Hamilton makes racing vow despite sprint contact

Lewis Hamilton has insisted he will “go for the gap” during the Miami Grand Prix despite being caught up in a Turn 1 incident during the sprint race.

Hamilton attempted to make up positions at the opening corner of the race and stuck his car up the inside of Fernando Alonso, who was also arriving at the first turn at speed.

Lance Stroll and Lando Norris, who were also caught up in the incident, were forced to retire from the race.

The stewards opted to take no further action, with Hamilton undeterred by the contact ahead of the grand prix.

“I honestly haven't thought about it, it felt good to me,” Hamilton told media including RacingNews365.

When asked if it came back to Ayrton Senna's famous quote of 'If you no longer go for a gap, you're no longer a racing driver', Hamilton asserted: “Exactly. I'm going for the gap [in the grand prix] also.”

Hamilton aiming to 'attack' around Miami

Hamilton is due to start the Miami Grand Prix in eighth place, sharing the fourth row with team-mate George Russell.

With Hamilton's best result so far this year being a seventh place, the Briton is hopeful over his prospects of moving forward during the race.

“I think we maximised the setup and the car was good, [it had] great balance,” he said.

“I don't know if we have the same pace as the guys ahead. We’ll wait and see but we're a little bit closer and further up [from the sprint].

“Hopefully we can try and attack and see if we can get on top of some of these guys in front of us.”