After Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc pulled out of the lead at Paul Ricard, Hamilton moved into second place which he held until the finish, crossing the line 10 seconds behind Red Bull winner Max Verstappen.
Afterwards, Hamilton, who had to take a break from the recovery room, revealed that his drink bottle had failed during the race, which made it even more difficult for him to drive in the sweltering heat until to his best result of the season.
“What an amazing time we had, and it was actually a tough race because my drink bottle didn’t work,” Hamilton said.
“But what a great result considering we’ve been so far away from these guys all weekend.
“Reliability is something my team has been amazing at, so a big shout out to the team back at both factories, the team here who without them we couldn’t have gotten this podium, and George has also did an amazing job today..
“I didn’t see my weight earlier, but I imagine [I lost] probably around three kilos. So yes, that’s enough. I can’t wait to drink the rest of this drink…”
Mercedes entered Sunday’s race worried and confused by their lack of pace throughout the Paul Ricard weekend, with Hamilton 0.9 seconds off pole from Leclerc in qualifying.
However, Hamilton was buoyed by his fourth consecutive podium finish and Mercedes’ first double podium of 2022 as team-mate George Russell finished third.
George Russell, Mercedes-AMG, 3rd position, arrives at Parc Fermé
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
He was encouraged to see that Mercedes “can at least lean on” Red Bull and Ferrari on race pace and hopes further improvements will help close the gap.
Asked about his expectations for next week’s Hungarian Grand Prix, he said: “It’s going to be tough to beat the Ferraris and the Red Bulls, you see they still have the pace advantage.
“But hopefully we will bring some sort of upgrade to this track and hopefully get closer to them.
“You can see us in the race, we can at least lean on them a bit, so hopefully this race will be even closer.”
After Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc pulled out of the lead at Paul Ricard, Hamilton moved into second place which he held until the finish, crossing the line 10 seconds behind Red Bull winner Max Verstappen.
Afterwards, Hamilton, who had to take a break from the recovery room, revealed that his drink bottle had failed during the race, which made it even more difficult for him to drive in the sweltering heat until to his best result of the season.
“What an amazing time we had, and it was actually a tough race because my drink bottle didn’t work,” Hamilton said.
“But what a great result considering we’ve been so far away from these guys all weekend.
“Reliability is something my team has been amazing at, so a big shout out to the team back at both factories, the team here who without them we couldn’t have gotten this podium, and George has also did an amazing job today..
“I didn’t see my weight earlier, but I imagine [I lost] probably around three kilos. So yes, that’s enough. I can’t wait to drink the rest of this drink…”
Mercedes entered Sunday’s race worried and confused by their lack of pace throughout the Paul Ricard weekend, with Hamilton 0.9 seconds off pole from Leclerc in qualifying.
However, Hamilton was buoyed by his fourth consecutive podium finish and Mercedes’ first double podium of 2022 as team-mate George Russell finished third.
George Russell, Mercedes-AMG, 3rd position, arrives at Parc Fermé
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
He was encouraged to see that Mercedes “can at least lean on” Red Bull and Ferrari on race pace and hopes further improvements will help close the gap.
Asked about his expectations for next week’s Hungarian Grand Prix, he said: “It’s going to be tough to beat the Ferraris and the Red Bulls, you see they still have the pace advantage.
“But hopefully we will bring some sort of upgrade to this track and hopefully get closer to them.
“You can see us in the race, we can at least lean on them a bit, so hopefully this race will be even closer.”