Hamilton's search for 100th F1 win: 'It's taking longer than ever to get it'

“And then just a bunch of things, like obviously we had to let people past, so we had to keep going off line onto the wet lines. I mean, it wasn’t ideal. And I’m just now putting all my energy towards tomorrow. I’m just hoping that the car is okay.

“Just looking at both of the incidents, the pitlane one, of course it wasn’t perfect, but relatively light touches. And the second one super, super light. So the second one is not an issue. And so far, they’re saying they think it’s okay, so they’ll do all the checks tonight. Obviously, the car is built to withhold a lot of force through all these corners. So those little taps hopefully haven’t derailed us.”

It’s easy to suggest that Hamilton is under pressure in the World Championship race, and that such mistakes result from that sense of urgency. He denies that’s the case.

“It’s really nothing to do with pressure, honestly,” he said. “It really wasn’t a pressure scenario. It’s literally just mistakes do happen. Basically I came into the pits, I knew that I didn’t have a huge amount of time. And I was attacking, I was just trying to get through the pit lane as quick as possible, because I knew that I was gonna need as much time on track as possible.

“In the previous laps, previous times coming in the pitlane, we could take it really quite slowly. I thought the track was drying and the grip was quite good, and came in and just took it a little bit quicker than normal, and just lost the back end, and just slid into the wall. So yes, of course embarrassing, disappointed in myself, but shit happens. We all make mistakes.

“And of course, it’s not what you would expect a World Champion to do. But the problem when you have the successes that I have, anything but perfection, it feels like a long way off. But I’m only human. My dad called me afterwards, we just talked about it, and you just move on. Tomorrow I’ll get my racing head back on, back focused, and hopefully bring a good race.”

It will be fascinating to see how the start and first lap unfold. The guys ahead of Hamilton, Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz and George Russell, all have much to gain and nothing to lose – although the last named is well aware that contact with his future team mate won’t go down too well. The bottom line is that Hamilton will just have to go for it.

“I’m fighting for a championship, I’m chasing a championship, and I’m in a slightly different position to the people around me. But that doesn’t mean I won’t be racing hard. There’s just a balance that you have to try and have. In the past I have been relatively good I think with that balance of risk, so I should be okay.”

On paper Sochi should have been an easy one-two for Mercedes, as indeed was the case with Monza – that’s certainly how Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner sees it. Having failed to take advantage in Italy it’s logical to assume that Mercedes and Hamilton have to do so today, especially with Verstappen at the back. However Lewis insists that the team doesn’t see it that way.

“Well, we can talk about it and just apply pressure to ourselves. I mean, of course if you could capitalise on on any opportunity you have, it can make a big difference.

“But what you’re seeing is with the rule changes that it’s been difficult for everyone with engines. I’m sure this weekend it’s been interesting seeing some of the movement [ie Verstappen’s PU change]. Who knows what the hell its gonna be up ahead of us all?

“We just have to focus on now, try to maximise tomorrow as a team. If you look, Valtteri’s come from far behind here I believe. You saw him come from last to third in the last race. So it’s not impossible for those at the back to come and get some good points.”

Power units have become a big issue as the last part of the season approaches. This is a long season with a limit of three per driver, and the manufacturers are pushing the limits in terms of reliability while also (within the rules) cracking on with developments for next year. Added to that some big names have lost engines in crashes, notably Verstappen at Silverstone – hence his early switch to a fourth example.

Hamilton had a failure in practice at Zandvoort, but it was his oldest unit, one that had done a lot of race miles and was consigned to Friday use. With seven races to come after this weekend a change to a fourth example seems inevitable now, especially as Mercedes has experienced some issues, and there are even suggestions that Lewis will take it here.

“In terms of engines, I have absolutely no idea. Of course I’ve lost one engine, Valtteri’s had several. And there’s been others that Mercedes have seen up and down the paddock. So right now my I’m trying to treat my engines, the ones that we put in, with the absolute care when I’m driving, in terms of how much I’m gassing it, how much I’m revving the thing, revving the nuts off it, just really trying to minimise the laps that I do.

“But who knows? I can’t control the future. All I can do is try to maximise when I have the opportunity, and there’s been two [mistakes] particularly, in the last race, in the sprint race at the start, and then today.

“Just speaking to the team, they said that even if we didn’t have that pitstop scenario, we wouldn’t have had two laps, and ultimately you needed two laps to get the temperatures in the tyres. So it is what it is, and we’ll regroup. We’ve got great pace this weekend, so I’m still positive for tomorrow.”

So what can Hamilton do in the race? Sochi is possibly the least useful pole position of the season, as the long run down to Turn 2 encourages cars behind to tow past, and third is seen as a good spot. Hamilton is fourth, on the dirtier side of the grid, but he might be able to make good progress.

“I think that P4 is maybe not the worst of starting positions for Lewis with a quick car in a straight line,” said his boss Toto Wolff when I asked.

“And the tow is worth a lot. And probably the best position to start from is P3, we’ve seen that last year and in the years before. So P4 is not a catastrophe. On the contrary, it may even give opportunities…”