Hamilton has carried foot injury “all year”

2016 F1 season

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Lewis Hamilton has revealed the foot injury which kept him from participating in last week’s Pirelli test is something he has been managing all year.

Hamilton told the media in today’s press conference he is at “one hundred percent” now after sitting out the test last week.

“I’ve basically had an injury that I’ve been carrying during all year long,” he said, “actually in both feet, just induced by running.”

“Unfortunately the physio said that it just takes a lot of stretching and it just heals over a long time. I woke up in the morning, I was feeling quite a lot of pain the day before and it hadn’t diminished so it was very little.”

“But the most important thing was to be fresh for here and feeling better for here and this is actually the first week that it’s felt good.”

Hamilton goes into this weekend’s United States Grand Prix 33 points behind championship leader Nico Rosberg. He believes his the reliability problems he has suffered this year explains a lot of the deficit.

“Obviously this year it’s been a little bit different in terms of how our performances have been, particularly mechanically, and there’s nothing you can do about that,” said Hamilton.

“Out of the ten times this car has been good, whatever it if, I’ve often done the job with it but then there’s definitely been a few, probably in the first few seconds of a race, I’ve not done that well. But that’s motor racing.”

Journalists blocked for “talking smack”

The world champion also faced questions from journalists over why several of them had been blocked from following him on social media services such as Twitter following his row with the media in Japan.

Hamilton said he was not directly responsible for putting the blocks in place. “It’s actually something that just got brought to me,” he explained.

“I don’t actually manage every single part of my social media, I have a couple of other people that do. Our general approach is if you see something, see someone generally talking smack then you kind of cut it.”

“I had flown back to Asia and then I got a message afterwards. I don’t know who has been blocked or not. I don’t have a lot of time to go online and do that.”

“I think it’s a lot of people, it wasn’t just media. It was a blocking spree. But if you look at my phone I don’t even have the app.”

However Hamilton denied that his social media accounts were ever used to put across opinions which were not his.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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69 comments on “Hamilton has carried foot injury “all year””

  1. At least he has an excuse ready when Rosberg becomes world champion.

    1. No he’s got a legit excuse already with the car letting him down…

      1. … plus the feet thing … its a credit to him that he’s even in the hunt.

      2. The car that gifted him two consecutive titles and that also made him the world champion with the best reliability record of all time? Yeah, sure. How about he goes to McLaren or something, that should take care of his problem.

        1. The fact that his car has been unreliable this year is made all the more interesting by that tidbit of info bobec.
          But in any case, reliability in another year is no the same as reliability this year.

          1. Well they did switch their teams (mechanics, race engineers, etc). And there was also that info about the aggressive engine tuning.

        2. He left McLaren.

          And ‘gifted’… So does that mean, Seb, MSC, Senna et al were all ‘gifted’ their championships?

          1. Of course. Any driver who wins the WDC in the WCC winning car was gifted the championship– Vettel didn’t have serious competition, neither did Schumacher, so they didn’t “earn” their championships either, but they didn’t fall foul of the Hamilton rule (see below).

            See, to be a real champion, you need to win the WDC without winning the Constructor’s title as well– that proves you’re outperforming the car (which isn’t really possible, but we’ll ignore that).

            Of course, the last driver to do that was in 2008– some second-year driver named “Hamilton”.

            But there’s a secondary rule in F1 that says Hamilton is not allowed to receive full credit for his accomplishments– it’s always the car, or luck, or the team, or his competition wasn’t very good– because we all know Hamilton is such an insensitve, aggressive driver who’s incapable of moderation in any way, that he frequently causes his car to fail between the garage and the grid. The Mercedes is a perfectly reliable car, but Hamilton’s such a meanie, that he’s capable of causing his own car to explode by driving it too harshly.

            While this entire post is sarcasm, I didn’t make up any of the claims presented– they’ve all been said by F1 fans, at one time or another.

          2. Senna had fierce competition – when it wasn’t within McLaren, it came from other teams. I would say the same thing about Schumacher that I said about Hamilton any day if he was to one day complain about the equipment he had at Ferrari. And I would say the same about Seb and Red Bull.

