Reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton revealed his mindset was conflicted during the Monaco Grand Prix as he weighed up chasing his rivals against accepting third position.
Hamilton started the race from third position and converted his grid spot on the opening lap, though gradually drifted away from leader Daniel Ricciardo and second-placed Sebastian Vettel.
Hamilton was the first of the front-runners to pit and discard Hypersofts for Ultrasofts, though repeatedly radioed his Mercedes team to complain of graining, doubting the longevity of the tyres.
Ricciardo’s loss of power up front slowed the pace and both Vettel and Hamilton closed in, with the leaders at one stage of the race settled by just a handful of seconds.
But Hamilton was never in a serious position to threaten the lead duo and he slipped back across the closing stages, before explaining his conflicted mindset post-race.
“I really, really am happy with the weekend to come away with third with this difficult weekend for us car wise,” he said.
“We were the third quickest team really this weekend and we almost got second, so I am really happy in that respect and really happy for Daniel because he’s a great dude.
“But it’s just Monaco is… it’s got the biggest build up, it’s the most special race of the year and if you think, say I’ve got whatever amount of years I’ve got left of my career this is one now gone.
“I just remember driving and I was thinking it’s just a shame that the race is not as exciting as the whole spectacle and actually what the track is like because in qualifying it’s epic, through practice, there’s no place like it but unfortunately in the race…
“I mean did any of you guys [the media] find that exciting at all? And on the racing drivers’ point of view, we just weren’t ever pushing.
“At the beginning it’s kind of a feeler then you’ve got to back off massively particularly for us, more hardcore for us as we were struggling with our tyres.
“It’s just insane how little I was pushing, the least that I can ever remember. Just trying to stop the fronts from graining and even when I did it, when I was not pushing, the tyre grained so it was just an unusual race where you weren’t pushing.
“I mean I was 10 seconds behind and I was really conflicted, I am still in my heart, I still want to win this race, maybe something drastic is going to happen in the coming laps, so who knows, maybe the genius strategists might pull something out of the bag.
“But they’re like ‘just bring it home, basically stay 10 seconds behind’, but in my heart I am like ‘I’ve got to close the gap because if I get close maybe, just maybe, something will happen and I will get one place’.
“So I am battling but on the same side I’ve got to drive bloody slow and make sure these tyres don’t fall apart or blow up or whatever it is.
“I am conflicted and I don’t know if people watching get that passion because I love racing.”
Hamilton was nonetheless accepting of the points that meant his title advantage over Vettel was reduced only from 17 to 14.
“You can’t win them all, I know that and I am grateful that we only lost three points,” he said.
“Would I have loved to won the Monaco Grand Prix? Hell yeah, more than anything but would I want to win the World Championship? Hell yeah more than anything.
“I will take that, put it in the pocket and put all my energy to move forwards.”
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