John N
Lewis Hamilton’s run of Formula One race victories at the Spanish Grand Prix may have ended in 2022, but the seven-time champion was still pumped up by his Sunday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya after recovering to P5, having been 19th at the end of Lap 1 following contact with Kevin Magnussen.
The Haas driver was challenging Hamilton outside Turn 4 on Lap 1 of the race when the pair touched, causing Magnussen to skip into the gravel and damage his car as Hamilton suffered a puncture. Having crawled back to the pits, Hamilton then looked set for a long afternoon after re-joining in P19, at one point imploring his Mercedes team to retire him and save his engine.
But searing pace from Hamilton throughout the race saw him climb to P5 at the chequered flag, with the Briton exalting in the renewed performance of his Mercedes W13 – which took on a raft of upgrades this weekend, allowing him to qualify fourth and teammate George Russell (who finished third) to qualify sixth.
An onboard look at Hamilton and Magnussen's tangle at the start 👀#SpanishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/urBqT68y8h
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 22, 2022
“The car felt great in the race; our pace was closer to the rest, the top guys in the race, which was amazing,” said Hamilton. “Just really unfortunate at the start to have got the puncture that we got [in the Magnussen contact]. But I didn’t give up because that’s what we do.
“But jeez, if I hadn’t had that issue initially, who knows where we would have been in the end. But it’s great to know that we had a similar pace to some of the frontrunners.”
Hamilton was on course for P4 in the race’s closing stages, having pulled off late moves on former teammate Valtteri Bottas and the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz. But an instruction to manage a “DNF risk” – later revealed to be a water leak – by lifting and coasting saw Hamilton concede the position to Sainz with two laps to go.
A great effort from Lewis and @MercedesAMGF1 in swelteringly hot conditions 👍#SpanishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/7vPtVkbdVt
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 22, 2022
“It was a lot hotter than predicted today, so it was quite tough with these cars for everyone,” said Hamilton. “I don’t know exactly what went on with the car, I’ve not spoken with the team, but I had to drive it at half throttle and cool the car.”
“I mean, I was 30-plus seconds behind [the pack]. That’s like no man’s land, and I tell you, it’s a horrible feeling being that far behind. But you have to keep your head up, keep pushing, keep going, and hoping for the better.
“They said I could maybe get to eighth, and eighth doesn’t feel like a particularly impressive result! But I was like, at least I’ll get into the points. So to then be fighting for fourth, I was so happy with that.
“I hope this continues in these next races,” added Hamilton. “We will see.”
