Lewis Hamilton expressed his satisfaction at the manner in which he stormed to Spanish Grand Prix victory in the wake of his subdued qualifying performance.
Hamilton missed out on pole position for the third race in a row to team-mate Valtteri Bottas, who lapped the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya six-tenths faster than the reigning World Champion.
But Hamilton struck back by grabbing the lead into Turn 1 – with Bottas citing a clutch issue for his poor getaway – and was never seriously challenged throughout the 66-lap race.
“I think today was just trying to redeem myself from a poor performance yesterday,” said Hamilton.
“The balance yesterday was a bit of a nightmare, but the race pace has generally been quite good for me. I’ve been quite happy and comfortable in the races.
“When we went out to do the laps to the grid, I wasn’t very happy with the balance still, so I had to make some changes.
“I had to alter my driving style a little bit. It worked well in the race scenario.
“I’m going to look into why it doesn’t work on a single lap, and that may take some time.
“Normally on tyres, I’m pretty good, but I think that’s the weak area. It’s not that I can’t do it, I’ve just got to discover it, and that’s what I’m moving towards.”
Hamilton accepted that getting the jump on Bottas into Turn 1 was decisive in the outcome of the grand prix.
“This is such a great circuit but it’s very, very hard to follow once you get through Turn 1,” said Hamilton.
“I’m not really sure if they will make amends to make it a race where we can be closer, but nevertheless once we were around Turn 1 I just had to keep my head down and focus on just trying to deliver each track.
“It’s just an incredible day for the team. We brought an upgrade here, and everyone worked so hard to make sure we brought a decent upgrade, something that delivered on every aspect.”
Hamilton’s victory and fastest lap means he will head to the Monaco Grand Prix with a seven-point title lead over Bottas.
