Formula One News

Formula One News » Championship lead reward for team’s hard work, admits Hamilton Posted on 29/06/2010

Despite seeing his chances of a hat-trick of F1 victories ended by a mistake behind the safety car in Valencia, Lewis Hamilton continues to lead the world championship standings as the season heads to his home race at Silverstone.

The 2008 world champion moved to the head of the points race with back-to-back wins in Turkey and Canada and, along with McLaren team-mate Jenson Button, who finished second in those two races and holds a similar position overall, gives the British fans reason to believe ahead of the early July event at the self-styled ‘Home of British Motorsport’.

“I think it is just very, very positive to be leading both championships, for myself and Jenson, and also for the team,” Hamilton noted, “We’ve been working so hard all year and I think the result clearly shows the effort that we have been putting in.

“It is great that we are now getting the results that we deserve, but it is going to be interesting going to Silverstone. Hopefully, we will be able to close the gap with the Red Bulls and really challenge them.”

While Ferrari has high hopes for its version of Red Bull’s ‘blown diffuser’ system, and extra reason to derail McLaren and Hamilton after the perceived injustice it suffered at the hand of the stewards in Valencia, Red Bull continues to be the Woking team’s closest threat, with Sebastian Vettel winning round nine in Spain.

The German returned to pole position in qualifying for the European Grand Prix, but had to fend off a determined challenge from Hamilton before the safety car neutralised the action and let to events that changed the face of the race.

“I came through turn one and was very close to Sebastian,” the McLaren driveer recalled, “I saw that a gap was available and went for it. I outbraked him [into turn two] and we were pretty much steaming into the corner at the same pace – but I was more or less half way up the inside.

“He tried to give me as much room as possible whilst trying to get around the corner. I cut the kerb, which pushed me much closer to him and we touched for a moment. I broke my front wing, so I was very fortunate to be able to keep up the pace and then came in with the safety car.

“The team did a great job to change the front wing and change the tyres. After that, the pace was much stronger, [and] I was able to challenge Sebastian pace-wise ,but it is impossible to overtake on this track when the cars are within a second. It is unbelievable even with the F-duct.”