Lewis Hamilton vindicated by Spanish Grand Prix drive to eighth position
Lewis Hamilton believes that he has proved his doubters wrong after making only two stops during the race at Barcelona
Hamilton started at the back of the field after being penalised for running short of fuel at the end of qualifying and was forced to try a different strategy than the rest of the drivers, eventually climbing to eighth, one place ahead of team-mate Jenson Button.
Despite his reputation for aggressive driving, the 27-year-old was able to conserve his tyres far better than Button, who is normally associated with exceptional tyre management.
"People are always saying how aggressive my driving style is so hopefully this will prove a few people wrong that I can nurse my tyres," he said.
"It is very easy just to go 100 per cent and ruin your tyres and kill you race by making silly mistakes so today was about being controlled, calm and collected.
"I was the only one to do a two stopper, despite everyone always telling me how aggressive my driving style is and how much better my team-mate is on tyres than me. I think today is a good demonstration that they are perhaps wrong."
The British driver was pleased with how competitive the McLaren has been and says that the team can bounce back from a difficult weekend with a strong result in Monaco.
"I think our car will continue to be competitive. Our team has done a great job improving our car and things will come together for us and when they do we will get the results we deserve," he said.
"Monaco is a track that I love and I hope that we will have a much better weekend there and it is now my home circuit. The team needs a little bit of a boost, they have been working very hard and they deserve better."
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Jackie Stewart calls for permanent reminder to honour Sid Watkins
Valtteri Bottas ends first day of young driver testing at Silverstone on top
Button says there is no overnight fix to the car issues he's having
Hamilton needs talk with Wolff to prepare Ferrari F1 move
Hamilton: MotoGP and F1 shared events would be “epic”
The status factor that made Ferrari impossible for Hamilton to turn down
Williams may as well “go home” if spares situation changes its F1 approach, says Albon
Aston Martin ‘not convinced’ Alonso would definitely want to stay in F1
Porsche lodges appeal over da Costa's Misano Formula E disqualification
2024 MotoGP world championship standings after the Americas GP
What's been going wrong for Leclerc in F1's tiny margins qualifying game
What the Chinese GP's highlights reveal about its first F1 race for five years
The secrets of F1 turbocharging explained
Why Alpine’s rigorous training camp yields telling insights into its juniors
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments