Lewis Hamilton will do everything to minimise the impact of the engine penalty he is going to get in Belgium.
“Naturally we already discussed engine penalties before so that will come into play for sure – but I’ll do everything I can to minimise the impact it will have. Otherwise, beyond that penalty I’ll eventually take, I think I’ll be able to continue with the momentum. I plan to continue with the momentum that I had before the break”, the English driver said at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.
“As far as I’m aware we’ll be taking the engine penalty this weekend, yes. I have no engines left, so…”
Lewis admitted he had no idea what he could achieve from the back of the grid: “Honestly, I have no idea. Honestly, if you look… fourth? He (Fernando Alonso) says fourth. Honestly, I really don’t know how far I can get up. It depends, the pace of the other cars. We’ll start tomorrow and we’ll find out. If Red Bull are right close with us, that’s two cars less, that’s three down and then the gap follows behind. If the others are much much slower than the possibilities go up. There’s going to be safety cars, all sorts of things.
I started last in Belgium, er, in Hungary a couple of years ago when the gaps were much bigger and came fourth, so Sunday’s definitely going to be harder than that and I just hope that I can get into the points. As long as I’m going forward, that’s what matters.”
The triple F1 world champion has 49 wins in his career and the next one would be his 59th but he is not thinking how he would accept such an achievement.
“I have to get there first!”, Lewis joked. “Still, today, everyday I have to pinch myself really to think that I’ve… what I’ve achieved so far in my career.
It’s a dream for all of us to be doing what we love, and to succeed at it… watching grands prix growing up I never thought I’d be sitting here with nearly 50 grand prix wins under my belt. It’s very surreal – but I plan to win more.”
