“You can see [the stands], all empty here and normally you’d have the sirens going off, you’d see the flags everywhere, you’d see smoke and the atmosphere is buzzing,” Hamilton said.

“Normally you get out the car and there is a different energy. So we definitely, definitely miss them but hopefully they were happy with that turnaround back home.”

Hamilton again paid tribute to Mercedes’ hard work behind the scenes which has kept them ahead of their F1 rivals.

“I just want to say, again, a huge thank you to this team,” Hamilton said. “The guys at the factory, not far away from here, that are constantly working tirelessly to push us forwards, develop and we’re continuing to do so. So I’m really proud to be a part of it.”

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