Lewis Hamilton climbed out of his McLaren - its nose appropriately battered by a rival - and compared himself to Sylvester Stallone’s beaten-butunbowed boxing hero Rocky Balboa.
The world champion suffered the latest in a series of severe blows to his ego as he came home 12th in Monaco yesterday, his worst finish of the season.
“I was thinking of one of the Rocky films,” said Hamilton. “He said in the first film ‘I just want to see the end of the fight’.”
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Here Hamilton hit the barrier with a resounding clout in qualifying to start last and had his nosecone wacked by Nick Heidfeld during the race.
Even a champion’s performance was only good enough for 12th in this woeful car. Mirror.co.uk
Lewis Hamilton says his hopes of defending the Formula One championship title ended Saturday at the Monaco Grand Prix - the same track that provided a dramatic victory on the way to last season’s overall win.
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A dejected Hamilton, who is already 32 points behind leader Jenson Button who took pole, hung his head as stewards removed his car before eventually returning to the garage.
“We’re not challenging for the world championship. We’re challenging to improve our car and working towards getting as many points as we can collectively,” Hamilton said. “We’re a long way behind, and if (Button) keeps up his consistency, then he will be very tough to catch.”
Hamilton will start from the bottom of the grid for the first time in his career - yet another setback in a season that has been littered with lows.
“What can I say? I made a mistake and I hit the wall,” Hamilton said. “We have a tough race, and I’m just going to have to try and do the best I can.”
Hamilton’s electrifying win last year on the rain-soaked streets of this tiny principality - when the British driver clipped a wall but still recovered to edge BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica - was one of his most memorable victories on his way to becoming the sport’s youngest champion at 23.
But this season has proved a much bigger challenge, on and off the track. The Canadian Press
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