© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
After his car suffered an engine failure at the Australian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton says he is “surprisingly” feeling “pretty good” amid “the worst start to a season I have ever had”.
Lewis Hamilton did not have a very good weekend in Australia. First he got eliminated in Q2 of qualifying, and then on lap 8 of the race his car suffered an engine failure.
Afterwards the Briton said his race started relatively good.
“Yeah, we started on the Softs because we didn’t get to Q3 and it was fine,” he said.
“I undercut some of the drivers, the pace was OK, nothing special, but I was catching and slightly quicker than the cars ahead and then obviously the engine failed.”
However, despite the DNF, Lewis says is feeling “pretty good”.
“Surprisingly I feel pretty good. I think I’m trying to keep things in perspective, you know? It could be so much worse, I’m really grateful and have really enjoyed my time here in Australia.
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“I’m still enjoying working with the team, of course I’d love to be fighting for wins and finishing races.
“It’s never a great feeling when you come all this way and don’t even see half of the race, but what I know is that we will bounce back and will get there, we just have to chip away at it.”
He then explained how the awful start to his season has impacted him.
“I think it’s tough on the spirit for everyone in the team when so much work has gone on through the winter for everybody and you come in excited, motivated and driven and then you’re with the mindset that you are going to be fighting for wins and then obviously that’s not the case.
“Then you are like, OK second or third, but it’s not the case and it cascades a bit further down. You just go through the motions and it’s challenging.
“But I continue to be inspired by the people I have worked with, they continue to put in the effort and show up and that’s the most important thing.”
Lewis then admitted this is his worst start to a season ever.
“Yeah, well this is the worst start to a season I have ever had,” he said.
In fact, Lewis said it is “even worse” than when McLaren went from winning the title in 2008, to basically backmarkers in 2009.
However, the tough times he has had in the past, have taught him how to deal with these types of setbacks.
“Absolutely, absolutely. That’s exactly it. I think it’s easy to be caught up in the moment and focus on this one thing, but the bigger picture is definitely the focus at the moment and also just realising that you can’t control everything.
“You can get frustrated because you don’t have control, but if you can just let go and be in the moment.
“It’s not great, I’m not happy, but I’m going to have a great day tomorrow and train hard this week,” Hamilton concluded.
