Lewis Hamilton Believes ‘Mixture of Emotions’ From Losing Mansour Ojjeh Affected Baku F1 Race

If there’s one team whose struggles are there for everyone to see, it’s Mercedes. The last two races have been disastrous for the Silver Arrows, with Lewis Hamilton the only driver to take points.

After a disappointing end to his Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Hamilton revealed the difficulties he faced on Sunday. He mentioned how difficult it was to deal with his emotions while counteracting the threat posed by Red Bull.

Lewis Hamilton admits having a mixture of emotions after the passing of Mansour Ojjeh

Mansour Ojjeh was a shareholder with McLaren Racing since 1984. The Saudi Arabian ventured into motorsport for the first time in 1979 when his father’s group, TAG, sponsored Williams.

Before the Azerbaijan Grand Prix got underway on Sunday, McLaren confirmed the news of Mansour Ojjeh’s death at 68 years of age. The news of Ojjeh’s death hurt millions of fans across the world, including drivers like Hamilton.

The Briton joined the McLaren driver program in 1998, before getting his first F1 drive in 2007 with the same team. He raced with the team for six seasons, which included winning the 2008 driver’s world championship.

Hamilton expressed sorrow for the passing of Ojjeh while explaining how Baku gave him a lot to learn. The defending world champion said, “These lessons are sent to try us, and it’s just quite difficult also because I lost a friend [Mansour Ojjeh] this morning, and so just a mixture of emotions. But we live to fight another day.”

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Hamilton: Humbling experience to come away with nothing

Although Hamilton kept himself in the race on Sunday, he finished P15 after a disastrous couple of laps to end the race. The Briton believes that although hard work was put in, finishing outside the points was a humbling experience for him.

“It’s quite a humbling experience actually to come away with nothing after all the hard work. But these things happen,” said Hamilton.

However, the 7-time world champion was pleased with taking the fight to Red Bull, the quickest at the moment. He said, “I think naturally you can see clearly the Red Bull is the quickest at the moment.

“Very, very hard to keep up with them today. And so to have been in the mix, and in that position, was really an amazing experience.”

Hamilton and Mercedes will look to get their act together ahead of the French Grand Prix. With just 4 points separating him and Max Verstappen, the Briton needs to continue his winning streak in Le Castellet in order to reclaim the championship lead.

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