Mercedes: Hamilton ready to do battle in the second half of the year
Lewis Hamilton hopes that the glimpse of luck seen during the Hungarian weekend is a sign that the tide is turning after the first part of the season where he encountered problems but managed to stay in contention for the title fight against his teammate.
Since the start of the season, Lewis Hamilton has often been struck by bad luck, particularly with reliability issues on his Mercedes, such as during the last two races with incidents affecting his qualifying in Germany and Hungary.
In Germany, Lewis Hamilton had to start from the back of the grid and in Hungary from the pit lane. In these two events, the Englishman finished 3rd twice, keeping in touch with his teammate Nico Rosberg in the fight for the championship.
« There has been talk of limiting the damage on my side in the last races, and we have had some tough weekends throughout this season. But to be honest, when I look back, I wouldn’t want it any other way. Sometimes it’s nice for things to be easy, but I love challenges and I love the fight. It’s not the ease that shows who you are – it’s the moments of adversity, » the 2008 world champion confided on the Mercedes website.
However, the Hungarian GP almost ended for the Englishman at the second corner when the driver lost control of his car on a wet track. He managed to stop just before the safety barriers, preventing the Mercedes from being too damaged: « If I ever got lucky this year, it was during the last race in Budapest – preventing me from damaging my car against the wall in the first lap. Hopefully, it’s a sign that things are starting to turn around. »
Even though everything hasn’t been simple for Hamilton, he is still in the race for the title against his teammate Nico Rosberg, on whom he is only 11 points behind: « Securing two podiums during two difficult weekends before the break was very satisfying and, more than that, these two podiums allow me to keep smiling and enjoy the break knowing that I still have a chance to fight for the championship. »
The Briton knows that one of the challenges in the second half of the year will be to improve the reliability of the Silver Arrows: « I am happy with our performance so far this year regarding the pace we have with the car. The team has done an excellent job with that. We just need to work on reliability, and I know it’s a priority for everyone in our factories. »
The former McLaren driver also wanted to thank his team for all their efforts to make the W05 as competitive as possible after his last two dramatic qualifications: « I have to say that over the past two weekends in Germany and Hungary in particular, the guys have been fantastic, I mean truly incredible. It’s tough for everyone when reliability is at stake. Seeing these issues arise after the long hours and hard work put in – I know they are hurt as much as I am. Fighting, rebuilding the car, allowing me to get on track and not giving up or losing hope – I can’t thank them enough for everything they do and that’s what will allow me to keep moving in the right direction throughout the year. »
