Hamilton believes critics finally silenced with Bahrain GP victory

Lewis Hamilton declared it “a blessing in disguise” he was made to fight hard for his Bahrain Grand Prix victory on Sunday as it proved to his critics he can win in a car that is not the class of the field.

The Mercedes driver, whose team out-thought favourites Red Bull to win the season-opener, said he “loved every minute” of the experience even though he no longer has the strongest car on the grid.

“There’s always a chance to prove people wrong, and I like to think this is definitely one of them,” said Hamilton.

“There have been many in the past, I’ve been around a long time, but I hope there are many opportunities in the future to also be able to show what I was able to do today.

“We don’t have the fastest car at the moment but that’s all good for me. I don’t mind having to pull out extra in order to make the difference.”

Hamilton revealed the final few laps of the race had been “horrifying” as he fended off an attack from Verstappen, who made it by at one stage on lap 53 of 56 but was forced to give the place back as his move was made outside track limits.

The seven-time champion admitted he is relishing the chance to finally have some competition, after clocking up many of his victories in a car that has given his rivals very little chance.

“I loved every minute of the weekend,” he added. “Knowing for us as a team that we were behind in performance… these guys have done a better job so far and so for us to come away with this result, given we weren’t the fastest, is a real result.

“This has got to have started off as one of the toughest [seasons], if not the… I think Red Bull’s pace is incredibly strong, as you could see. We can’t match them in qualifying right now.

“I thought we could get closer within the race – but that was a little bit too close for my liking. We just don’t know how much better or worse they’ll be in other places. Maybe our car’s better in other places than it is here, or maybe it’s worse.

“We were fortunate with Max going wide but that won’t happen again, I’m pretty sure, so we’ve got to do better, we’ve got to be smarter. There’s a long way to go. Twenty-two [races]. Holy crap! I’ll be grey by the end of this!”

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