ESPNF1 Staff
July 25, 2011
Lewis Hamilton beat the Red Bulls and Ferraris at the Nurburgring © Getty Images
Lewis Hamilton was unable to explain his return to form after winning the German Grand Prix on Sunday, but is hoping its sticks with him for the rest of the season.
After struggling to match the pace of the Red Bulls and Ferraris at the last two races, Hamilton qualified his McLaren on the front row at the Nurburgring and went on to win the race. However, he could not put his finger on what had changed since his tenth place grid slot and fourth place finish at Silverstone two weeks ago.
"The last couple of months have been quite challenging," he said. "Constantly up and down. Sometimes we are close and sometimes we are miles away, so believe me with this win things feel much, much better. And we definitely want to continue this way.
"But to be honest it puzzles me why we have been so quick this weekend. I feel now that the car is getting better and better, even though the two small upgrades couldn't have possibly closed the gap to anyone else."
Asked if the cooler conditions at the Nurburging helped, Hamilton said: "No, I don't think so. Probably we've been able, under these cold conditions, to switch our tyres on faster than the others. In places like Valencia, where it was pretty hot, we struggle. We are working on any shortcomings in this respect and I hope that we will be right at this point at the next race."
As for the championship, Hamilton believes "anything is possible".
"We are only in the middle of the season and so many points are still waiting to be taken," he said. "This win of course played massively on my emotions and that of the team. So far it has been a strange season. One day we have it and then we don't. One moment we are kind of there and then we are half a second off the pace and we don't know why. This weekend we had a couple of very small upgrades and suddenly the performance really took off.
"At the beginning of the race I struggled a lot, but then the car was getting better and better with every lap and that steep performance boost during the race made my victory. I owe a massive thanks to my crew and the guys back home in the factory. I really hope that it now carries on this way. It is just half way through the season and now anything is possible."
Looking ahead to the Hungarian Grand Prix next weekend, Hamilton said he was expecting a tougher challenge from his rivals.
"If you look at the results from last year the Red Bulls were light years ahead of everyone," he said. "And if you go back a month to Valencia the Red Bulls and Ferrari were massively quick in the hot conditions, so I expect them to do the same in Hungary. But believe we will try to improve. We will have small improvements there. But let's wait and see. Maybe we will get there and be quick. Maybe we will have the cooler conditions which work perfectly for us."
Credit: ESPN F1 (en.espnf1.com)
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