A revved-up Lewis Hamilton has admitted he wasn't fighting "on all cylinders" in 2011 and has vowed to make his foes of last year into new friends for 2012.
McLaren driver admits he was "battling everybody" last year
Lewis Hamilton has admitted he lost focus on and off the track in 2011 and has vowed to turn his foes into friends during 2012.
Revealing that he had a private dinner with Jenson Button - only the second the pair have had since becoming McLaren team-mates at the end of 2009 - following the season-ending Brazilian GP, Hamilton conceded to
The Observer newspaper that he been "battling everybody" during his deeply-troubled season last year and vowed to make amends in the months ahead.
"Last year I was battling everybody. I was having trouble with stewards, I was having trouble with many different people. I want to fix that. I'm looking forward to having a good relationship with Felipe [Massa] and from the end of last year I've been working on my relationship with the stewards. I've got to stay out of trouble so I don't have to visit them so much."
With remarkable candour, Hamilton also offered soul-searching insight into the cause of his annus horribilis, reflecting: "There were times last year when I was juggling too many things. There were too many things hanging over me, too many things which were unfinished, questions in my mind, whether it was purchases, investments, management, lawyers or family."
The disclosure - and the impression it paints of a young man suddenly losing his way as both his public and private life derailed - serves to explain why McLaren felt the need to offer Hamilton an extended break over the winter. In a bid to restore his inner harmony, and successfully marry his private life with his public career, the former World Champion is expected to arrive at Melbourne for the season-opening event with a far larger cortege of friends, family and advisors than was the usually the case last season.
"I feel I have corrected things that I've done wrong. I have a clean slate, with nothing hanging over me, nothing worrying me," he added in a separate interview with
The Daily Mail.
"There was a lot of time when my mind was elsewhere - at times I know my focus was less than 90 per cent where it should have been."
With his McLaren contract now in its final year, only 100% will be sufficient in 2012.
