Miami recovery gave Hamilton ‘what I live for’ after “demoralising” Baku

After suffering his worst-ever qualifying on US soil and being dumped out of Q2, Hamilton worked his way from 13th on the grid to finish sixth at the Miami Grand Prix. 

Hamilton struggled to make inroads on hard tyres in the beginning but the seven-time world champion’s race came alive when he switched onto mediums for the closing stages. 

The Mercedes driver said his late stint in Miami felt a world away from what he experienced the previous weekend in Baku during a challenging sprint race. 

"It was mega, just to be in a position [to overtake]. In the sprint race and the last race, I was going backwards and it is demoralising when you are going backwards,” Hamilton said. 

"But it was great to have pace, to be seeing the cars up ahead and seeing the progress and knowing that we're going to be battling with people. 

“We had a couple of great overtakes as well, that is what I live for.”

The highlight of Hamilton’s race came with two laps remaining when he caught and passed Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc with a superb overtake to secure sixth place. 

“It felt great to see the Ferrari up ahead and be just catching it bit by bit,” he added. “It’s really impressive that they’re so quick on a single lap, but I don’t know what was going on within their race.

“But to come from 13th and then get back into the hustle with them was great. I think if I qualified where I should have probably qualified, I would have had a much easier, smoother day. 

“But I prefer days like this where there’s a bit of adversity and you have to pull it all together and deliver, so great fun to do that.”

Hamilton made way for his teammate George Russell at one stage, with the younger Briton going on to claim fourth place. 

“George, he started sixth so we were in bit of a different race and of course I’m a team player, I want to get the team the maximum points so I let him by,” Hamilton explained.