LEWIS Hamilton has admitted the arrival of Formula One’s summer break is well-timed after conceding that his championship battle with Sebastian Vettel is proving the most difficult of his decade-long career.
The 32-year-old lost further ground after he gave up third place to his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday. Hamilton is now 14 points behind the Ferrari man, who took the chequered flag at the Hungaroring to claim his fourth victory of the year, in a championship race which the German has led from the outset.
Hamilton has also won four times this year – in China, Spain, Canada and at Silverstone – but those victories have been accompanied by a number of inconsistent displays.
For now, Hamilton is officially off-duty, and his first port of call is understood to be Colorado. A trip to Barbados for the Crop Over festival – a favourite destination of Hamilton’s in recent years – is also likely .
“I definitely feel like the summer break has come at a good time,” Hamilton said. “It has been a very tough year, physically, mentally and emotionally for everyone at the team.“It has been a difficult season up until now, and I think this break will be really good for everyone to recharge and hopefully come back fresh. I encourage my team to come back strong and I’ll try to come back even stronger.”
Hamilton would have started the second half of the season, which resumes at Belgium’s Spa-Francorchamps Circuit in the final week of August – 11 points behind Vettel had he not relinquished third to Bottas on the final corner on Sunday, but the Englishman believes he can usurp Vettel and claim his fourth title.
“I don’t think I will ever get those three points back,” Hamilton said.
“We have given up a lot of points, and Ferrari have given up a lot less as a team. But I truly believe we have the capability of winning this championship, but it is going to take absolutely 100 per cent of everyone’s effort to pull it off.”
Bottas is 33 points adrift of Vettel in the title race, and 19 shy of Hamilton. Ferrari have thrown their full support behind Vettel, with Raikkonen, who is 86 points behind his team-mate, playing second fiddle for the Italian marque.
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