Lewis Hamilton ended the first half of his maiden season with Scuderia Ferrari on a low with a frustrating weekend in Hungary that saw him publicly express doubts about his own ability.
The timing was unfortunate given that he then headed into the three-week break with his head clearly in a bad place. There was a long wait until the next race, and a chance to try and move things on.
On the plus side he used the summer shutdown part of the gap to in his words be “completely unplugged”. He returned to Maranello at the start of this week to dig through the data with his engineers and prepare for the second half of the season.
He is of course keen to have something of a reset and turn things around from this weekend onwards.
“I feel determined to and motivated to, yes,” he said in Zandvoort on Thursday. “We’re going to work hard, keep our heads down, try to change a few things in our approach and start to enjoy ourselves. It’s been so much pressure in this first half of the season.
“It’s not been the most enjoyable. So I think just remembering that we love what we do, we’re all in this together, and yeah, trying to have some fun.”
Pushed on that intriguing aspect of having fun and enjoying what he’s doing he made some interesting observations that can be applied to all of us.
“I think it’s probably the most important part,” he said. “Because that’s the reason I got into this sport, that it was fun for me.
“And I think for anyone who in whatever career you’re in, if you’re not enjoying what you’re doing, then why are you doing it? And there can often be so much noise, you can lose sight of what’s really, really important.
“So that’s what I’m saying, I just really want to focus on getting back to that enjoyment. I joined the team that I’ve always dreamed of driving for and there’s been so much noise around that it’s kind of clouded us from getting to enjoy it.
“So now it’s about kind of moving those things aside, and just getting back to focusing on the pure love of what we do.”
There has been plenty to distract him thus far. Asked about his earlier reference to pressure he mentioned the workload that he’s faced in his new job.
“I think ultimately, just to get on top of everything, the amount of work we have, all the new partners, the amount of shoots we’ve done, getting integrated into a new team.
“And it’s a big, big team, and it’s also the biggest brand in our sport as well. So a combination of all those different things has been it’s been a lot.”
It’s a difficult process. How do you balance driver having to adapt to his new team versus the other way around? Hamilton admits that it’s not easy.
“I think it’s a very fine line,” he said. “I think my approach this year was really to adapt as much as I could to how they work, rather than arrive and say you have to change everything, and get a perspective of how they like to work.
“And then just try to then bring my experience to see how we can make those bits even better. But it’s a fine line, for sure.”
Asked if he’d experienced similar difficult times with an F1 car he made it clear that it was nothing new for him.
“I never just got in and just won,” he said. “There were always difficult times. I’m the type of person who doesn’t like to get complacent, and be comfortable.
“And that’s really kind of where I was with a long-term relationship I had before, and taking this step into a team that I truly believe in, and I still believe in the potential here and what we can achieve together, and I think everyone in the team does.
“But no one succeeds without going through those tough patches. So I do welcome it. Look forward to the sunnier days, for sure.”
Whatever happens this weekend in Zandvoort the real test will come at Monza next weekend, and his first Italian GP in red.
“I’ve not really thought about it, to be honest,” he said. “Trying to take it one day at a time. I don’t really know what to expect. Obviously, what I saw in Imola was incredible. And I have obviously been to Monza and seen how Ferrari has been received there, and I’m always excited to see the tifosi.
“The support this team has around the world from the tifosi is unmatched. I’m sure it’ll be a unique experience.”
Adam Cooper F1 