Mental attitude was the key

(Motorsport-Total.com) – Despite a subsequent disqualification handicap from qualifying and an engine penalty, Lewis Hamilton narrowed the gap to Max Verstappen in the World Cup to 14 points in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. He himself spoke of “one of the best, if not the best weekends of my career”.

The world looked very different before Brazil: After Verstappen’s back-to-back wins in the US and Mexico, Hamilton was pondering whether Mercedes could actually manage to pull the momentum on its side. Hamilton has won only once since the summer break.

“We came out of the break in August hoping to be in a better position, which we weren’t,” said the seven-time world champion. “We didn’t have a really great performance. I would say we had a couple of races we’ve been in, but we had a tough time in the others.”

Hamilton: “If you put something in your head…”

“We came to Brazil 19 points behind and only one point in the team standings. So we really needed a strong result, but then we faced all these penalties,” Hamilton said, referring to the difficult conditions.

“Mentally you can think it’s over, that it’s impossible. But nothing is impossible if you put something in your head. That’s why we maintained a positive mental attitude and entered the game with full commitment.”

However, Mercedes expected it to be hard to beat Red Bull in Sao Paulo as well. “We worked hard to get the car in a position to compete, but we had no answer as to how fast they were able to produce,” says Hamilton.

I am amazed by the performance of Mercedes itself

“In the last race they were ahead of us, and then we got to a circuit that was very strong last time,” he says of Verstappen’s win in 2019. I also expected it to be hot on Sunday. We knew it could be our Achilles heel.”

“But for whatever reason, the cars did great this weekend. I decided which direction both of us (including teammate Valtteri Bottas; editor’s note) were taking and which, I think, worked out very well,” explains the youngest race winner. .

“I think we really improved the car in these conditions over the weekend, and yes, I was really surprised I could follow so closely, and then when I passed the Max I still had tires left and I could keep going. It was weird, but we love to take it that way” .