Lewis Hamilton admits winning the title may be an uphill task
Lewis Hamilton is probably the most unlucky driver on the F1 circuit at present. The 2008 world champion was comfortable leading the championship table at midpoint of the season, and looked on course to win his 2nd world
championship. But some less than impressive performances and few unfortunate incidents have left him trailing the table topper Mark Webber by 28 points as he lies in 4th spot with 3 races left.
Hamilton has finally admitted that after the Japan Grand Prix, winning the world title may be beyond him now. The Red Bull duo of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber ended up on first and 2nd
spot in the race, while Hamilton’s former team mate Fernando Alonso finished on 3rd place.
Lewis Hamilton suffered another blow to his title chances when his gearbox failed during incomplete qualifying on Saturday. He was docked 5 places on the grid following an illegal gearbox change. Hamilton said that if things
stay like this it may be difficult for him to win the title, and it will have to be a dramatic turnaround for him to win the title. Now there are 3 races left in the season; Hamilton did manage to end the race this time that is the first time in 3 races. But
overall it was a disappointing weekend for the youngest world champion.
Japan was believed to be an important one in terms of the title race, but Hamilton failed to make ground. Most of the problems he has faced in recent times were actually self-inflicted and with a bit more composure he could
have avoided them.
With just 10 laps remaining in the race at Suzuka circuit Hamilton looked certain to finish 4th ahead of his team mate Jenson Button. However once again a gear problem hampered his progress, his 3rd
gear somehow stopped working and Button was able to move ahead with Hamilton ending on 5th place.
Hamilton said: "It's a bit disappointing for myself and my team,"
"We worked very hard, as always, and we're doing everything we can to score points.
Team boss at McLaren Martin Whitmarsh though refused to throw in the towel at this point; he said that as far the title race is concerned both his drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton have a good chance of winning the
championship. However he also admitted that considering how things have gone in recent races it will not be an easy task.
Whitmarsh said that things have not gone to plan, but still looking at the big picture it was not a total loss. He added that in last 3 races anything can still happen and looking at the pace of both his cars it was promising,
and as far as Japan Grand’s Prix was concerned in the end it was damage limitation and it did not go that badly.
The team boss went on to say that there needs to be some improvement in the cars, and the team engineers have been working overtime to improve the cars. Whitmarsh said that a new car wing will be introduced in the next race
and he is expecting positive results from the new advancements.
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