27/06/2016
NEWS STORY
Lewis Hamilton wants to put the misery of Baku, and the Grand Prix of Europe, well and truly behind him.
Having dominated all three practice sessions, the Briton's Baku weekend began to fall apart in qualifying. A couple of issues in the earlier phases saw the world champion hit the wall in Q3, leaving him to start the race from tenth.
Come Sunday, whilst teammate Nico Rosberg romped home to his fifth win of the season, re-establishing a 24 point advantage, the Briton suffered an engine mode issue which left him publicly floundering when his team was unable to advise him on the best way to resolve the issue courtesy of the radio communications ban.
Nonetheless, Hamilton heads to Austria feeling positive. Having revealed yesterday that his relationship with Rosberg is "really, really good," the Briton insists that Baku is history.
"Baku started out great but, clearly, it just wasn't meant to be that weekend," he said. "It's a shame I wasn't really in the race - but there's no point talking about 'ifs' and 'buts'. It's one to put behind me, take the positives in terms points on the board and move on.
"We've got an old school track in Spielberg," he said of the Red Bull Ring, which plays host to this weekend's race. "It's fast, with a good flow to it. It's tough to overtake but there are places you can try something different so that's a good challenge.
"It's definitely a big advantage starting up front there, though, so I need to get back on it in qualifying and do a better job than last time out."