Hamilton “couldn’t care less” about Monaco

2015 Monaco Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton says he’s moved on from his Monaco Grand Prix defeat and was unwilling to elaborate on the strategic error which cost him a likely victory.

Asked during today’s press conference if he could have overruled the decision to come into the pits Hamilton answered: “There’s going to be a lot of questions about Monaco, I’m really not going back to Monaco.”

“I’ve moved on, I don’t even have to think about it now, I’m literally moving on. I couldn’t care less about it. I’m focussed on… I can’t do anything about the past so there’s honestly no point in thinking about it. It’s about trying to shape the future.

“There’s lots of races to come, lots of improvements that can be made. We’ve got a great team, we’ve got a great car and there’s a championship to be won. So that’s all I’m focused on. It doesn’t matter what I feel or have felt or feel now. I don’t feel anything about it. I’m literally thinking about this race, I’m excited, I feel good, I feel fit, I feel strong.”

Hamilton also declined to offer an explanation for why he briefly stopped his car at Portier after taking the chequered flag. “There is no answer to it,” he said.

However Hamilton insisted the strategy decision had not shaken his faith in the Mercedes pit wall.

“I have full trust and confidence in the team,” he said. “We’ve won, we’ve had pretty incredible success together. One race doesn’t dent the solid foundation that we’ve built.”

“Honestly I’ve not really thought about the last race for a long time,” he added, “I’ve just been thinking about the next race, put my mind to other things and training and trying to come back strong this weekend.”

“It’s really irrelevant what happened in the past now, there’s nothing you can do about it, so there’s no point dwelling on it.”

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    40 comments on “Hamilton “couldn’t care less” about Monaco”

    1. I believe him.

      If anything, I feel what happened at Monaco is only going to drive him on to dominate the upcoming weekend.

      1. Well said,life is too short to dwell on the past…What’s more surprising is to see that after almost two weeks David Coulthard still had to milk this issue in his telegraph column!He was either really short of ideas or just doesn’t get that if people get over real life issues then HAM can get over one GP…Anyway Forza Ferrari lol :)

        1. What’s funny is the media will constantly question Hamilton ability to get over situations while at the same time continuing to write articles about it and asking questions about it, which does nothing but remind him about a situation.

          1. Media cannot get over it, but I’m sure Hamilton can.

            1. Well Media only has this story…

              Hamilton has a race to do and championship to win.

              So sure each is trying to professionally do their job.

      2. I couldn’t care less about it.

        Really? Every single year we have to read about how he wants to emulate Senna and win in Monaco. Every year his face lits up when this race is going on and now he does not care he lost a dominant win…

        That’s nonsense.

        1. I think he means that he doesn’t care about it anymore – as in, he has moved on and what happened isn’t in his mind anymore.

          He very clearly did care about it at the time, you could tell simply from his body language as he got out of the car and on the podium, he seemed shattered. For reasons you’ve pointed out, I agree it definitely meant a lot to him at the time.

          But I think that what he was trying to say is that he doesn’t care about what happened anymore, he’s moved on (the press were bombarding him with questions about Monaco, questioning his request to pit and his trust in the team, and why he stopped at Portier, etc. – which I imagine was frustrating when he’s just trying to move on from it and look forward).

          1. I thought the same. But then it sort of shows a slight weakness when you are so averse to talking about it. Like fresh wound. Or he just COMPLETELY does not care. Also possible.

            1. Let’s psychoanalyze it to death.

              Man, I feel ready to join SKY F1 team now. Isn’t there anything else to talk about? I don’t even care about this anymore….

            2. pastaman (@)
              4th June 2015, 21:35

              Maybe I will ask you the same question for two weeks and see how averse you are to talking about it.

            3. @pastaman
              He never talked about it. Not like he’s bored out of his skull giving the same answer or something.

        2. Who is managing his PR? “Couldn’t care less”? Reall? Total fooie. Monaco meant a lot to him. This is a given. For him to say “I have come to terms with it and I moving on” would be far more accurate. Thus I am not interested in indulging in the subject any more. When people say “I don’t care” – they care. There is an emotional attachment to word “care”. Words have power. Come on PR. But then again it is probably aimed at generating more attention so people like I indulge in thinking about it.

          1. That’s also true.

          2. pastaman (@)
            4th June 2015, 23:18

            Maybe he’s trying to squash it so people will stop asking him about it

            1. That’s also true. But “couldn’t care less” is a bit over the top anyway. Doesn’t ring “100%” true….. But I don’t think he is still thinking about it or anything….

      3. From what we saw of how he reacted to these things last year, if he keeps it going, that could mean being really dominant here again, but now without the mistakes!

