Hamilton After Finishing P8: 'Felt Like I Drove A Better Race Today'

Monday, 06 November 2023 at 01:00

Mercedes F1 driver Lewis Hamilton reflected on the 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix Sunday Race at Interlagos Circuit.

After finishing P7 during a "horrible" Sprint race on Saturday, Lewis Hamilton made it clear to the media that he won't be winning the race on Sunday.

The seven-time World Champion gave his fans some hope with a really good start to the race when he gained two positions before the race restarted.

The Mercedes driver almost jumped into second place after the race restart but could not overtake Lando Norris going into the first corner. From that point on, the race went downhill for Hamilton.

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2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix - Race Results

The 38-year-old struggled with pace even in comparison to his teammate George Russell. After falling down the grid by a few positions, Hamilton managed to bring home four points, finishing in P8.

After being put to him only two race weekends were remaining in the season, Hamilton responded to Sky Sports with words: "thank god."

"It didn't feel as disastrous as yesterday. Yesterday, when I finished, I literally had no tires left. They were worn to zero."

Even though the Mercedes driver felt he drove a better race on Sunday, he still did not finish where he would want to. Hamilton blames the unpredictability of his car.

"So I feel like I drove a better race today in terms of managing the tires to the best of my ability. There's moments it works and then moments it doesn't."

The weekend in Brazil extended the point gap in the Drivers' Championship between Hamilton and Sergio Perez in second place to 32 points. Hamilton explained more about his car:

It's so inconsistent throughout the lap. so we have to figure out what that is. Then we're really slow on the straights and then really slow through the corners or at least sliding the car through the corners. One to forget but hopefully there's lots of learnings from today.

Mercedes will need all the learnings they can get if the team wants to keep second place in the Constructors' Championship. The gap to the closest rival- Ferrari, in third place, came down to 20 points after the race in Sao Paulo.