Hamilton: I’ll never settle for second best
LEWIS HAMILTON insists second place is not good enough after a number of blunders i n Bahrain allowed Sebastian Vettel to steal an early march in this year’s Formula One championship fight.
Hamilton had been enjoying the title battle with Ferrari and four-time champion Vettel but the Englishman’s mood has changed after Sunday’s runners-up spot.
Britain’s triple world champion owned up to the pit-lane mistake which saw him illegally block Daniel Ricciardo and take a fivesecond penalty, one that scuppered any chances he had of challenging Vettel for victory, and his sluggish start which allowed the German to sneak through at turn one.
Hamilton, though, insists car problems in qualifying cost him pole.
He said: “Over the years, nothing changes and I feel pain in my heart.
“People will be like ‘you finished second, you should be happy’, but that is not why we exist.
“If anyone ever thinks I should feel happy with second, then I don’t really know what to say.
“When you have a strong fight it is a great feeling so I felt good on the podium after the race. But then you think about certain things.
“I lost two tenths of a second from turn 10 to 11 in qualifying because the DRS did not engage. I should have easily been on pole.
“Then, I lost position at the start. Solely my fault. Then you get the time lost in the pit lane. It eats you up inside but you have got to cope with it and move forward.”
Hamilton, now seven points adrift of Vettel, will return to the cockpit today for the first of this week’s two-day test in Bahrain. The next stop on the calendar will be the Russian Grand Prix a week on Sunday.
The 32-year-old called on his Mercedes team to bounce back for the Sochi race.
Hamilton added: “We want to be operating in the top end, and not doing a good enough job by one per cent and therefore losing the race. That is what it is going to about this year.
“It’s exciting and that means all the team have to be operating at our maximum every week.”