not that impossible.

    1. G (@unklegsif)
      4th April 2019, 16:33

      Vettel has indicated he might not be in F1 after 2020 so probably Lewis to Ferrari is not that impossible.

      Nah….. Max will take the chance and move to Italy if Seb throws in the towe

  7. “ (other than his annoyong habbit of running everyone off the track and not giving any space. More so than ANYONE else)“

    Sorry, what?

  8. Nah.

    See how useless comments like that are?
    I hope Verstappen does go to Ferrari, he would fit in well there.

  9. Whilst on the subject of Lewis, I believe the next race in China will be his first opportunity to overtake Schumi for most poles/wins combined:

    MSC: 91 wins + 68 poles = 159
    HAM: 74 wins + 84 poles = 158

    Predicting a strong quali from the Ferraris again so can’t see it happening quite so soon, but one to look out for in upcoming stats features!

    1. What an amazing statistic!

  10. Neil (@neilosjames)
    4th April 2019, 22:16

    Actually thought (even before this weekend) that Bahrain was a track where Bottas usually struggled with race pace, while Hamilton was quite strong. Had a quick flick through some old lap charts and they don’t disagree with me.

    1. Bottas never finished or started behind a teammate in Bahrain until this years race.

      1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
        5th April 2019, 9:29

        @edmarques
        What about 2013? What about 2014? What about 2016? What about 2017?

        Bottas was beaten in the race at Bahrain all these years by his team mate. That is 4 out of 7 races. Not exactly never finished behind a team mate is it? I’m not certain if all were his fault though.

        1. LOL, indeed. And it’s 5 out of 7 actually.
          @thegianthogweed

      2. Wrong, he only started ahead of his team mate but was consistently beaten by him in the race.

  11. Lewis Malone, it was gifted.

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