Briton hopes better times are just around the corner
Last Updated: September 8, 2011 5:54pm
Hamilton: Six accidents this season
Lewis Hamilton believes he is having "one of those seasons" after suffering six accidents which have seriously dented his world title bid.
Two of them have led to him failing to finish races, the others robbing him of strong finishing positions.
In the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa 11 days ago, Hamilton's failure to spot Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi as he moved across to take his racing line led to a collision that concluded with him smashing into a barrier.
With reigning champion Sebastian Vettel going on to win the race, Hamilton now trails the German by 113 points ahead of the Italian Grand Prix, adding to his misery of a year predominantly to forget.
"It's just one of those years. Everyone goes through tough times and I'm going through it," said Hamilton.
"It's the way of life. Good times will come, and people will make less of the bad times.
Target
"I've had two DNFs, similar to other people, but I feel I've had worse races, like Monaco which was poor.
"I guess I'm an easy target at the moment because I'm always in trouble.
"Hopefully, at some stage, I'll move away from that spotlight and into a good light and people will only have good things to say.
"But it certainly feels like it's been a worse year than I've had previously.
"In 2008 there were incidents then as well, but I guess because I won the championship they were forgotten.
"For whatever reason people always remember the bad times over the good times, so I'm here to try and put things right and have a much better weekend."
For Hamilton, his intention is clear as the championship is now no longer his priority, adding: "I'm not really focusing on that.
"I'm trying to get back to having some good results so I can stop negative stories being written about me.
"I don't read them personally. I just hear there are pretty bad stories that have been written, so I am thinking it would be good to give you guys (the media) something good to write about me."
Countering comments it was his aggressive driving that again proved his undoing in Belgium, he said: "It was just a mistake.
"It wasn't because I was being aggressive. I didn't even know he (Kobayashi) was really there.
"People blame it on an aggressive driving style, but it was nothing to do with that.
"So I'll continue to drive the way I do. I will just try my hardest to stay out of trouble. I'll give people extra room when I overtake them."
Hamilton has revealed he may have momentarily been knocked out in the wake of his crash into the barrier.
From the on-board footage, it certainly appeared as if that was the case as the Briton did not move for a few seconds before finally removing his steering wheel.
"I don't really remember much from hitting the wall," said Hamilton.
Clipped
"It's possible I was out for a couple of seconds, I'm not really sure.
"I remember trying to go into the corner and getting clipped, but after that it's a bit blurry."
The goal at Monza is a simple one now for Hamilton, to produce a performance to ensure the past is forgotten, not least here a year ago when he crashed out on the opening lap after running into the Ferrari of Felipe Massa.
"I'm excited, confident for the weekend," asserted Hamilton.
"If we've got the car, I think we can do it this weekend, and I know what I can do. When things are right, I'm not crashing out then I know I can do a good job.
"It's about trying to get myself back to doing a solid job, getting some good results.
"We've still seven races, it's not at all over. Mathematically it's possible, so that gives me hope, that I can still find inspiration to attack."
Credit: Sky Sports (www.skysports.com)
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