Lewis Hamilton was pleased to limit the impact of Nico Rosberg’s victory at today’s German Grand Prix by finishing in third place, saying after the race: “I did as good as I could today.”
The Mercedes driver started the race way back down in 20th position after crashing heavily during the first part of qualifying yesterday. His car required a new gearbox, meaning that he had to take a grid penalty, and was staring down the barrel of a sizeable championship deficit to Rosberg had he failed to score.
However, he produced a stunning drive to charge through the field and finish on the podium, and he explained on the podium after the race some of the challenges that he faced.
“I had great fun,” Hamilton said. “It was great to see how many fans we had here today, thank you so much for the support.
“I did as good as I could today, it was very hard to get through the pack safely. I had a little bit of a collision with Jenson, I honestly thought that he was opening the door to let me past. he’s been a bit like that in last race for example, so my bad on judgement there.
“It was very hard to overtake at the end, they were so fast in the straights, but nonetheless I’m glad that I got some points today.”
In the post-race press conference, Hamilton was asked whether he was looking at the result as ‘glass half full’, given that he could be far further behind Rosberg in the championship, or ‘glass half empty’, as he may have won the race had he not started from so far back.
“I don’t really know how to answer that,” Hamilton said. “To get on the podium is quite an achievement, so perhaps half full.”
The Briton will be hoping to cut the gap to Rosberg at the next race in Hungary, where he has won on four previous occasions.