          3. Btw, since you mentioned Senna. Prost always complained (that maybe) Senna was getting superior Honda engines. But you could say that maybe Senna lost the title in 89 because of two engine failures while leading comfortably.

          4. They divided the engines in a lottery.

          5. @grat

            It’s not that Hamilton is not a good driver, or that he didn’t earn his titles. It’s more about Hamilton’s fans not understanding that Hamilton would have never won 2014 and 2015 if he wasn’t in a Mercedes. Pretty much anyone would have won with the Mercedes, the only question is which of the two drivers. But unlike some of Hamilton’s fans (who seem to be getting pretty greedy and are now on whine-standby, ready for action in case Hamilton may need to come to terms with only two back-to-back championships instead of three in a row), he seems to understand how things stand with the current (2014-2016) formula.

            I understand most of your post was sarcasm, but still, while Hamilton was good in 2008, the McLaren was also really good (in fact Ferrari whined it was so good because of stolen technical data in 2007). You may not see that since the line-up, with Kovalainen as Hamilton’s teammate, wasn’t particularly strong team-wise. Also there was plenty of luck involved – crashgate, Glock losing it on the final corner of the final race.

    2. Exactly.

    3. 3 minutes after the article went up – quick reading, and quick talking smack ;)

      Rosberg might still lose though.

  2. I don’t see how Hamilton is using this as an excuse for his performances. Subliminally, maybe, but not explicitly.

    1. I dont know whether it is intentional or not but he is maybe better at coming up with 1 excuse then sticking to it.

      1. I don’t think it’s intentional or meant as an excuse, that’s just the way we’re reading it or how it’s being spun or whatever.
        Although racing driver excuses and all that, he had one for why Button beat him at McLaren as well :P

        1. Yeah– Poor Hamilton. Finished ahead of Button two out of three seasons, had more wins, better qualifying, more poles, more front row starts, and if both cars finished, Hamilton usually won (Hamilton also had more DNF’s).

          Yet everyone claims Button “beat” Hamilton at McLaren because he scored 15 more points than Hamilton in a completely useless 3 year aggregate total.

  3. I wonder how many will confuse the words reason and excuse.

  4. Err…

    So the fact he has had an, almost difficult to credit as reasonable, set of machinery issues in seven races, is ‘an excuse’?

    That plus the starts, would see the teamate down somewhere in the lower tenth of the standings given his magnetic attraction to crashing this year. A fast guy, no question, unless his team mate is anywhere around.

    However, it’s Hamilton so any reasonable statement regarding his issues this year have to be suspect.

    Meanwhile his team mate gets a free ride for his antics.

    Honestly – it’s hardly helping his profile when his fans keep doing down the entirely obvious issues LH has endured this year and suggesting he is beating him on merit. He drives a few geat races from the front. Has inherited at least six through luck (ish) since 2013, yet we are supposed to see this year as the new Nico… Look he is great!

    No, sorry, not at all.

    1. Spoken like someone who is blinded by Hamilton worship and who can’t possibly believe anyone could beat him on merit. Open your eyes; it is happening right before them.

      1. @ bobec
        Yes, because reliability carries over from season to season. /s
        Is it really that hard to admitt the cars reliability this year in this season has also hurt his chances this season? Not saying he’d win but it sure hasn’t helped.

        I knew that article Keith published was misleading as to reliability within context of a season. It’s of course Hamilton, so I’m really not suprised. 2014-15 have nothing to do with 16.

        1. Apologies. PS4 posted my reply to bobec here for some weird reason.

  5. How hard does he run????
    It was a notable limp. For those saying its an excuse its not. He got asked and he answered, he got criticised for not doing that last time. And no I”m no fanboy, I just try and call like it is.

    1. Personally I ran three days a week, about 5-7 miles, and developed a severe foot issue which led to me not being able to go down the stairs. I wound up with special padding in my shoes which would likely be very troublesome in F1 shoes and I quit running… I sometimes have mad cramps still, but you may not believe the pain one can suffer from running too much or too hard.

