Hamilton in Azerbaijan — Photo: © LAT Images

Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton reveals crash near-misses after getting through "most painful race" of F1 career

Seven-time champion finished fourth in Baku

Ian Parkes

Sunday 12 June 2022 16:08

Lewis Hamilton has revealed he almost crashed on several occasions due to the violent nature of his Mercedes after enduring "the most painful race" of his F1 career.

The seven-time F1 champion has also claimed he considered retiring on a number of occasions due to experiencing severe back pain brought on by the turbulent bouncing of a car that team principal Toto Wolff has declared a "****box".

Hamilton managed to drag his W13 to the chequered flag and fourth place, but at the finish, the 37-year-old Briton but was barely able to haul himself out of his car's cockpit such was his discomfort after parking up in parc fermé.

Asked how he was feeling after the race, Hamilton replied: "Sore. Very, very sore.

"That was the most painful race I've experienced, the toughest race I've experienced."

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On whether he had concerns over finishing, he said: "Yeah, there were a lot of moments when I didn't know whether I was going to make it, whether I was going to keep the car on track.

"I don't know if you saw in the high speed, I nearly lost it in the high-speed several times, so the battle with the car was intense.

"And then at the end, the last 10 laps, my back was just...I was having to go internal - 'You've got this, you can do this, just bear with it'.

"The thing was bouncing so much that at times I was nearly going into the wall.

"The concern is, safety-wise, at 180 miles an hour, bashing into a wall, I don't think I've ever had to think about that too much as a racing driver.

"You don't really think about keeping it out of the wall at such high speed. It was a very strange experience."

Hamilton goes cold

Aside from physio and acupuncture, Hamilton has also revealed to undergoing an extreme form of treatment in a bid to get through the 51 laps around the streets of the Baku City Circuit.

"I've been doing cryotherapy," confirmed Hamilton. "You go in there and it's bloody cold. You again have to go internal and say 'You can'. It's the same sort of thing, just biting down and just grinning with it.

"[In the race] I had to think of all the people that rely on me to get those points and that's really what I was focused on.

"This is definitely the worst for me. I haven't had it this bad this year."