Hamilton: Every moment ‘magnified’ in 2020

Jamie Woodhouse
LewisHamiltonPA

Lewis Hamilton says every moment will be "magnified" in 2020.

Lewis Hamilton says every moment will be “magnified” in 2020 due to the shortened season, and everything will “count even more”.

The season finally gets underway next weekend with the Austrian Grand Prix in what will be the first of eight scheduled rounds.

This campaign is unique in many ways, but especially so since it will begin with the teams and drivers unsure over how many rounds there will actually be.

It’s safe to say then that nobody can afford mistakes with so much uncertainty, and Hamilton made it clear that everything is going to be “magnified”.

“One of the hardest challenges is staying consistent,” he said in an interview with Petronas.

“We’ve normally got 20 to 22 races, that is a long time. You generally have more gaps. We’ve had time to take a breather and get back at it.

“This year is slightly different. We’re going to be attacking a lot more focused groups of races.

“So, the performance at each of those races is even more crucial, being healthy, pulling out every single lap.

“Every moment is going to count even more. It’s going to be magnified.

“Being diligent in terms of process, how much you travel, where you’re staying, how much sleep you’re getting, the diet you’re having, how much energy you let out and recovery, all these different things.

“And the process you go through getting your mind in the right space, your team in the right space, through the weekend, is a tough one.”

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff added that his team will have no chance to recover from any bad results this year, whilst the intense season brings with it logistical challenges.

In a panel appearance at HPE Discover 2020, as quoted by The Race, he said: “We’re having a short-term logistical issue that we need to solve.

“The drivers will feel a little bit rusty, maybe. And the same applies to our crews. We haven’t done live pitstops.

“In such a short season, you have no chance to recover from a bad result.

“So, it’s going to be about reliability, about scoring points, and not maybe optimising a single result for the benefit of point-scoring.”

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