Hamilton calls upon the spirit of Senna to keep his focus

Lewis Hamilton instilled himself with the spirit of Ayrton Senna to keep his focus in Sunday's chaotic Singapore Grand Prix.

As the Ferrari's wreaked havoc  on the run down to Turn 1 at the start of yesterday's Singapore Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton skillfully threaded his way through the mayhem to take command of the race.

The Mercedes driver took the challenging conditions in his stride, never putting a foot wrong to win a race which may have proved decisive in the battle for the world title against arch-rival Sebastian Vettel.

As he kept his focus over the course of the 58-lap wild race, the Briton drew upon a specific memory of Senna and the 1988 Monaco Grand Prix in which the great Brazilian tripped over himself with just ten laps to go.

• Hamilton gets the 'miracle' he needed in Singapore

"I could have easily just binned it," Hamilton explained.

"Generally, through the whole race, every now and then, Senna pops into my mind... his Monaco Grand Prix where he was in the lead and hit the wall.

"That always comes in and reminds me not to do that. It's almost like he talks to me: 'just stay focused, keep it together'."

Hamilton also admitted that he actually relished the difficult conditions which prevailed around the Marina Bay circuit. 

"Normally when it rains, you're a little bit apprehensive, it's a little bit nerve wracking, because it makes it so much trickier for us and here we've never even driven in the rain," he explained.

"But for me, I'm kind of like 'yes!'.

"I think there's a couple of us that particularly love those conditions more than maybe others.

"I just know that when those conditions happen it's more of a lottery, there's more opportunity, it levels the playing field, and then there's a real race and that's what I was excited to have."

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