Lewis Hamilton has warned his McLaren team to expect a formidable opponent in Ferrari when the F1 Championship enters the final leg in late August. Having been destroyed by Hamilton in the wet in Britain and Germany, Ferrari fought back in Hungary last weekend where Felipe Massa pulled off the overtaking move of the race to take the lead off the McLaren driver. And had it not been for his engine failure three laps before the end of the 70-lap race Massa would have clinched not only the victory but also the lead in the standings. But as it stands Hamilton's fifth placed finish, despite a puncture, extended his lead in the championship by one point over Kimi Raikkonen, bringing the gap to five, while Massa languishes eight points off the pace.
However, the Brit concedes he could have a tough challenge holding onto the lead as the Ferraris have rebounded from their earlier disappointing pace. "They were strong," Hamilton told Autosport. "If we had been out in front then it perhaps would have been a little bit different. "But Hungary showed they had some really strong pace, which we already knew they had. It's just you guys (the media) seem to think there's a huge difference." He added: "I think I drove well. I didn't make any mistakes. I just had a puncture. I brought the car home as safe as possible and scored as many points as I could, so there's not much more you can ask for," he continued. "It's just unfortunate I was the one to get a puncture, and it was a case of 'oh no, not again.' I had it three times last year, or whatever it was, and that's what really lost me the Championship. "It can be very, very costly, but Kimi didn't win, and it actually helps Heikki (Kovalainen) won and (Timo) Glock was second. They are taking points off everyone else, so I'm quite happy. My lead is bigger now and you would never have thought that with all that has gone on this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment