Hamilton 'really excited' to attempt recovery from penalty

Lewis Hamilton is "really excited" by the challenge of trying to recover from a five-place grid penalty at this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix.

Mercedes confirmed Hamilton will need a new gearbox in Shanghai on Thursday morning, with the change leading to an automatic grid penalty. Coming off the back of two consecutive races where he has been beaten by team-mate Nico Rosberg, Hamilton enters the third race on the back foot but he says it is a challenge he is relishing.

"It feels like 2016 to me," Hamilton said when asked if it reminds him of his problems at the start of 2014. "It’s a little bit different to 2014 as far as I remember. I was catching up already from the second race, wasn’t I? Which I’ve not been doing. So 2016 is a little bit different.

"But, yeah, it started off a little bit … but it’s a challenge and I enjoy that. Of course when you hear on the Wednesday morning that there is a penalty already, of course that changes your approach to the weekend and changes your mindset a little bit, but a challenge is an opportunity to rise.

"So I’m really excited about the opportunity from wherever I am going to start, hopefully the best possible position with the penalty. But I love racing and I’m here to race rather than be at the front and have less of a race."

While Hamilton is keen to try and make life hard for Rosberg in China, he concedes his team-mate has a good opportunity to win his third race in succession.

"It is going to be an easy weekend for Nico. Most likely it will be an easier weekend for him. It doesn’t mean I can’t give him a good run for his money from wherever I start and it doesn’t mean I can’t win the race still, which is my thought process rather than damage limitation."

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