Lewis Hamilton in his "highest form" during "perfect" Spanish Grand Prix

Spanish Grand Prix

Hamilton in his "highest form" during "perfect" Spanish Grand Prix

The Spanish Grand Prix was Hamilton's 88th career F1 victory

Sam Hall

Monday 17 August 2020 11:04

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Lewis Hamilton has claimed he was in his "highest form" as the Mercedes driver dominated the Spanish Grand Prix.

Hamilton took a fourth victory of 2020 to open a 37-point advantage over Max Verstappen in the championship standings in a race the Briton described as "perfect".

The six time champion said: “It’s not an out of body experience. I just think [I was] in my highest form I would say.

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"I always like to talk about being our highest selves and each of us have an unlimited capacity and it just felt like I was at a high.

“The zone that I was able to get into and stay in for a long, long, long time was – I’ve just got to evaluate how I got there, because it was evident in the gap that I had, it was evident in how I managed the tyres.

“I’m always talking about perfect races and that was one of them.”

Key to Hamilton's success was his ability to drive the race without error, something his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas failed to do.

A poor start dropped the Finn behind both Verstappen and Lance Stroll, and although Bottas recovered to third, Hamilton used his team-mate to highlight the impact a single error can have on the overall race.

He added: “You saw Valtteri’s difficult start and what that could lead to. I could have easily done that, but I delivered on all the areas that I had set out for myself and expected for myself, so I’m ultimately just really happy with it.

“I felt really content with the job that I’m required to do, but I think I was able to go above and beyond today and that just makes me happy.”

Heading into the weekend, the tyres had been a major talking point as, in similarly hot temperatures to those seen in Spain, Mercedes had struggled at Silverstone.

Verstappen had been victorious on that occasion, and Hamilton says he was receiving a constant stream of information on the tyres on both his and Verstappen's cars during the opening stages in Barcelona.

Hamilton said: “I knew what was happening with the car behind. I get information every single lap.

“So I know what the gap is, what the time is, I know where he’s at. When he makes comments on the tyres, I’m aware of it. I was aware of that but I was just focussed on doing my job.

“When he started complaining about his tyres, I wasn’t. I knew then I was going to extend my stint. Then he stopped.

“I was going to try to push a little bit further but we ended up covering him.

“I didn’t do a lot of talking, actually hardly did any talking. Bono [race engineer Peter Bonnington] and I have been working together for years so he knows what information to give me, when and when not to. He had perfect execution of information today except for the end.

“I didn’t hear a few of the things and came across the line as if there was another lap. It just went right over my head that it was the last lap. I was still in the zone, tyres were still feeling good and I was ready to go another ten laps.”

Before you go...

Five key talking points from the Spanish Grand Prix

Steiner: Spanish GP weekend "pretty good", but "we just haven't got the pace"