Hamilton wary of immediate downturn
Wednesday 27th July 2011
Lewis Hamilton is hoping the emotional rollercoaster he has been riding on the last few months does not send him hurtling towards another dip in Hungary this weekend.
Hamilton scaled the heights in Germany on Sunday with a victory he admits made him feel like a child again such was his giddiness in taking the chequered flag at the Nurburgring.
It made the lows of the previous few weeks in the wake of criticism over a number of incidents, his ill-judged comments and aggressive driving style much more bearable.
But with little time to savour such a success, Hamilton now heads to the Hungaroring where he has twice triumphed in the past, but where Red Bull totally dominated last year.
It was an all-Red Bull front row, with Sebastian Vettel on pole and a staggering 1.2 seconds clear of third-on-the-grid Fernando Alonso in his Ferrari.
It was team-mate Mark Webber, though, who went on to win the race by 18 seconds to Alonso, with Vettel third.
As much as Hamilton would love back-to-back wins, to follow on from his victories in Budapest in 2007 and 2009, he already knows it may be a long shot.
"If you look at Hungary last year the Red Bull was light years ahead of everyone," said Hamilton.
"If you look at Valencia this year, Red Bull and Ferrari were massively quick in the hot conditions, and I expect them to be the same again this weekend.
"Naturally we will try to improve, but I do think we will have to wait until next year before our car is maybe as good as theirs. We'll see.
"Maybe we'll turn up there and be quick, maybe we'll have cooler conditions and it will be perfect for us."
It is not pessimism from Hamilton, but realism, although when he talks of the conditions they may yet play into McLaren's hands.
Budapest is generally renowned as a sun-baked city at this time of year, but the forecast suggests a run of thunderstorms throughout the weekend that could shake up the situation.
It is difficult to know what to expect from McLaren, with Hamilton adding: "We have had a challenging couple of months, up and down, kind of nearly there, kind of not, then a millions away, then the win.
"It's been a massive emotional rollercoaster for all of us. It has played on my emotions and that of the team, so when we do have the wins as in Germany then it's just that much better.
"If you were doing it all the time, then I don't know if you could have the same feelings, so it makes it all the more worthwhile, and clearly we want to continue like this.
"But there are things I know we need to go and work on, and there are things the guys know they need to work on. We just need to keep applying the pressure because the championship is still alive.
"I really hope the win spurs them on because we're only just over halfway. There's still a long way to go."
As team principal Martin Whitmarsh admitted earlier this week, all McLaren can do is apply the pressure and hope Red Bull continue to make mistakes as they did in Germany.
It was only a matter of time before Vettel's stunning run came to an end as he finished fourth, off the podium for the first time in 12 races.
All Hamilton can then do is be in the right place at the right time to take advantage.
"You can't expect them to be perfect all the time," said Hamilton.
"They've been massively consistent for a long, long time, but everyone has their ups and downs.
"Sunday was one of their first down moments - and hopefully they'll have more - but we capitalised on it, and hopefully we'll be able to do that in the future."
Credit: ESPN STAR (www.espnstar.com)
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