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Tuesday July 28, 2009

Hamilton’s win puts struggling McLaren back on track

BUDAPEST: World champion Lewis Hamilton stood proud as a Formula One winner again on Sunday in “one huge leap” for a McLaren team that some had written off for the season.

After 10 races in a row without a McLaren driver on the podium, the 24-year-old Briton stormed to the chequered flag at the Hungarian Grand Prix to put a smile on the face of long-suffering team boss Martin Whitmarsh.

“It’s an incredible feeling to be back here after what feels such a long time away and with such a struggle with me and my team,” said Hamilton.

“I am just so proud of the guys, as I go into the factory and I see how hard everyone is pushing. Everyone wants to win just as much as I do and they never gave up,” he added after more than doubling his points tally for the season in a single race.

“They have never given up which is something very rare to see in such a large group of people. I am very, very proud of them.

“Undoubtedly we have caught up quite a bit but we never felt we had the pace to win. But the car felt fantastic and it is incredibly special to get back up here, not only on the podium, but to get a win. It is amazing.”

Solidarity: Ferrari team show their sympathy towards Brazilian Formula One driver Felipe Massa who was hospitalised and operated on Saturday after an accident during practice session. — AP

McLaren started off the season in Australia with a car that they frankly recognised was not capable of challenging for victories.

Since then, they have thrown everything at catching up with pacesetters Brawn GP and Red Bull.

The Hungaroring is one of the slowest circuits in Formula One but ideally suited to the KERS kinetic energy recovery systems that McLaren and Mercedes have perfected.

It is also a track that has smiled on McLaren in the past, with the team winning there in 2007 and 2008 and now four times in the last five years.

“We need to take as much as we can from this weekend and continue to push,” said Hamilton, whose last win was in China in October last year.

“We have got some improvements to make for sure and some work to do to be able to beat these guys on a more regular basis. But this is one huge leap for us and hopefully we are now on the right track, so let’s keep going.”

Whitmarsh hailed his team for producing his first win since taking over as principal from Ron Dennis.

“Even as recently as four weeks ago, I don’t think many people would have believed you if you’d told them that we’d win the Hungarian Grand Prix in dominant fashion, but that’s exactly what we did today,” he said.

“The fact that we did just that is a fantastic testimony to what can only be described as a superhuman team effort.” — Reuters

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