Lewis Hamilton says he was a bit impatient when overtaking the drivers for the entire lap which led to a big mistake that could have cost him dearly if the race hadn’t been stopped, but he says he’s just a human and mistakes can happen.
Hamilton lost the lead to Verstappen in the second corner in the first lap and stayed behind him after changing to dry tyres, but in moments as he and Verstappen were overtaking the drivers for the entire lap the Briton went off in a slow Tossa corner and spent some time in the gravel looking for reverse on his Mercedes F1 W12.
Hamilton managed to get back on track in ninth place and after a big clash between Bottas and Russell the race was interrupted which allowed Hamilton to return to the lap with the leader with a completely repaired car and revocer to second place behind the winner Verstappen.
“Considering I was facing the barrier at one stage, then a lap down, yeah, it was a difficult day in that regard,” said Hamilton.
“I had some really good pace in the rain and was catching but just a little bit impatient, maybe, with the backmarkers.”
“I’m only human so these mistakes happen.”
“I’m grateful that I was back in the race and could hunt down and get back to second. The car had a rough time today.”
“I started first, should have been first at the finish but these things are sent to test us and we’ve got a great battle on our hands. Game on.”
Asked if he was thinking about the championship in the moments when he was facing the barriers, Hamilton answered that he was not.
“I didn’t think about it,” he said.
“I was just trying to get over that feeling when you make a mistake and move on, learn from it very quickly.”
“You don’t have time to regret it so I quickly got back into the racing spirit. I didn’t know if we would be able to overtake or not because it would be wet off the line. But we still had some fun fights with all the drivers.”
Hamilton congratulated winner Verstappen and compatriot Norris who finished third for McLaren, the team in which Hamilton made his Formula One debut and won his first 2008 title.
“First, congratulations to Max,” he said.
“He did a fantastic job today, but so did Lando, what a great race. It’s so great to see McLaren in this place.”
“For my part, this wasn’t the best day. For the first time in a long time, I made a mistake, but I’m grateful I was able to bring the car to the finish line.”