        I think i can look forward to a slippery (because damp start of the weekend) Canadian GP with Hamilton on it :-) Although I would like to see Rosberg equally boosted by getting lucky and giving his best, if possible even including some passing attempts.

      4. I saw the telecast yesterday. Wise words from Hamilton that he has moved one. He also said that one cannot change the past, so no use dwelling on it. True words.

        But, I am sure, we can learn from the past. For example, what discussions has Hamilton had with the team, that this kind of situation doesn’t occur in the future.

        Hamilton also did mention how he needs to learn from last year’s Canadian GP, he specifically said he identified areas where he could be fast this year. Well somebody remind him, that he is referring to something in the past. Doesn’t he want to identify what happened and Monaco?

        Finally, Hamilton’s face lit up, when reminded that he had won his first GP at Canada, which happened quite some years ago.

    2. Little Professor
      4th June 2015, 17:02

      Hamilton is a walking platitude dispenser, never met a cliché he didn’t like …and regurgitate.

      1. It is what it is (pun intended) :)

    3. How many people or more to the point the media will completely ignore what he has said about being good and has moved on and try and make the story last through the weekend, “Will Lewis crumble” “Come he trust the team” “Will the pressure get to Lewis”, and that will just from Sky alone. Or maybe one of the best from Ted “How do we know what going on in his head!”

      I predict at least 5 build up videos mentioning it, and 20+ the pundit team mentioning it, while ignoring whats happening on the track.

      1. And most of you will be spared Leigh Diffey’s horrible hyping of this before the NBC Canada broadcast. You would think Vince McMahon was about to bound onto the track through a row of spark machines after listening to Diffey’s opening rants.

        1. I actually watched a american version of the 2010 Canadian GP a few months ago, I had to turn it off, no disrespect to any Americans on the site but the commentary is really quite shocking.

      2. Well… There is not much to talk really. Mercedes dominates. Mercedes makes a judgment error. Ferrari brings useless updates. Mercedes dominates. Mercedes makes a judgment error. Ferrari brings useless updates. Repeat. Sometimes they also talk about the useless updates in detail before they realize they are useless updates. Then they ask if Alonso regrets his decision. Some other lame things. Repeat.

    4. Well spoken. Dignified responses from Hamilton, ever since Monaco his been saying as much. As he so rightly points out let’s focus on here and now. He is way over it. Now, any relevant questions to here and now?

      1. I wouldn’t say it’s well spoken or dignified. It’s a standard media response that you hear in every sport.

      2. Would his responses be the same had he won Monaco?

    5. I’m just happy he avoided the “I could care less” solecism. That drives me nuts.

      1. @dmw – I was going to say the same thing. I respect him more for using that expression properly.

      2. Couldn’t agree more, @DaveW

      3. I could agree more… :)

      4. Well he misused “literally” the way it’s commonly misused….

    6. For someone who does not care or think about Monaco anymore, he sure does mentions it a lot; a dozen times in two phrases. Gezzz, he’s an emotional mess; hope he’ll get better once the wheels start to turn.

      1. He was asked questions about it, in fact he purposely didn’t talk about it when asked about it on a few occasions, it was clear the only people who wanted to talk about Monaco were the ones asking the questions, Would hardly call that an emotional mess.

      2. I’m quite sure his comments were in response to multiple questions, rather than a single statement. Less of the dramatical nonsense please, it’s bad enough that the media won’t let it rest.

        1. The media drums up drama for sure but when he says “there’s no answer” to a fairly standard question about Portier – he’s not doing himself any favors.
          Everyone knows it was odd and Merc are not releasing the radio transcripts. The least he could’ve said was another cookie cutter response like “I just wanted to think for a moment.”

          1. I’m going out on a limb here and actually defending Lewis ( like he needs it!)

            Race time I thought ” sook a la la”
            But upon reflection I feel he handled himself very well.
            Of course he’s upset !
            But he didn’t have a dummy spit by any stretch of the imagination ,

            And the relentless questions these guys face every race , same ol same ol,

            I’m taking a bit of shining to him really , which should last a race or two :)

            1. Same here. But it would take another win from him for all the feelings to dissipate at this stage of F-boring-1.

            2. I lost all the sympathy for him last year in Canada; last year Monaco was still “raw” and Sky did an interview with Lewis and Nico and Lewis put his elbow on Nico’s shoulder; which he shrugged after waiting for a few long seconds for Lewis to realize that that was not “kosher” at all.
              That kind of disrespectful and demeaning behavior out of the car is not befitting of a champion.
              And although he lately speaks the right words, you know and you see in his demeanor that he’s not sincere.
              He’s an amazing F1 driver … in the car. Outside of it i don’t like him.

    7. Doesn’t matter if it’s not ‘100% true’. It’s the right response and the only one he can give to avoid being dogged by questions about it all weekend and beyond.

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