Formula 1: I won’t change, vows Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton insist he will never hide his emotions, even if he’s criticised for his demeanour.

At the Australian Grand Prix the 27-year-old trailed behind McLaren team-mate Jenson Button and double world champion Sebastian Vettel after starting on pole and his downbeat demeanour on the podium suggested the dark days of last year had returned to haunt him again.

Ex-F1 star David Coulthard, in his newspaper column, wrote that Hamilton’s body language was “striking”, and that he was “stony-faced” on the podium. Describing Button’s victory as “a big win” in “laying down an early marker”, the Scot then mused: “Has it knocked Lewis?”

But Hamilton said: “A few things didn’t go my way, and that’s motor racing. I finished third, I went backwards. If you start eighth and finish fourth, then that’s a great weekend. But, if you start on pole and don’t win, you go backwards which is definitely disappointing.

“Definitely things have to go your way, but this was just one of those races where it didn’t. I was still there in the fight and I still finished on the podium, so I can’t be too upset with it.”

Hamilton, though, sees no reason why he should change the way he is. He added: “I was disappointed and I don’t feel I should have to disguise that.

“I worked massively hard over the winter, harder than I’ve ever worked, and the result of the race didn’t go the way I wanted it to. But I’m only looking forwards. It’s only one race and I still got 15 points. It’s very early days, another 19 races to go.”

As far as he is concerned, his mood on the podium had nothing to do with the events of last year when he allowed his personal life to affect his racing.

“It wasn’t a reminder of last year at all, it just wasn’t a great start to the season,” he said.