      1. Running is awful and terrible and hateful. Never run. Ever.
        Save yourself!

  6. A foot injury didn’t stop me from driving the stink out of my car. My car doesn’t pull 5Gs though. I don’t think it even pulls 0.5Gs.

    1. I have riden a bicycle with sprained ankle more than once (my ankles are fragile). But this is a sport were you’re looking for the last hundredth of a second.

    2. Any injury can cause problems in any sport, even mind sports like Chess because it is a distraction as you feel the pain. What else in this sport? You don’t even feel the pain that he has, which is extremely difficult for some people to understand and empathize others. I can’t stop highlighting how important it is to be in perfect conditions for whatever sport being a person doing multiple sport competitions throughout my life, it’s just so so important.

    3. But the brake pedal on your car doesn’t need 100 kg pressure to make the car stop.

      1. @drycrust crust Does it need anywhere near that in f1?

        1. I mean with the introduction of bbw is it still that much effort?

        2. I don’t know the exact amount but it’s a lot… Martin Brundle was talking about it one weekend recently.

          F1 website says Canada is ‘930kg per lap’, and that’s with BBW.

        3. I did some research on it a few weeks ago, and I think I read the actual pressure applied to the brake pedal is in the 80 to 100 kg range, so I used the upper pressure to emphasis the difference in stress between what Hamilton’s foot has to put up with and what is required for a normal road car.
          It may have been my original source was before the current power unit specification, so I did a search looking for something recent. There is a rather cryptic article on the F1.com website about this, but it doesn’t say exactly what sort of pressure is applied to the pedal, only that “the driver has to apply over 930kg of pedal load per lap in Canada” which is difficult quantify. Does it mean there are 10 points where the driver has to apply an average of 93 kg of braking, or is it 20 braking points with an average of 46 kg each? Looking at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, which is where the Canadian GP was held in 2015, it appears to have 12 points out of 13 turns where braking is necessary (at least to my untrained eye), which equates to an average of 77kg pressure at each of those points. Both of these amounts are less than the 100 kg I stated, but they are averages, so it could be some points may need a higher brake pedal force than others.
          So it may be 100 kg is a slight exaggeration, but it isn’t a huge exaggeration.

          1. Here is the link to the article about the brake pedal pressures:

  7. Running injury, well who’d have thought. Next time take some socks into those leather shoes.
    (Sorry, couldn’t resist. No offense meant towards Mr. H.)

  8. C’mon there are a plenty of things that can remove the pain for 2 or more hours… That’s just an excuse.

    1. It’s not well publicised but F1 does drug testing exactly like other sports. If you’re suggesting going that driving a car under the influence of anything is a good idea …

      1. I don’t think all painkillers are prohibited.

        1. I personally take drugs to combat acid reflux issues. I’m on these for life (ranitidine, if you’re so interested) but the drug can cause false positives for other more illegal drugs out there such as methamphetamine. Given this is quite a common occurrence amongst drugs, still sure that popping a few painkillers is harmless?

    2. An excuse for what? Unless he fluffs the start, which he admits, or his car fails, Hamilton wins. I’m hoping Rosberg gets the title, as I posted repeatedly at the start of the season, but giving a reason for missing a tyre test is hardly an ‘excuse’ for not securing the title, especially when he clarifies that he feels 100% for the race. I didn’t see an ‘excuse’ for anything other than missing the test.

    3. Pain is your body’s way of telling you you’re doing more damage.

      It’s not always true– which is why physiotherapy is frequently painful… but generally speaking, if you’re doing something that hurts, don’t do it.

      Ignoring a pain like that, and taking drugs to allow you to ignore it doesn’t help you recover.

  9. I often criticize Lewis… But I wont today. He is in good mood, focused in the press conference. He did his snapchat thingy politeley. He even answered loaded questions…

    Then there is a foot injury. I have one of legs injured due to running, healing noe for 2 months, still sore sometimes.

    Some days leg is ok, some days I have to abort my run not push it. I guess Lewis is managing it well.

    Thus if I was a betting man, Lewis is on it 100% and will win the race on sunday.

