'Strange penalties' once put conspiracy theory in Hamilton's mind

Lewis Hamilton once wondered if there was a deliberate attempt to keep him from succeeding in Formula 1 during his first years in the sport.

The five-time world champion made his mark from the outset when he became a Grand Prix driver with McLaren in 2007, losing the championship that year by just a single point.

He went on to win the title in 2008, pipping Ferrari's Felipe Massa for top honours in a dramatic showdown in Brazil.

But the Brit also recalls a series of "strange" penalties that befell him during his early years, suggesting that something nefarious had perhaps been going on in the wings.

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"It was really traumatising because I lost it for a second, in the last corner I got the championship," Hamilton said in an interview with American sports reporter Graham Bensinger back in 2016.

"And also I had a lot of penalties given to me in those two years through no fault of my own Just through some strange things that were going on in the business. Almost like anything to stop me from succeeding."

Last summer, Hamilton recalled the bitter end to the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix, when he was stripped of his win after the race for "cutting a corner and gaining an advantage", a verdict that led him to believe that the FIA had "screwed" him.

In the 2016 interview with Bensinger, Hamilton also confessed that he hadn't been mature enough to fully enjoy the achievement of winning his first world championship.

"When I finally succeeded it was a great feeling but we just rolled on to the next year," he said.

"I think just also at 23 I guess I just wasn’t mature enough to grasp everything that was going on and go and enjoy it."

"I wasn’t prepared for the media. I didn’t have media lessons, how to speak to camera, how to speak to people.

"I just arrived and I was thrown in the deep end without any lessons. And I just handled it the best I could."

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