Martin Brundle looks back on Lewis Hamilton's 2010 season McLaren's Lewis Hamilton has revealed personal issues were a contributing factor to his performance last season. The 2008 champion was in contention for the title until the final race in Abu Dhabi but finished fourth overall. Hamilton said in an interview on Radio 1: "[In my] personal life, the way things have gone hasn't been as smooth and as happy as in the past. "[When] you've not got all the pieces in place it makes it very hard to do other aspects of your life as easily." Hamilton was speaking in an exclusive interview with Radio 1, where he reflected on his 2010 season whilst choosing his top 10 songs of the year. The start of Hamilton's season was affected by several changes in his personal circumstances. The 25-year-old split from his American girlfriend, Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger, in January only for the high-profile couple to reunite the following month.  | SARAH HOLT'S BLOG |
In March, Hamilton announced that his father Anthony, who had guided his career since he was eight years old, would no longer act as his manager. Later that month, Hamilton was charged with improper use of a vehicle after performing stunts in a road car during the Australian Grand Prix weekend. When asked to rate his year out of 10, Hamilton answered: "Six. It's not fine but that's how it is." He went on: "To do what I do is a combination of many, many things that are surrounding you. "It's not just arriving at the race track and driving, it's your appearances, your mood swings, it's the people that are around you, your family and friends, the time that you're able to give to them and the relationship that you have with them. "As soon as some of those things are off and you've not got all the pieces of the puzzle in place then it makes it very hard to do other aspects of your life as easily." Hamilton is still without a manager while his father Anthony and half-brother Nick are no longer regular fixtures on grand prix weekends. Hamilton is determined to resolve any lingering personal issues and start afresh in 2011. | My plan is to make sure that next year I'm 100% clear in my mind and have no outside intrusions mentally |
"The key to life is getting all those pieces of the puzzle in place," he continued. "Then you are able to focus on your job even better than perhaps you have in the past. "My plan right now is to try and put those pieces back in their places and smooth everything off and make sure that next year I'm 100% clear in my mind and have no outside intrusions mentally." Hamilton won races in Turkey, Canada and Belgium in 2010 but finished fourth in the championship behind Germany's new world champion Sebastian Vettel. The Englishman summarised his season by saying: "Finishing fourth is not something that I'm particularly proud of. "I definitely feel that this year was not the best and is something that we can improve on. "That's what we're doing right now. The car is looking good [and] I'm feeling good." The new season begins in Bahrain on 13 March with pre-season testing getting under way in Valencia on 1 February.
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