McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton says that he wasn't "operating on all cylinders" throughout his disappointing 2011 Formula One season, but has again insisted that he feels he is now ready to hit back in 2012.
Hamilton's 2011 season was widely seen as his least impressive F1 campaign, with the British driver getting caught up in all manner of on-track incidents.Despite winning three races during the season and becoming the only non-Red Bull driver to secure a pole position, his year was blighted with a number of collisions with other cars, including a long-running spat with Ferrari's Felipe Massa.
Hamilton also attracted a series of penalties from the stewards, which led to further criticism of the driver when he angrily hit out at the powers that be in Monaco.
And speaking after the launch of the new McLaren MP4-7 car last week, Hamilton has said that he felt he was not 100% throughout the whole season, blaming a variety of personal issues for his loss of form.
"I wasn't operating on all cylinders," he was quoted as saying by the UK Guardian newspaper, "There were times when – such as Abu Dhabi [Hamilton's third win of the year] – I was on good form, but still not 100%.
"And that's where I want to be this season."
He went on: "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.
"There were lots of things and I didn't have the pieces of the puzzle in the right place. I was all over the place last season. I didn't think anything was a positive. But I've corrected things and now I've got a clean slate. I've got nothing worrying me."
He added that at times last season he felt he was "battling everybody" in the sport, but said that he had worked on improving his relationships with other drivers and with the stewards.
His spat with Massa was brought to an end at the season finale in Brazil, when the pair were seen to settle their differences with a hug in the paddock.
"Last year I was battling everybody," he lamented, "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."
His team mate Jenson Button managed to beat him in the standings last season, the first time a team mate of Hamilton's has done so.
But both drivers have been keen to insist that the change in the team's pecking order throughout 2011 has not adversely affected their relationship, with Button revealing how the pair had shared a rare dinner together at the end of last season.
"We had some steak and it was fun. The only other time we have dined together was when I signed the contract [with McLaren at the end of 2009]," Button revealed coyly.
"It was good. We have spent two long years together and most of the time it has been behind the wheel or in the engineer's office and we're always in uniform or answering questions about each other.
"So it felt good to have dinner together and look at the past couple of years and have a laugh about it."
The McLaren team are looking to fight back in 2012 after losing out to Red Bull in the championship for the last two seasons.
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