Lewis Hamilton has revealed that he is no longer racing with a drinks bottle in order to save some weight, as the margin between Mercedes and Ferrari is now so miniscule, that the smallest of savings can now make the difference.
Spanish Grand Prix winner Hamilton sounded exhausted when communicating with his engineer via team radio, and after the race he explained that he was pushing from start to finish an attempt to regain the lead after losing it to Sebastian Vettel at the start.
"I think it’s dependent on what kind of race you have," he said when questioned on his heavy breathing.
"A lot of the races that we sometimes have to do, where you’re saving fuel, like in the last race for example – I couldn’t push, the car was overheating – whereas [in Spain from] Turn 1 to the end it was flat out and so those races are the most… you’re just using everything you’ve got so for sure, in that first stint, for instance, to stay on Sebastian was a killer."
Matters were made worse by the fact Hamilton has chosen to drop his drinks bottle to save some weight, meaning he's unable to replace any of the roughly 2kg of fluid a driver loses throughout a race.
"Also I don’t carry drinks in my car either to save weight so I’m not having a drink through the race.
"And then at the end, I used everything I had left when I jumped into my team and my heart rate hit the ceiling. I was good when I got out of the car but jumping into… I don’t know if I will do that again. I was a little bit tired after that one."
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