18/07/2021
NEWS STORY
Clearly disappointed at having lost out to Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton promises to bring his A-game to the British Grand Prix.
Having turned the tables on Friday by claiming pole position for the sport's inaugural Sprint, Lewis Hamilton fully expected to follow it up with a win in the event which would decide the grid for his home race.
Unfortunately, all was lost at the start, and as Max Verstappen got off the line quicker and headed into the first corner, Hamilton did well to slam the door on his Mercedes teammate, Valtteri Bottas.
Soon the seven-time champ was hard on the heels of his title rival, desperately seeking a way past the Red Bull through Luffield, getting alongside in Woodcote and trying to go around on the outside in Copse, but to no avail as the Dutchman refused to yield.
After that it was business as usual, the dirty air from the Red Bull never allowing Hamilton close enough to make another bid for the lead, the Briton eventually finishing just 1.430s down on the winner.
Despite his obvious disappointment, Hamilton, who had been cheered around the entire circuit on that first frantic lap, vows to raise his game when it really counts.
"I need everyone to bring their energy again tomorrow," he said in front of the packed grandstands in the moments after the spring, "and I'll come with my A-game.
"I think he had a lot of pace in him today," he said of Verstappen, "and I don't think he was particularly having to push too hard, while we were flat-out.
"Tomorrow's going to be tough," he admitted. "If I can try somehow to keep up with them through the stints, maybe we can apply pressure through strategy, but we're not going to be overtaking them on the track: they're just too fast."
Referring to the moment the race was effectively lost, he said: "Their starts are really great this year and we have lost a bit of performance on ours, so we've got to try to work a bit harder to try to improve that because losing positions is never a great thing."
Check out our Sunday gallery from Silverstone, here.