Hamilton “hoping to be 100%” for Hungarian GP

Lewis Hamilton says he is still recovering from the illness which plagued his German Grand Prix having taken the week off before the Hungarian Grand Prix to rest in his bid to return to full fitness.

The reigning Formula 1 world champion endured a nightmare Hockenheim weekend having been struggling with illness throughout, to the point Mercedes put Esteban Ocon on standby to replace the Briton if he was unable to continue, before his frustrating race which saw him crash while leading before spinning off again later in the race.

Hamilton has used the three days between the German and Hungarian rounds to maximise his recovery while digesting his tough race at Hockenheim having fought back to ninth place, following post-race penalties handed to both Alfa Romeo drivers which promoted him up two spots in the final race results.

But despite taking the time to recover, Hamilton concedes he isn’t back to full fitness ahead of the Hungarian GP with track action starting tomorrow with FP1.

“I’m hoping to be 100% by this weekend. Still feel I need a bit more rest,” Hamilton said. “I’ve just been fighting off some sort of bug, I definitely feel I’m much, much better fighting shape for the weekend, I can’t tell you how good that feels.

“I’ve slept literally the last three days so I feel a lot better.”

“I can’t wait to get back in the car, which is a completely different to how I was feeling last Thursday and particularly Friday, getting in the car was not a good feeling.”

Despite his tough German round, Hamilton ended up extending his F1 championship lead by two points thanks to his ninth place finish coupled with Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas crashing out of the race.