Lewis Hamilton makes Valtteri Bottas and Nico Rosberg claim after lucky Bahrain win
LEWIS HAMILTON has admitted he was lucky to win the Bahrain Grand Prix but was very happy he was able to beat Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
The world champion revealed the circuit is one he struggles at every season.
And Lewis Hamilton went on to say beating Bottas was pleasing as it always was when he beat Nico Rosberg in Bahrain.
The 34-year-old is also determined to make better starts after he got bogged down off the line and was leapfrogged by his team-mate.
“I’m just going to keep working at it,” he said on the start procedure.
“Basically you stumble, fall, get back up. Just keep pushing.
“I go away from the weekend feeling we worked really hard and made some good steps with the set-up through the weekend, moving in the right direction.
“It’s a track that I struggle [with], probably one of the most out of all of them, and so to come out ahead of Valtteri, who’s really quick, always, as was Nico [Rosberg], and then to be in the mix, I was really happy with that.”
Hamilton has also opened up on the start to the season which has seen Mercedes finish first and second in both Australia and Bahrain.
“We were outperformed [in Bahrain],” said Hamilton.
Lewis Hamilton looks ahead to China Grand Prix after Bahrain win
“We were surprised in the first race. I hear whispers that people think we were sandbagging or not telling the truth or all those things. We said it how it was.
“When we went to the first race we truly believed… I was presented where everyone’s positions were [after testing] and from our estimates and understanding of potential fuel loads and power modes and all these things we were behind from three to five tenths.
“And we got to the first race and they [Ferrari] didn’t have any pace all of a sudden.
“We came out of the first race incredibly surprised and really, really happy to have had such a great result as it had been a hard winter for the team, as it is everyone, and we came to Bahrain.
“We are happy [with the win], but we are also conscious and aware of how lucky we were to come away with a 1-2.
“We all worked so hard through the weekend, as we do every weekend, but we underperformed.
“Naturally you have lucky weekends. We have to go away and take the points and be grateful for them as you never know when at some stage it’s flipped and we have an unfortunate weekend.
“We can’t be jumping around in excitement because we know, and I know, that Charles did the job and should have won.”
F1 returns with the Chinese Grand Prix between April 12-14.