Lewis Hamilton admits atypical thoughts of crashing during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix were a “concern”.
The seven-time world champion suffered from severe back pain throughout the weekend due to severe bouncing in the Mercedes along Baku’s 2.2km flat-out run from Turn 16 to Turn 1.
There were even question marks over whether Hamilton, who was seen gingerly exiting his car post-race, would even manage the 51 laps due to his physical condition.
“At the end, the last 10 laps to the flag, I was just having to go internal, like ‘You can do this, you’ve got this. Just bear with it’,” he said afterwards.
? Lewis: “Well done guys. Great job with the strategy, thank you for continuing to push. Let’s definitely make some changes.”
? Bono: “Yeah, copy Lewis. Can’t come soon enough.”
? Lewis: “Let’s keep pushing.” pic.twitter.com/RuDq6RZp7A
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) June 12, 2022
“I was just biting down on my teeth due to the pain, and the adrenaline [helped]. I cannot express the pain that you experience, particularly on the straight here.
“At the end, you are just praying for it to end. But we were in such a good position still, third and fourth, a great result for the team. The team did a great job with the strategy.
“Once we fix this bouncing we’ll be right there in the race,” he added. “But we were losing, for sure, over a second just with bouncing. Or at least a second with bouncing.
“I’ll be at the factory tomorrow, we’ve got to have some good discussions and keep pushing.”
Back pain wasn’t Hamilton’s only problem though as the bucking W13 proved a handful through the flat-out kinks at the end of the lap.
“There were a lot of moments where I didn’t know if I was going to make it [to the finish],” he admitted.
“Just whether I was going to keep the car on track because I don’t know if you saw it, I nearly lost it in the high-speed several times, so the battle with the car was intense.
“There were so many times I was nearly going into the wall. So that was a concern, safety-wise at 180mph, smashing into the wall, I don’t think I’ve really ever had to think about that too much as a racing driver.
“You don’t really ever think about keeping it out of the wall at that high speed. A very, very, very strange experience.”
After the race, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff suggested there was “definitely” a chance Lewis could miss this weekend’s Canadian GP due to the back pain.
Even when it’s painful, still we rise. Thanks for the love, see you all next week ❤️
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) June 12, 2022
But on Instagram, the seven-time winner in Montreal insisted he would be there.
“Yesterday was tough and had some troubles sleeping but have woke up feeling positive today!” he said in a story.
“Back is a little sore and bruised but nothing serious thankfully. I’ve had acupuncture and physio with Ang (Angela) and am on the way to my team to work with them on improving.
“We have to keep fighting. No time like the present to pull together and we will.
“I’ll be there this weekend, wouldn’t miss it for the world. Wishing everybody an amazing day and week,” he concluded.