Hamilton relief at Ferrari failure to dominate in Hungary
Sunday, 03 Aug 2008 22:08
Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton admits he is relieved his title rivals failed to capitalise on his punctured tyre at the Hungarian grand prix.
The McLaren driver, looking for a hat-trick of grand prix wins, finished fifth after his left-front tyre blew early on.
His team-mate Heikki Kovalainen snatched victory after Felipe Massa's engine blew three laps before the end while leading the race in Budapest.
Massa's Ferrari's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen took third place, to trail Hamilton by five points in the drivers' championship with seven races left.
Hamilton said he was stunned that McLaren failed to dominate the Ferraris in the race, having dominated the practise and qualifying sessions.
"It's the best of the worst. What can you do when you have a puncture?" Hamilton told ITV1.
"It just went in turn one. I never knew it was a puncture. It's nowhere near as bad as it could have been. I could have had Felipe and Kimi right at the front."
"I was a little disappointed with the fact I had been passed, but he [Massa] just did a better job and it was better to play safe than sorry," he added.
"It was a surprise that we weren't as quick as we should have been. We were quick at the beginning but struggled with our tyres."
Hamilton has 62 points after 11 races, in his bid to go one better than his runner-up position last season.