HAMILTON: I’M STILL THE TOP DOG
LEWIS HAMILTON says he is heading to his home Grand Prix with confidence despite finishing off the podium for the second consecutive race.
Hamilton was forced to start from eighth in Austria after a five-place penalty for an illegal gearbox change.
But after fighting his way quickly to fifth and only missing out on third when Daniel Ricciardo managed to hold off his overtaking move on the penultimate lap, Hamilton declared himself raring to go ahead of Sunday’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
“I don’t think there’s a call for me to do anything else than I’m already doing,” he said. “When I go and look at the race pace, I was actually quickest so I actually had the strongest race.“
Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas won by leading from pole to flag after pulling off a miraculously-quick start. The stewards investigated whether he had jumped the start, only to deem the flying Finn had timed it to perfection, with a 0.201sec reaction time.
But championship leader Sebastian Vettel, who came home second, was less than convinced that Bottas had not made a false start.
The German said: “From my point of view, he jumped the start – I was sure that he did.“