Lewis Hamilton insists that he had “one of the most enjoyable races” as he charged from 10th on the grid to second in Las Vegas.
By the second round of stops he’d worked his way up to seventh, and then he spent the last stint chasing Mercedes team mate and race leader George Russell.
“Great, great performance,” he said. “It’s not that I didn’t think I could do it. So, yeah, I’ve had many races like this, but I’m generally happy to have had the recovery.
“It’s a new day and I just tried to approach it with a positive mindset, and to be able to have a car underneath me today, and be able to push and overtake people, was such a great feeling.
“That was honestly one of the most enjoyable races. Yeah, if I’d started pole and just led all the way, it wouldn’t have felt as much fun, for sure.
“Of course, winning a Grand Prix is always a great thing, but when whoever it is faces adversity and has to battle through, it just feels so much better when you do succeed.”
Asked about what might have been had he not had a difficult Q3 Hamilton downplayed any frustration.
“It doesn’t really matter, really, does it?,” he said. “At the end of the day, George did a great job, did everything he was supposed to do, and I’m happy for him and I’m just grateful I could get back up there to support the team with a 1-2.
“I had a great time. When you’re progressing and moving forward, it’s always a great feeling. It felt very much like my old days at Rye House, starting at the back and coming through, so it was great.”
He added: “We got a really good balance in the car today. It felt a lot better than it was yesterday, particularly Q3 yesterday. But yeah, just phenomenal for the team.”
Hamilton says he doesn’t know how the car will perform in the final races.
“I have no idea,” he said. “I don’t think anyone in the team knows why we were as quick as we were this weekend. And everyone will be happy about it. But I think often in the hotter conditions, we struggle more.
“Maybe Qatar is not so bad because it’s a little bit cooler there. And the track is very smooth. So maybe we’ll not be too bad at that track. I think we were OK there last year. Abu Dhabi, maybe less so. But we’ll see.”
