Lewis Hamilton has allayed fears over his participation at Sunday’s F1 Canadian Grand Prix.
His Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff had warned his back issue, caused by the car’s constant porpoising, could force him to miss a race he has won a record seven times.
But the seven-time Formula One world champion now looks ready to drive through the pain in Montreal if necessary.
Writing on social media overnight, Hamilton thanked fans for their concern and messages of support, and said: “Definitely some recovering and hard work with the team to do before Montreal to overcome this hurdle. Feeling better already, though, and motivated me to keep pushing. See you next week.”
He later added: “Yesterday was tough and had some troubles sleeping but have woke up feeling positive today! Back is a little sore and bruised but nothing serious thankfully. I’ve had acupuncture and physio with [trainer Angela Cullen] and am on the way to my team to work with them on improving.
“I’ll be there this weekend, wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
The 37-year-old described Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix as the toughest of his career and the most pain he had ever endured behind the wheel of a race car.
And after finishing fourth in Baku, he admitted he was anxious every time he stepped into his Mercedes on the race track because of the ongoing issues with the car’s bouncing and his back.
Following the race, Wolff had said his star driver was “definitely” a doubt for Canada and called on the FIA to address the issue around each car’s porpoising. The Austrian also said they would have a reserve driver on standby in Montreal should Hamilton have further issues with his back.
Hamilton has been undergoing cryotherapy to address his back problem but the Briton warned the issue had got to a point where he was worried about causing a high-speed crash.
“I nearly lost it in the high-speed corners several times,” he said. “The battle with the car was intense. Last 10 laps, I was just having to go internal: you’ve got this, you’ve got this, just bear with it.
“I have been doing cryotherapy and, when you go in there for four minutes, it’s bloody cold and you just have to go internal and just say you can and it’s the same king of thing. Just biting down and gritting with it. I have to think of all the people who rely on me to get the points. This was the worst for me. I haven’t had it this bad this year.”
Mercedes believed they had got on top of most of their porpoising issues at the Spanish Grand Prix but further problems have surfaced at the last two grands prix, Monaco and Azerbaijan, both of which are street circuits.
