After a heated post-race interview at the Spanish Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton apologised to Rachel Brookes, according to Sky Sports F1 pundit David Croft.
In Spain, Hamilton finished in seventh place and was only moved up to sixth place when Red Bull’s Max Verstappen scored a late penalty.
The seven-time world champion was overtaken near the end of the race by the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg, as his dismal start to his time at Ferrari continued despite a strong qualifying.
For only the second time since joining Ferrari, Hamilton outqualified team-mate Charles Leclerc on the Saturday, but within 10 laps on the Sunday, the team had called for team orders to allow Leclerc – who clearly had more pace – to go after the front runners.
Leclerc ended the day in third, and sealed his third grand prix podium of the season, while Hamilton is still waiting to claim a top-three main race finish.
Following his disappointing performance, Hamilton was immediately thrust into a post-race interview with Sky Sports F1’s Brookes, where he rued a ‘terrible’ day, and was quite standoffish with the broadcaster.
Croft has now revealed, however, that it was just down to Hamilton’s negative demeanour, and that he did apologise to Brookes off-camera.
“He was really down on himself and no one likes to see that,” Croft told the Fast and the Curious podcast. “Because at the end of the day, whether you’re a fan or not, Lewis Hamilton is the greatest racing driver we’ve ever seen. Statistically he is the greatest, I think he’s the greatest even without the stats.
“He wears his heart on his sleeve and should be applauded for that, because he does a lot of good when he wears his heart on his sleeve.
“He did apologise to Rachel Brookes for being so down in the dumps. Off camera he said ‘I’m really sorry about that, I’m just so down’, and that just shows you the extent that he really was down, he’s not putting it on for the cameras, trust me.”
Hamilton’s Ferrari woes continue
Following a dismal start to life with Ferrari, Hamilton put in a brilliant performance at the Imola Grand Prix to achieve his best grand prix finish of the season, coming home in fourth having started the race down in 11th, starting the second triple-header of the season off in fantastic form.
However, across the past two weekends, Hamilton has fallen into a bit of a slump once more, finishing over 50 seconds behind Leclerc in Monaco as he laboured to a fifth-place finish, before the disappointment of the Spanish GP on Sunday.
These past two poor results mean that Hamilton is rooted in sixth in the drivers’ championship, 23 points ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli in seventh, but also 23 points behind Leclerc.
Hamilton still harbours hopes of claiming an unprecedented eighth world championship title, but Ferrari have only seen flashes of his brilliant best so far.
