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Lewis Hamilton has admitted that he no longer cares about the whole jewelry debate. The Mercedes driver was called to the stewards as he wore his nose studs during the FP3 session. He shared the medical prescription with the stewards and got an exemption for the same. However, his team was penalized for inaccurately filing the self-assessment form.
Talking to the media afterward, Lewis Hamilton once again clarified that he did not wear the nose stud to make a statement. He said,
"I was not trying to make a statement. No. Basically we had this… obviously, I've had this… my jewellery and my nose stud for years. And obviously, we had that whole commotion at the beginning of the year. At the time it was, like soldered in. So it didn't come lose. They gave me at the time, for many races, they gave me, not therapeutic use, but like an exemption, until I could find a solution. And then went and got it taken out and tried to find solution, put it in and put it out. It got infected because of that."
The Briton further explained how bad the situation had gotten as he ended up having blood blisters and had to see a doctor. He said,
"And I was just continuing on with this infection. And I had a blood blister and I was going on about it. So just had quite a sore on my nose. Then I went back and saw the… this is all stuff I've told them before qualifying. And then went back and had to have the… disgustingly, but the blood blister fixed because there was like pus and blood and stuff. And then put this in and the last two weeks it’s started to heal and they've asked that I keep it in. So it's crazy that we're obviously having to talk about something so small. I take everything else out. And yeah, at this point, I don't really care to be honest."
"The car behaves one weekend, the next weekend it doesn't": Lewis Hamilton
When asked why he had a comparatively smoother weekend than his teammate, Lewis Hamilton admitted he had no idea why that was the case. While George Russell will start the race in P11(with a brake issue later revealed by the team), his teammate will start the race in P3.
Hamilton did admit that the car was slightly unpredictable when it came to assessing how it would perform on a weekend. He said,
"I can't speak for George. I don't know what happened with him in the session but again, I don't know why, the car was we're just working. You arrive one weekend and it doesn't work, you have no idea why and then other weekends it does and then one session it works and it just depends what mood the car’s in, I guess."
Lewis Hamilton did, however, further add that,
"But today, it was good that we're able to get temperature in the tyres and that enabled us to have the confidence to push and fight with these guys. So it was definitely tricky, though. Definitely wasn't anywhere near easy to keep up with their sort of pace. They're always so quick, these guys."
Lewis Hamilton will be starting the race in P3, and with Max Verstappen starting in P8, this might be his best chance to pick up a win this season.
