19 November 2023 , 09:00
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Lewis Hamilton had a ball despite enduring a testing Las Vegas Grand Prix.
He started 10th which already presented a significant challenge. But things became worse at the first corner when he was forced to avoid chaotic scenes around him as several cars made contact and a couple span around.
"Really challenging race," he said. "I started on the hard tyre which was tricky in the beginning and, obviously, I got hit from someone behind, I think Carlos [Sainz]. I was then just trying not to hit the cars that had spun round and I lost five or six places."
He quickly set about recovering and made immediate progress back up the leaderboard. But another challenge presented itself when contact with Oscar Piastri left Hamilton with a puncture.
The seven-time world champion said: "After that I was making my way back and doing great, the tyres were feeling good and the pace was strong. I went up the inside of Piastri... I don't really know exactly what happened but I got hit from behind. I think it was a racing incident, but I just felt a thud.
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"I didn't have a puncture immediately so I was accelerating but as I got alongside the pit lane entry I felt the rear was moving and thought, 'Damn, it's too late to come in'. So I had to do a whole slow lap and must have lost 40 seconds or something.
"I'm grateful that I was able to come back and apologies to the team for the poor qualifying yesterday. There are strengths within our car but sometimes it's just really hard to get the performance out of it."
Hamilton finished eighth on the road in the end and was classified seventh as a result of a time penalty for team-mate George Russell. But despite all his struggles, Hamilton came away having really enjoyed himself and felt that a much-panned race weekend in Las Vegas had gone well overall.
He concluded: "I'm really happy to have had a positive race and I'm really grateful that the race was so good. I don't know how it was as a spectacle to watch but there was so much overtaking. It was like Baku, but better.
"I really wasn't expecting the track to be so great, but the more and more laps I did, I just really loved racing. Lots of great overtaking opportunities. I think for all those who were so negative about the weekend, saying it's all about the show, blah blah blah, I think Vegas proved them wrong."