  10. Finally Hamilton confronts de feet.

    1. Peppermint-Lemon (@)
      20th October 2016, 23:21

      Lol nice one

    2. Genius !!!!

    3. And everyone thought he was a shoe-in to win…

  11. Now he tells us!

  12. I can’t follow the logic:
    1) You have foot injury all year
    2) Your foot injury gets worse and you need to miss a test session
    3) One week later you are at 100%

    Ok…

    1. I was LOL like crazy when I read the absurd logic of his explanation. All he needed was to miss a test. Really, he should hire somebody to write his excuses if he can’t come with something better.

    2. Lets unpack it to help you to understand.

      1) he has been MANAGING the foot injury all year (presumably by avoiding running ahead of races)
      2) It got worse ahead of the tyre test, so he stayed out of it.
      3) he has it back under control and is confident that it won’t impede him in Austin.

      1. Yep. Some people really do come across as simpletons.

  13. When my car breaks down and I have to resort to walking everywhere my feet hurt too.

  14. I like it when Lewis talks. Although can be a bit slow at the start.

  15. Excuses and excuses

  16. But the most important thing was to be fresh for here and feeling better for here and this is actually the first week that it’s felt good.

    He copped a lot of flak for missing the test, but following that logic, and how important this race is to championship fight, it makes complete sense.

    Good to see HAM being open about social media being managed for the fans too. +kudos

  17. The foot injury also explains why he is struggling to operate the clutch.
    But wait, does F1 cars also have their clutch near their foot? Or on their steering?

    1. Peppermint-Lemon (@)
      21st October 2016, 8:17

      Paddle operated clutch these days

  18. The man can’t win, if he offers a genuine explanation he is criticised, if he says nothing he is criticised.
    Let’s hope his car doesn’t explode as usual and we see a fair fight this weekend, his starts need sorting too but that’s down to him.

  19. Todd (@braketurnaccelerate)
    21st October 2016, 7:47

    Based on his comments, I would almost put money on the injury being plantar fasciitis. Having suffered from this injury/condition myself, it is a very nagging issue and can have it’s good days and bad days, where simply walking is hard to do. Imagine walking with pain that feels as if a knife was put through the bottom of your foot.

    1. That would be really unpleasant @braketurnaccelerate! I guess Hamilton might have tried to put a bit more “punishment” on himself than he should have with the issue after last race (maybe it had seemed to be almost gone after coping/managing it for several months).

    2. @Todd (@braketurnaccelerate) –

      You are absolutely right. That was immediately what i thought when i saw him limping at the Mercedes celebrations. The limp looked so familiar! I would certainly wager it is Plantar Fasciitis. It is notoriously difficult to treat and can persist for months. I have suffered fro almost 6months now – with some day better than others.

      The only i minimize the pain whilst walking is roll my son’s socks into a ball, and stuff them under my feet when i wear my shoes. It is very uncomfortable, but at least i CAN walk. Yes, stretching is key, but massaging, which is extremely painful is also very helpful.

  20. Peppermint-Lemon (@)
    21st October 2016, 8:16

    Why does Hamilton think that wearing non corrective glasses will make people think he is more serious and intelligent?! The guy lives in a very odd reality of his own. He’s so transparent wearing them after snapchatgate.

  21. All the best David Hamilton…I mean Lewis Haye….I mean Lewis Hamilton.

  22. Lewis is the first Paralympics F1 champion!
    Wheelchair podium and Get Well Soon flags and banners!
    Are his slow starts because his right leg is replaced by wooden one?
    Please someome call WADA to allow Lewis theraupeutical use of doping.

  23. O, come on !
    Lewis, let’s think about more good explaination in case of WDC fail. A cry baby.

  24. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    21st October 2016, 14:08

    Not sure why folks are making fun of him sharing that he’s had a foot injury that’s prevented him from testing, he’s doing physio to recover, but he should be fine during the race.

    He doesn’t say anything about racing but any injury or discomfort will affect your performance especially the way they have to sit in those cars.

    I think a lot of these athletes are affected by injuries but won’t talk about it publicly to avoid losing their positions. Raikonnen had back issues and it clearly affected him.

  25. I thought maybe, since Hamilton has an apparent character in the upcoming COD, he was also trying out for the role for a new Harry Potter with those specs….

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