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F1 Hungarian GP: Hamilton: Barcelona fired me up

Lewis Hamilton says a fortified mental approach has been the key to his mid-season resurgence which was sparked by his first-lap crash with Mercedes team-mat Nico Rosberg at the Spanish Grand Prix.

The defending F1 world champion saw the points deficit to Rosberg expand to 43 points in Russia and after the pair took each other out in Spain on the opening lap Hamilton says his mental attitude has been strengthened to battle back against his team-mate.

Since the clash in Spain, which some figures saw Rosberg at fault but it was ultimately judged as a racing incident by the stewards, Hamilton has been on a rampant run of form with four wins in the past five races - with his only miss in Baku which was hampered by a crash in qualifying.

As a result, Hamilton feels through the peaks and troughs in recent races - with the British driver preparing to be hit by grid penalties having already met his full allocation of five turbo and MGU-H units - he's been able to maximise his opportunities which has seen the British driver slash Rosberg's lead from 43 down to just one point heading to the Hungarian Grand Prix.

"Ever since the low of Barcelona I've been able to cultivate this really strong mental attitude and I'm really feeling that fire inside me right now," Hamilton said. "Of course, I have good days and bad days like everyone else. But whatever the case, I'm able to turn negatives into positives when it counts.

"It's a wonderful feeling winning in front of your home crowd. I'm still buzzing from it now and looking forward to carrying those positive vibes into the next race weekend."

Hamilton, a four-time winner at the Hungaroring, is keen to make amends after a couple of disappointing results in Budapest with the knowledge of a victory guaranteeing him the F1 championship lead.

"I'm feeling fresh, feeling powerful and feeling confident heading to Hungary," he said. "It's a track that for some reason has always suited my style and I have incredible support there, so I can't wait to get to out on track.

"The past couple of years I haven't had the smoothest weekends in Budapest, of course. But I know I've got the pace, so I'm gunning to turn that around this time."

Zdroj: crash.net