Hamilton: « I should have 50 points »
Even though the McLaren driver couldn't – or wasn't able to – convert his two pole positions into victories, he only wants to focus on the positives from the first two Grand Prix and approaches China and Bahrain with the desire to prepare as best as possible.
With two pole positions under his belt and as the only driver to have been on the podium at both Grand Prix, the start of the season for Lewis Hamilton seems to be full of missed opportunities: “I should have 50 points, but that’s not the case,” regrets the Briton in the columns of the Guardian, who is currently in second place, five points behind the unexpected provisional leader of the driver’s championship, Fernando Alonso. “Yeah, we would have loved to have 20 more points, but at least we are consistent and we are well in the fight for the title,” the McLaren driver, however, puts it into perspective.
Although currently considered the favorite, the McLaren team has been far from perfect at the start of the season, particularly in Malaysia, where pit stops were sometimes catastrophic: « We should be proud of ourselves. The team has done a fantastic job to get us where we are. We have been the fastest in qualifying during both races, so there are many positive aspects to take away, rather than focusing on the negative things » says Lewis Hamilton.
As the Chinese and Bahrain Grand Prix approach, the Englishman intends to prepare as best as he can and iron out the small imperfections from the start of the season: « The main thing is to find my racing rhythm again. I talked with Fernando and Sergio after the Malaysian Grand Prix and they had a lot of understeer while I was suffering from a lot of oversteer. Maybe I’m setting up my car too aggressively, so I have to make some changes for the next two races, but I hope we will have some updates. I will go back to Woking and push the guys to see if we can have some developments to increase our lead over others, especially in the races. »
Lewis Hamilton doesn’t want to rest on his laurels and intends to take advantage of the three weeks between the Malaysian and Chinese Grand Prix to continue his preparation: « I’m going to train hard. The race [in Malaysia] was quite easy physically, so I did a pretty good job over the winter. Physically, I’m not in bad shape, but you have to maintain it because, in this sport, the season is so long. » The 2008 world champion also acknowledges that he hasn’t always been very serious: « Sometimes, in recent years, there were interruptions in my physical preparation, so I want to make sure I stay in shape. »
