BRITISH GRAND PRIX Silver lining
LEWIS HAMILTON did not carry the demeanour of a man who had just produced one of sport’s best damagelimitation exercises in front of an enthralled British Grand Prix crowd.
Pacing up and down the podium room, shattered having given every ounce of effort to try to deliver the record sixth home win the vast majority of the 140,500 Silverstone crowd had wanted to see, there was only reflection.
Or maybe it was recrimination, having been controversially punted to the back of the field just three corners into the 52-lap race by Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
Hamilton had surged back with a display of overtaking the watching Lord Coe would have been proud of in his athletics heyday to take second place behind Sebastian Vettel in the other Ferrari.
What could have been a huge setback in his bid for a fifth drivers’ title turned into only an eight-point deficit with still more than half the season remaining.
There was a handshake for his German foe but Hamilton studiously avoided Raikkonen.
And on the podium there was no spraying of champagne with the Finn who had come home third despite being handed a 10-second penalty for the first-lap incident.
Mercedes driver Hamilton, eager to maintain the feelgood factor created by England’s World Cup heroics, had also avoided the Parc ferme interview with Sky TV commentator Martin Brundle.
“I sweated my a*** off in that race. I gave it 1,000 per cent and I didn’t have any energy left,” said Hamilton.
“People expect you to wave and smile, but I was having trouble standing up. I didn’t have much to give at that time and I needed to take a deep breath.
“Getting back to second is huge for us and I’m happy with the drive. I was last but I still believed I could win and I had to keep that mentality to get back up there. This is the greatest race of the year and this is the greatest crowd, so I’m sorry I couldn’t bring it home for you.”
Hamilton has to take some of the blame for the incident with Raikkonen that ended any chance of turning pole position into a fifth straight victory at this former WWII airfield.
A poor start when the lights went out allowed Vettel and fourth-placed Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas to sweep past by the first corner.
That left Hamilton vulnerable as Raikkonen clipped his rear tyre, sending him into a tailspin off the track and into last place.
It was not the start celebrities such as Kenny Dalglish, Nicola Adams and Ian Poulter were expecting. But there