Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton grateful for podium finish
The British driver managed to finish the race on the podium despite a mistake that could have cost him dearly. He can therefore count himself lucky to retain the championship lead.
In a battle with Max Verstappen during part of the race, Sir Lewis Hamilton saw the fate of his race take a turn after a misjudgment that cost him a potential final victory today but could have had much more serious consequences.
Looking back on his race, he described his performance as not being on his best day, he continues that it had been a long time since he had made a mistake like that. Indeed, wanting not to lose too much time on Max Verstappen and stuck in a small pack of backmarkers, Lewis Hamilton rushed to overtake the Williams of George Russell. However, this forced him to go onto the wet part of the track, which led to him going off track. His front wing didn’t withstand it: “There was only one dry line on the track and I was too eager to overtake, when I saw the wet trajectory, I locked the brakes and went off track.”
Despite this, he said he was grateful to have been able to limit the damage afterwards. “I am grateful to have been able to come back, I only thought about exceeding after my mistake and that’s what I did, staying in the race mentality.” Ninth when leaving the pit lane, he managed to climb back up on his rivals one by one, to regain his property of second place. The huge Russell – Bottas clash will therefore have been a lifesaver for the seven-time world champion, who manages to retain the lead of the championship thanks to the point for the fastest lap in the race achieved through the DRS on the overtake of Lando Norris, three laps from the finish.
