F1 2010 World Championship leader Lewis Hamilton has revealed his conviction that if he was to have his rookie season in the top flight over again with the benefit of the experience that he has now, he would ‘blitz’ the title ‘no problem’ – as he warned his rivals that he is getting ‘better every year’.
Arriving at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix in front of his adoring home fans this weekend, the 25-year-old sits atop the points standings off the back of a brace of victories in Istanbul and Montreal and a runner-up spot in Valencia last time out – as the Woking-based outfit threatens to develop into the team to beat. Insisting that he never lost faith in his talent and potential even through the toughest times, Hamilton is convinced the momentum is now beginning to swing definitively McLaren’s way.
“The season is so long [that] you don’t really get to celebrate. It just builds up throughout the year and you store it and, hopefully, at the end you get to let all the emotions out. In terms of pure challenge and greatness, if I was to win this world championship it would be just a remarkable achievement. I’m working as hard as I can to do it. My dream is to win three world championships – and to emulate Ayrton Senna – but just to get the second is bloody hard.” Yahoo! Eurosport
Defending drivers’ champion Button is worried that his team might be playing catch-up.
The 30-year-old Briton said it is crucial for his team to get the most out of their updates if they are to challenge their rivals, but is unsure if they will have enough testing time.
“Here we do need to raise our game. We do need to add performance to the car if we are going to challenge the Red Bulls and a couple of other teams.” AFP
Given the championship battle between Red Bull and McLaren, Horner’s words are bound to be interpreted as ‘mind games’, although he speaks from experience having already dealt with a similar problem this season.
Webber and Vettel collided whilst disputing the lead in Istanbul - an incident that smoothed the way for Hamilton’s first win of 2010 - with the Australian admitting his relationship with his team-mate remains “pretty good” rather than “beautiful, fuzzy and warm”.
He added: “We are working very closely together now. The drivers have learned from it, as have the team.
“I can’t guarantee, but I’m pretty confident we won’t see an incident like that again with our drivers, whereas I couldn’t guarantee it won’t happen with some of our opponents. SkySports
Pos Driver Team Points 1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 127 2 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 121 3 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 115 4 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 103 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 98 6 Robert Kubica Renault 83 7 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 75 8 Felipe Massa Ferrari 67 9 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 34 10 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 31 11 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 19 12 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 12 13 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari 7 14 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 7 15 Vitaly Petrov Renault 6 16 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 3 17 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1 18 Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari 0 19 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 0 20 Karun Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 0 21 Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 0 22 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 0 23 Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth 0 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 0
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