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Hamilton 'needed' win for self-belief

ESPN Staff
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Lewis Hamilton said he "needed" his victory at the British Grand Prix to help bolster his self-belief at this stage of the championship.

Hamilton won on home soil while his team-mate and rival for the title, Nico Rosberg, retired with a gearbox problem. The 25 points has now drawn Hamilton within four points of Rosberg, and while he said he gained no pleasure from seeing his team-mate retire, the victory was necessary to help his mental approach for the rest of the season.

"I don't really feel anything for the [Rosberg] retirement," he said. "I thought I'd be here saying, 'finally!' but I don't feel that way, I was really looking forward to racing him. In the race I thought 'that really sucks' because that's what the fans need to see.

"It's the first time this year that I had the different strategy, he was going option [medium], option [medium], prime [hard] and I was going option, prime, option, and if I did a good enough job on the prime - as he has done in previous races - I could have attacked him on the option. That's what I was looking forward to, but I'll take it as it has come. Today is more [about] just solidifying belief in myself, and that recovery … I needed it, I needed it."

However, Hamilton, who started from sixth on the grid, believes he would have had a very good chance of winning had Rosberg not had his issue.

"I feel confident I would have been on his tail and with the different tyre strategy there is at least half a second between the medium and the hard, and in the previous races you've seen him on my tail because he's had the softer tyre. Today would have been the same and I'm pretty good when it comes to attacking, so I do feel confident I would have been on his tail."

The win came after Hamilton threw away a shot at pole position at Silverstone by failing to complete his final qualifying lap in the belief that the track was not getting faster; a mistake he promised not to make again.

"I'll learn from that so it doesn't matter if it's raining or whatever, I'll make sure I push to the end. I've been racing long enough to know that but sometimes you make mistakes you knew the solution to."

Asked if he felt the championship had been reset for the second half of the season, Hamilton pointed out that he has still had more retirements than his team-mate so far.

"I've had two and he's had one - that's not really the same. However, I hope that we rectify our faults and we don't have any more issues on either car through the rest of the year. It's going to be very close and I don't take Saturday lightly at all. I need to really analyse things over these next couple of weeks and try to figure out how I can optimise and utilise my speed and ability."

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