At the start of the 2017 Formula One season, three-time champion Lewis Hamilton had said that he was more determined than ever to win back the title after his former teammate Nico Rosberg beat him to it last season. This season, even before pre-season testing took place, Hamilton was tipped as the favourite to go all the way and win the title, but after five races this season, the Brit is definitely not going to have it easy.
So far this season, Hamilton and his main rival for the title, Sebastian Vettel, have won two races each with the Brit winning the latest race -- Spanish Grand Prix. Despite that Hamilton is still second in the drivers' championship, six points behind Vettel, as a fourth place finish in the Russian Grand Prix cost him some valuable points.
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One of the main issues that Hamilton and his Mercedes team have been trying to work out since the start of the 2017 Formula One season is the weight of its W08 challenger as they have been struggling to get near the 728kg weight limit for car and driver.
Despite the Mercedes team making improvements since the beginning of the season, they still need to make further improvements to start using ballast to help better balance the car. While the Mercedes mechanics are doing all and with Hamilton more determined than ever to remain the title, he decided to drive without a drinks bottle in order to reduce the weight of the car.
Driving without drinks in the car would have helped Hamilton save around a kilogram or two at the start of the race and that also explained why Hamilton sounded so out of breath during the Spanish Grand Prix.
After his win at the Spanish Grand Prix, Hamilton was asked about the physical challenges of driving in the new Formula One cars and he said it depends on what kind of race you have.
"A lot of the races that we do with the type of racing that we sometimes have to do, where you're saving fuel, like in the last race for example [in Russia], I couldn't push because the car was overheating. Whereas today it was... from Turn 1 to the end, it was flat chat. You're just using everything you've got so for sure, in that first stint, for instance. To stay on Sebastian was a killer," Motorsport.com quoted Hamilton as saying.
"Also I don't carry drinks in my car either to save weight, so I'm not having a drink through the race. And then at the end, I used everything I had left when I jumped into my team and my heart rate hit the ceiling. I was good when I got out of the car but jumping into... I don't know if I will do that again. I was a little bit tired after that one."
Despite Hamilton sounding a bit exhausted while communicating on the radio during the Spanish Grand Prix, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff did not seem to be too concerned.
"I think it was just an expression of how hard he was pushing. When you need to follow a car that close behind, you obviously haven't got the aerodynamic benefit of the guy in front. That is difficult. He gave it all and you could hear it on the radio," Wolff said.
