Annoyed Lewis Hamilton admits Azerbaijan GP was ‘a kick in the teeth’ but insists ‘hunger is there’

LEWIS HAMILTON has admitted his Azerbaijan Grand Prix was a frustrating one, but insisted his recovery showed his “hunger” remains.

Hamilton, 38, was running in the top five before a safety car caused him to lose places due to him pitting in green flag conditions shortly before.

The seven-time champion saw himself sent back to 10th place as rivals took advantage of the cheap pit stop offered by the safety car.

The Brit managed to fight back up to P6 and finish within a second of Carlos Sainz in fifth.

He was clearly left annoyed by the unlucky timing of the safety car but opted to focus on the positives from his drive.

Speaking after the race, Hamilton said: “So much work goes into the weekend and then yesterday (Saturday) was a difficult day where you went backwards, and then today (Sunday) I was hoping for a better day and I lost so many places, that’s definitely a kick in the teeth.

“But then I was like, ‘well, it is what it is’. I think today shows that the hunger is there.

“And once I get that confidence in that car, the pace will come out.

“I couldn’t get bogged down in that frustration and [thinking] ‘I’ve lost all those positions’. I just had to keep my head down and get focused on attacking, and that’s what I did.

“I got my head down and got right back in the race. Yeah, I really enjoyed those battles. Really continuously proud of my team for just keeping their head down.

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“We didn’t have the pace that we had in the last race, which is obviously not the greatest. But there’s no lack of motivation in this team.

“We’re all super hungry, we’re just working towards getting those upgrades. So I think this is the beginning of something hopefully better in the next coming races.”

Hamilton’s future beyond the end of the season was cast into further doubt after Mercedes boss Toto Wolff admitted Charles Leclerc was on their “radar” as a possible replacement.

However, Wolff also insisted the team was committed to penning a new deal with Hamilton.

Sergio Perez collected wins in both the Sprint Race and full race on Sunday to move him to within six points of championship leader Max Verstappen.

Like Hamilton, Verstappen was another unfortunate victim of the safety car’s timing on Sunday, and had seen his weekend get spicy after a coming together with George Russell during the Sprint.

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Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk