Lewis Hamilton’s guilt, self-inflicted after his shocker and ineptitude at the Hungarian Grand Prix before the summer break, will find spectacular resolve this weekend around Belgium’s challenging Spa circuit.
That is the 30-year-old champion’s vow — and he can’t wait to get cracking with a show to remember for different reasons than the last, forgettable one.
All through a sunshine private jet stopover in Barbados with pop star girlfriend Rihanna he has nursed his embarrassment and striven to assure his multitude of fans worldwide that he will make amends for his untidy and punishing mess up in Budapest.
A month will have passed, but the pain of what he described as one of the worst performances of his career will not have eased and I would wager he would have wished there had been no break so he could immediately have tried to repair the dent in his reputation.
The inquests back at the Mercedes team’s UK headquarters have been diligent and long-running, with the verdict from team supremo Toto Wolff that Hungary was a disaster and, in his words, an afternoon that gave him a few more grey hairs.
Technical director Paddy Lowe added: “It was not a great day. A bad one. A very bad one. Lewis was too aggressive.”
World champion and current leader Hamilton blundered his start and surrendered pole position, dropped to fourth by the first corner, crashed carelessly into Red Bull rival Daniel Ricciardo, ran off track and into the gravel, and suffered a drive-through penalty as he floundered to sixth place.
It was a nightmare argy-bargy performance reflected in the anguished faces and groans of his frustrated backup team on the pit wall and among his mechanics in the Mercedes garage.
Ironically, it followed a commanding build-up, where he took top spot in all the practice and qualifying sessions and joyfully rated it all as one of his greatest-ever demonstrations of his superiority.
It all served to underline just how perilously marginal the difference between soaring success and abject failure is.
Hamilton’s shame has not diminished and, as he prepared for a sell-out Spa — a track where he has been a winner only once, with one second place and three crashes, he confessed: “Hungary was a tough afternoon. It was one of my worst ever races. I had a very bad day at the office and I don’t have any explanation.
“All I can do is apologise to the team, who had done everything right, only for me to let them down so badly. But I promise I shall work as hard as I can to make amends in Belgium.
“In Hungary I had to tell myself to calm down and not give up. But I made too many mistakes. And now I need to bounce back in Spa.”
He adds: “I don’t need to motivate myself when things go wrong. The motivation is already there within me. And it is burning right now.”
With talk like that, there could be some fireworks from him around the Ardenne hills showcase circuit on Sunday.
— The writer is a freelance journalist and motorsport expert
