Lewis Hamilton's back pain battle that left him 'praying for race to end'

Lewis Hamilton has announced that he was “praying” for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix to end after conditions on the track caused him a nasty injury.

The news comes after the veteran driver finished fourth in the race, missing out on a spot on the podium to his teammate George Russell.

The 37-year-old from Stevenage hasn’t enjoyed the best year so far, struggling to match the pace of the Ferraris and Red Bulls, or even of his teammate Russell.

Despite the eyebrows being raised, Hamilton said in no uncertain terms ahead of the race on Sunday (June 13) that he had no plans to step away from the sport.

Ahead of the race he said: "Why should I stop?

"Let’s take this season. I probably won’t win the title, but I feel the same pleasure of competing as when I started.

"Maybe one day I won’t be able to take the pressure any more, I’ll be tired, but that day hasn’t come yet."

By the time the race was done though, Hamilton was striking a very different note, saying: “That was the most painful race I’ve experienced. The toughest race I’ve experienced.”

Lewis Hamilton suffered a strange malfunction with his Mercedes at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix that caused the car to bounce off the surface of the track, causing agony.

Lewis said: “I don’t want to have that bouncing again. I’ll do anything to avoid having that again.”

He said that the uncomfortable ride made driving safely, let alone quickly, a real challenge.

“The thing was bouncing so much,” he said. “There were so many times I was nearly going into the wall.

“So that was a concern safety-wise at 180 miles an hour, smashing into the wall. I don’t think I’ve ever really had to think about that too much as a racing driver. You don’t really ever think about keeping it out of the wall