One year after heartbreak at Monaco which saw him lose out on a seemingly inevitable victory, and a day after more technical gremlins cost him a shot at pole position and left him downcast, Lewis Hamilton could hardly believe how things had turned around for him when it had come to the 2016 race.
This time it was Hamilton's team mate Nico Rosberg who had technical problems which forced him to make way for his team mate to lead the charge on Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo. And then when Ricciardo suffered from a long pit stop shortly before the midway point of the race, Hamilton was able to take a lead that he fought to keep successfully right to the chequered flag.
"Thank God today went the way I had hoped! Big thank you to my team for providing me with a car to see it through to the end," he said on the podium after the race.
"I’m kinda lost for words to be honest. I’ve prayed for a day like this and it came true so I feel truly blessed.
"I’m telling you, that was the longest run, particularly after I stopped for those tyres. It was crazy how long it was and, really, to understand how much wheelspin you’re allowed, how much you can use the tyres - because you don’t know to what end they’re going to go.
"I think the last lap was the time they were going to literally drop off, but thank God they stayed on."
With Hamilton winning the race and Rosberg only finishing in seventh place, the big gap between the team mates in the world championship standings has now been slashed to just 24 points, just what Hamilton needed to reignite the campaign to retain his title.
"I haven’t even thought about that just yet," Hamilton said. "Of course, we’re still in the battle, there’s a long, long way to go and just when you feel like it couldn’t get any worse, it gets better, so I really think the message today, for everyone, is just never give up."
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