Hamilton says cramps and pain in his right leg caused him to hit the gas at various points | Formula 1

– It’s an incredibly physical circuit. You spend a good part of the lap with your foot stepping on the accelerator and almost without rest. I ended up suffering from cramps in my right calf (throttle leg). So I was taking my foot off the gas at some points on the straight because (the muscle) was about to contract with absurd pain … It was very painful, but I had to get over it, that’s what I had for today. You can’t stop accelerating the entire lap, says the F1 victorious record holder.

Before having to fight the muscle that insisted on contracting, Hamilton had to regain the leadership he lost to his teammate Bottas and to Carlos Sainz’s McLaren, who stayed on the edge until the fifth lap of the race.

– What they said is that it would rain shortly after the end of the race, but it started dripping early. I started well, but right at turn seven, I came out strong at the rear. And then he didn’t know what might happen next. So I didn’t even fight Valtteri to defend the position, because I thought, “No, okay, I’ll be back later.” And thankfully, I was able to do just that, he explains.

With the 92nd victory of his career, the eighth of the year, Hamilton reaches 256 points, against 179 for his teammate Bottas and 162 for Max Verstappen of RBR.

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