Hamilton was not defeatist after his collision with Magnussen

Lewis Hamilton showed two diametrically opposed sides during the Spanish Grand Prix. After his collision with Kevin Magnussen and his pit stop on the first lap, the British driver surprised everyone with a very unexpected radio message. He told his team that he would have preferred to retire in order to save the new engine of his W13, rather than continuing on track.

A sentence that is very surprising to hear from the seven-time world champion, who defended himself from being defeatist.

« It’s not being defeatist, it’s just that I was 30 seconds behind everyone else. I just wasn’t convinced that we needed to use a whole engine to drive in last place or outside the top 15, and at some point in the season, we might have to take a penalty. » explains Hamilton.

The number of power units is limited to three for each car throughout the season, beyond which drivers receive a ten-place grid penalty. But the Mercedes garage chose to keep their driver on track, which turned out to be an excellent decision as the British driver made a stunning comeback to fifth place.

(I) I told myself that we might as well save the engine so we could fight another day. But I’m glad we didn’t do it, and it just shows that you never stop, you never give up, and that’s what I did. (F) celebrates the seven-time world champion.

With this superb race which earned him the honorary title of driver of the day, Hamilton is back in the top 5, a position he had only achieved twice this season (third in Bahrain and fourth in Australia). This performance could relaunch a dull and quite unlucky start to the season for him, as he had seen his eighth world championship title slip away in the final lap of last year’s Grand Prix.

« Since the last race last year, everything has been difficult. Then, we had difficulties with the car, constant setbacks with some issues, safety cars, and all sorts of things, I just haven’t had much luck. » regrets Hamilton.

But we keep getting back on our horse, pushing ourselves and never giving up. Starting the race well today, then having this problem [at the start] and then coming back, it felt a lot like older races I’ve done. For me, it’s an incredible feeling, savours the British.

With this fifth place, Lewis Hamilton is sixth in the championship, 64 points behind leader Max Verstappen, and 28 points behind his teammate George Russell, who is fourth.