Saturday, August 2, 2008

LEWIS: THIS IS AS GOOD AS IT GETS

LEWIS: THIS IS AS GOOD AS IT GETS

Hamilton celebrates taking pole.

Lewis Hamilton sent out a chilling warning to his Formula One title rivals on Saturday by revealing: "Right now I'm at my best."

An on-fire Hamilton clinched the 10th pole of his career to lead a McLaren one-two in qualifying for the first time this season ahead of Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix.

There appears to be no stopping Hamilton at present following his back-to-back victories in the British and German races in the last few weeks.

And given the statistics, it is hard to imagine anything other than the 23-year-old becoming the first British driver since Damon Hill in 1996 to make it a hat-trick of successive wins.

Hamilton has won six of the nine races he has previously started on pole, while at a tight Hungaroring track where it is hard to pass, six of the last 10 races have been won from top spot on the grid.

Following what has been a dominant weekend so far, Hamilton is now odds-on to increase the four-point lead he holds over Felipe Massa at the top of the championship. The Ferrari driver will start from third on Sunday.

"Every time I get in the car I learn something new and I feel more and more comfortable and more at home," remarked Hamilton

"I can definitely say that right now I'm at my best, and this is as comfortable as I have ever been, knowing where the car is and with things going on in my life.

"I feel pretty much on top of things, but I have no doubts I have room to improve, and I will carry on doing that."

It was all so different six weeks ago when Hamilton departed Magny-Cours in France after failing to score a point for the second race in succession for the first time in his career.

But even then he felt McLaren were on the cusp, admitting he is far from stunned at the turnaround in form and fortune that has since evolved

"I had a couple of dodgy races, but we still had great speed, both in Montreal and Magny-Cours," added Hamilton

"So it's no surprise, and there have been no miracles. It's just that we worked very hard to take steps forward.

"Over the past month we've done a great job in improving the car, and I'm very proud of the team for that.

"I feel great in the car, there's a good atmosphere and harmony in the team, and now we've qualified one-two.

"It puts us in a great position to challenge for the win, but I've no doubts it will be a tough race tomorrow."

The one-two is actually McLaren's first since last season's Italian Grand Prix in September, with Hamilton naturally hoping he and team-mate Heikki Kovalainen replicate that on Sunday.

"It's a great day to have me and Heikki one two. It's about time we did that for the team, and I'm very, very happy," added Hamilton.

"But you can never be too comfortable, although I feel safe given the position we're in.

"We both have very good strategies to push on and try for the win, and we couldn't be in a better position to do that.

"I'll just make sure my preparations are right, and hopefully we'll have a strong race.

"It would be great to have a one-two for the team. They deserve it, and as Heikki and I have both been pushing very hard, we deserve it."

In terms of extending his championship lead, Hamilton has the ideal buffer in Kovalainen, although the Finn has other ideas as he has his sights set on a maiden win.

"I will attack tomorrow as much as I can at the start and we will see how it works out," insisted Kovalainen.

"Ideally I can push Lewis and keep Felipe behind me. I will fight with Lewis, try to pass him, and of course he will try to defend.

"But we will respect each other because at the end of the day we are employed by the team, and we will try to do our best for the team.

"Like you saw at Silverstone we do race, but we also know where the limit is, and that's like it is for all the guys at the top of the Formula One.

"You can push people hard and race hard, and there's nothing wrong with that."

BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica, currently 10 points behind Hamilton, rediscovered his qualifying form and will start fourth, ahead of a career best fifth from Toyota's Timo Glock.

Reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonen continues to struggle and will start from sixth, with Jenson Button and David Coulthard 12th and 13th for Honda and Red Bull.



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