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| With a fourth place finish for Lewis Hamilton and a fifth for Jenson Button, the McLaren Mercedes F1 team ran a good race, though it didn't get the results that it should have |
Lewis Hamilton
MP4-27A-01
Started: 3rd
Finished: 4th
Fastest lap: 1m28.944s (+0.741s, 5th)
Pitstops: One - lap 32 (3.12s) [Opt-Pri]
Championship Points: 165 (5th)
"I don’t yet understand why I got such a poor start – it lost me ground and
then I fell under attack from the guys behind. During the first lap, I was primarily
focusing on not colliding with Jenson, then I saw Fernando [Alonso] in my
right mirror. He was towing me from very far back. Even if I’d had a better
start than I did, the guys in front were still maybe a bit too fast, particularly in
the first stint."
"During that first stint I started having a downshift problem – I was having to
change down with my right hand instead of my left, so the team elected to change the
steering wheel at the pitstop. I’ve never had to change a steering wheel during
a race before. We’ve done it in Barcelona testing before, but never in a race.
Even so, the guys did it fantastically quickly, under immense pressure, so I want to say
‘well done!’ to them all. I took the wheel off before I’d even
stopped the car, and threw it out of the car. The team then fitted a new one, I
clicked it into first gear, and I was away – all in just a bit over three
seconds flat."
"I tried to chase down Mark [Webber] in the closing laps, but by then it was too late
and he was going too quickly for me to be able to mount a serious challenge. But I
never give up, and, right until the very last corner, I thought I might just be able
to catch him, but in the end it wasn’t to be. Still, I loved it out there today
– I can’t remember the last time I’ve pushed so far, so hard, for so
long, right on the limit – it felt great. It felt fantastic, in fact, to be in
the middle of such a battle."
"I’m so proud of all the guys in the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team, too –
it was a really great race."
