Lewis Hamilton has credited his fans with rescuing him from a "dark place" during his first season with Ferrari and revealed he was struggling with an injury for much of last year.
The seven-time world champion secured his first win with Ferrari at Sunday's Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, building on the three podium finishes he secured in the first six races.
Hamilton's recent upturn in form contrasts deeply with his first season at Ferrari in which he failed to score a podium, and declared himself "useless" after a disappointing qualifying performance at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
In a post on Ferrari's Instagram feed, Hamilton thanked his fans for giving him the hope he needed to continue in F1.
"I really wanted to say a huge thank you -- I wouldn't be standing here today without the support you have given me," he said. "You really saved my life last year and helped me pick up from a dark place and difficult moment in my life and dedicate this win to you."
Elaborating on the same theme, Hamilton told Sky Sports that fans shouting support from the grandstands had kept him motivated during his difficult 2025 season.
"For the people that say the negative stuff, I often use that as fuel," he said. "I think it's easy to be negative about people. The ones that are worse are when it's a driver, who knows how hard it is in this field to do the job and they don't even have the success that I have and they talk negatively.
"It was really the fans that rescued me. Last year several of the fans were shouting to me: 'Don't forget who you are.' That really resonated with me, and I had to question how do I find myself again? How do I centre? How do I find the courage and the strength to keep going, keep building and keep trying?
"The team has been amazing to move mountains. There were lots of things I wanted to change, to move my whole race team engineer wise, helped get this car, in terms of development, in the right direction, but there's still a lot of work to do."
At the end of last year, Hamilton said he would throw his phone "in the bin" as he looked to reconnect with those around him and block out negative comments.
On Sunday he admitted his critics had made him question himself, but he vowed to rebuild after time spent over the winter with his family.
"Well, I mean, I'm only human," he added. "So, you know, there's moments where I see the stuff and for sure there's moments where I allowed it to get to me and penetrate deeply.
"But then I went through a sequence of unplugging from that matrix. I mentioned it last year, I spent lots of time with family, lots of time with friends, real people that know me, that have never doubted me, have stuck to and by me my whole life. And then I just went on the mission from Christmas Day."
- Mercedes boss Toto Wolff on Lewis Hamilton title threat: 'If he smells blood, he goes'
- Hamilton has found joy -- and success -- again with Ferrari
- Barcelona Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton's 'resilience' in 'tough moments' paid off for win - Fred Vasseur
The Ferrari driver also revealed that he was carrying an injury for "several months" after last year's race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
"The training that I put in was harder than I've ever experienced, to keep myself in good shape, because I think at the beginning of last year I got injured here, actually, and carried that for months," he said.
"I think just things that I know is to never second-guess yourself, never doubt yourself. You've got to continue to believe in yourself at the core. And those are the things that I've managed to reimplement into my mentality.
"I've rebuilt my mind to this point, to get myself back to where I was. And it's a great feeling to stand here, or to sit here right now, but to stand on that podium. As I was saying earlier on, I'm probably going to sleep in this red top tonight. It's a good feeling to have the horse on there at top."