Without the first-lap collision, Hamilton estimates where he would have placed

Lewis Hamilton believes his 5th place performance in the Spanish Grand Prix felt familiar to him.

If it hadn’t been for his first-lap collision with Kevin Magnussen, Lewis Hamilton feels he would have been racing in front with the Red Bull drivers during the Spanish Grand Prix.

After a mishap that put him behind by the conclusion of Lap 1, the Mercedes racer placed fifth in Barcelona with a new W13 engine.

His incredible comeback effort demonstrated the squad’s promise, as colleague George Russell earned his third career podium.

“I’m extremely thrilled,” Hamilton told a select group of journalists. “It felt a lot like some of the older races I’ve done in the past”, he added.

“It feels amazing. A race like that is like a win; it feels better than most wins when you’ve come from so far back.”

Hamilton describes the team’s first radio call

Hamilton admitted that he was incorrect to question his crew whether they should withdraw his car after he discovered himself at the back of the race.

“I was hoping for a smoother race without the issue at the beginning,” he continued.

“I was 30 seconds behind last at one stage and, if you think back to Jeddah when I was in 15th and struggled to get into the top 10, I thought it would be impossible to get back into the points.

“But the team said I was on for eighth. I couldn’t understand it at the beginning and I thought they were being super optimistic. But I gave it everything to see where I’d come out and it turns out I was higher than eighth.

“I wasn’t being defeatist, but I was 30 seconds behind and I did not want to have to use a whole engine to drive around in last, or outside the top 15, to then have to take a penalty or something like that.

“But I’m glad we didn’t. It just shows that you never stop, never give up and that’s what we do.”

Hamilton is looking for even greater results in Monaco

If Hamilton hadn’t collided with Magnussen in the beginning phases of the race, he thinks he could have competed for the victory.

However, if he follows the “experiment” undertaken on Russell’s car this weekend, he believes his car will be quicker in Monaco.

“Since the last race of the year, it’s been difficult all around,” said Hamilton.

“To then have the difficulties that we have with the car, and then certain knockbacks with Safety Cars and all sorts of things, we kept getting back on the horse and pushing, not giving up.

“We’ve made a lot of improvements with the car and the race pace is much better – it’s much nicer in the race.

“They experimented with something on George’s car that ultimately proved to be the better way to go in qualifying and maybe at the next race I will take that on.

“Without that [clash], I would have been fighting with the Red Bulls.”

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