LOOK WHO’S FIST AGAIN
Record-chasing Lewis shrugs off opening-day slip to triumph in style WORLD OF SPORT ALL THE LATEST
LEWIS HAMILTON admitted it was “psychologically challenging” to put last week’s misery behind him as he revved up his world title defence with a dominant win at the Styrian Grand Prix.
After romping to one of the finest pole positions of his career in rain-hit qualifying on Saturday, the six-time world champion delivered again in the dry to take his first win of the season.
Such was his dominance the Briton led from start to finish to take the chequered flag a mighty 13.7 seconds ahead of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
Bottas, the winner of the season-opening Austrian GP at the same Red Bull Ring circuit last week, made it a Silver Arrows one-two with a late-race lunge to beat Max Verstappen.
But while Bottas was unable to repeat his race-winning exploits from seven days ago, Hamilton bounced back from an errorstrewn curtain-raiser that saw him handed two penalties and miss out on a podium.
Yesterday he barely worked up a sweat as he kick-started his quest to equal Michael Schumacher’s record haul of seven world titles with a flawless performance.
Asked how he put last week’s disappointment behind him, Hamilton admitted: “With great difficulty. But when there is a will there is a way. The last weekend was psychologically challenging.
“To have penalties and be called to the stewards on the Sunday morning just before the race and get a penalty and then another one in the race, it’s never easy.
“But there is nothing you can do about the past. All you can do is focus and channel your energy to the future. I just made sure I stayed here, trained well, ate well, slept well.
“To have a performance like this today I’m over the moon, so happy. I also know though that there is a long way to go.”
Before the race, the Briton took a knee again alongside 11 of his rivals as he continues to lead F1’s fight against racism. As soon as the lights went out, the Mercedes star showed why he is a winner on the track as well as off it. The same cannot be said of Ferrari, after another nightmare weekend. How the fallen giants would love to rewind the clock to their heyday – they were left red-faced once again after Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel collided on the first lap.
Both drivers were forced to retire their cars from the race, the second time in four races the two Ferrari drivers have collided with each other.
But Hamilton cruised to his 85th win, leaving him only six short of Schumacher’s all-time win record.