Hamilton to keep up the heat despite Monza crash
According to AutoSport.com, McLaren principal Martin Whitmarsh has no desire to suppress Lewis Hamilton’s aggressive and daring driving style in the remainder of the 2011 Formula One season. The decision comes in light of the incident at Monza in which Hamilton struggled to overtake the top three drivers on the first corner, colliding into Ferrari's Felipe Massa and being forced out of the race as a result. The lost points for McLaren – though team-mate Jenson Button earned a glorious second – are not easily overlooked.
But Whitmarsh justifies his decision not to tamper with Hamilton’s style by stating that, “That is Lewis Hamilton. He is an aggressive racing driver, who when viewing the slow motion replay from the comfort of an armchair probably wishes he had not done it, and so do we. But that is being a racing driver - and you have to go for it. That is Lewis Hamilton. I don't want to change Lewis Hamilton. I think he is a great product, a great human being and a great racing driver.”
Whitmarsh went on to add, “I knew Lewis was in his room and knew he had been in there for some time. I went in to see him to talk to him. He had time to reflect on it, we discussed what happened and we will learn from it. The important thing is that Lewis jumps out of bed in the morning, gets in to training, focuses on Singapore and wants to do the job there. And he will.”
Whitmarsh went on, “Lewis is hard on himself. He is striving to be perfect, striving to be the best racing driver in the world, and when you don't something like he did, you regret it. But it is millimetres and centimetres of track position at high speed and high adrenaline that are the difference between hero and zero.”
Whitmarsh’s comments echo Hamilton’s own resilience to acknowledge his mistake and focus on Singapore. The title race is still very much within McLaren’s grasp, who are “five points behind in drivers' championship and three in the constructors' but that is nothing.”
Hamilton will be very aware of how much caution will play a role in the remaining five races, as the 2010 season draws to its high-anticipated close in November.
Tags: