How Hamilton has used 'bubble' environment to his advantage

Lewis Hamilton feels he is fitter and more mentally prepared than ever this season thanks to the extra time he has gained through the coronavirus-induced restrictions.

Hamilton, who missed the penultimate race in 2020 in Sakhir when he tested positive for Covid-19, had delivered his best start in F1 this year before a testing Monaco GP.

Explaining why he felt his start had been so strong, Hamilton said: “I’m fitter than I’ve ever been as I’ve had more time to train and to work on the mental side and understanding the car.

"So I think just overall I’ve raised the bar within myself and that’s the goal with the team to do that.

“It’s been such a challenge to remain in the bubble, it’s meant less time with family, not seeing friends, not doing the normal things that we used to do, it definitely has been challenging.

“On the other side, as we’re working in our bubble it has given more time to focus on the racing. You’re not being pulled left, right and centre for appearances like we have in the past.”

Hamilton outlines mentality with Mercedes

Mercedes appeared to be off the pace in pre-season testing compared to rivals Red Bull but since the start of the campaign, the team has fought back.

Hamilton excelled with three wins from the first four races after engaging in close combat with Max Verstappen but Monaco was a struggle for the whole team, with the world champion only seventh.

The team’s trackside engineering director, Andrew Shovlin, said that Hamilton had realised the extent of the challenge in pre-season testing but the British driver says he is taking the same approach as always.

“Every year, your goal is to extract absolutely everything,” he said. “There’s never a year that you arrive, whether you’ve got two tenths, half a second, there’s never a moment that you’re, like, ‘I’m going to give a little bit less’.

“Every year you give absolutely everything and just sometimes things just don’t go as planned: you could be distracted by things, you don’t capitalise on opportunities, you might not be always as complete as you like.

“This year that’s not necessarily the case. It started out the way I wanted, I’ve adjusted to the whole disruption of the pandemic and how to maximise.”

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