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Pressure will build if gap to Vettel grows, says Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton admits that the pressure on him will build if the points gap to main F1 world championship rival Sebastian Vettel continues to grow.
Adam Cooper
Edited: Jul 12, 2017, 2:23 PM
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Hamilton lost two points to Vettel in Azerbaijan, and another six in Austria, extending the Ferrari driver's margin to 20 with 11 races still to run.
Victory in Austria for Hamilton's teammate Valtteri Bottas took points off Vettel, but also put the Finn firmly into the title fight.
Bottas is just 15 points behind Hamilton.
"I don't have a crystal ball, but it doesn't look great at the moment," said Hamilton. "And how am I going to turn that [around]? We've still got a long way to go, it could easily switch within one race.
"But the bigger that gap gets, the more pressure builds, because then you're into the next race and something bad happens, or you have a DNF, which is inevitable for many of us.
"I'm sure Sebastian is eventually going to have something, I'm sure Kimi will eventually, I'm sure something may happen on my side also, because I've not had it also. It's generally one a year."
Hamilton was not too disheartened by only recovering to fourth after taking a grid penalty in Austria.
"It [the gap] is not great, but it could be 30, could be 40, or it could be 30-something. I don't know if it's damage limitation as such.
"Of course it's a hit when you get the penalty and you start eighth rather than third, so it does make a difference. But it's not the end of the world. And we got the points, I got the best points I could.
Hamilton also wanted to explain his occasionally frustrated reaction to bad races by underlining just how much effort he puts into his job.
"It's generally when there's adversity, there's an opportunity to grow and to do something pretty special.
"I'm really generally happy with the way I've been driving considering. I think it's important for people who are watching and also people who are reporting, to understand that you have to have patience with us as drivers.
"I can't speak for everyone else, but you can't be happy every day you have a result. No matter whether it's second, fifth, tenth or whatever it is, you're going to be pissed at one point, because you put so much into it, you know.
"You train, you sacrifice everything to make sure that you get the best result possible. So when you don't personally deliver, and other things are stacked up against you, it's hard to come out smiling and be, 'Oh, yeah, that's fine'. Because that means you don't care enough. you know?
"And the fact is I care more than anything. And there are days where it feels more painful than others, there are other hard days when it's easier to handle and think, 'No worries, we'll move forward.'
"Just when you make comments and when you write your stories, or when people make comments, just bear that in mind, because it's not a sign of being ungrateful or anything like that.
"It's just this is an intense battle, which I'm loving, and I think we are enjoying as a team. But I want to win this championship."
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