- 01 Jun 08, 08:51#45942
Gilles Villeneuve: If someone said to me that you can have three wishes, my first would have been to get into racing, my second to be in Formula 1, my third to drive for Ferrari.
I think this is a very good assessment of Monaco.
Hammy did very well indeed but people should stop the Hammy - Senna comparisons etc
And this was Hammy on his way home after the race Clicky
Hammy did very well indeed but people should stop the Hammy - Senna comparisons etc
Hamilton's brilliance is sprinkled with luck
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/jun/01/formulaone.motorsports
Lewis Hamilton is not stupid enough to believe that his dramatic win in Monaco last Sunday has made a repeat in Canada next weekend a formality. His drive, in the trickiest conditions imaginable, was world class, but Hamilton will be the first to accept that luck played a major part. He will also be aware that Ferrari would probably have won this race had all things been equal. Fortunately for Hamilton, things are rarely equal at Monaco. Particularly when it rains.
A light shower, mixed with the oil and grime endemic to a public road, produced a surface so slippery that it went beyond the capability of Bridgestone's excellent wet weather tyres and Hamilton's sublime skill. A brush with the crash barrier on lap six actually did him a favour and accidentally knocked the McLaren driver on to a strategy that would turn out to be perfect.
Hamilton was fortunate on several counts. Having hit the steelwork side-on, the damage was restricted to a rear wheel rim and a punctured tyre. The incident occurred not far from the pit lane entrance and the track was so greasy, the spray so opaque, that the field had become strung out at such an early stage. Normally a pit stop, however brief, on lap six would drop a leading driver into the clutches of the also-rans at the back. On this occasion, Hamilton rejoined in fifth place and, almost immediately, a two-car crash outside the casino rolled the dice in Hamilton's favour once more. The introduction of the safety car allowed the field to close up, thus reducing Hamilton's 30-second deficit to the leading group.
At very short notice, the McLaren engineers had decided to change Hamilton from a two-stop strategy to a single stop by loading the car with fuel. This allowed the flexibility of a very long period of running that would fit perfectly with the changing weather, Hamilton's next and final stop for fuel being made at the moment when dry weather tyres were finally coming into favour. The opposition, meanwhile, would be forced to make an extra stop to change tyres.
It takes confidence and self-control to immediately pick up rhythm and speed after a simple, but potentially devastating mistake. Hamilton's coolness under pressure was not even affected by the frustration of seeing his comfortable lead reduced to nothing by another safety car period with 16 laps to go. Just to hammer the point home to the pursuing BMW of Robert Kubica, Hamilton immediately set his fastest lap of the race when battle resumed.
Nothing, it seemed, would deny the Englishman. It is true that he picked up a puncture on his slowing down lap, but this came from Hamilton driving off the racing line and collecting a fragment from someone's broken wheel rim at the first corner. By then, he was past caring as he savoured a win he will treasure among the many that are bound to follow.
As Hamilton and McLaren review the Monaco race and assess their chances for Montreal, it will not have gone unnoticed that Ferrari made an impressive step forward on a circuit that, until last weekend, had been the Italian team's bête noire. Felipe Massa's pole position lap may yet go down as the best of the season. The statistics show that it had nothing to do with running a light load of fuel in order to win the most important pole of the season. Hamilton and Massa were due to stop on the same lap, which makes the McLaren's qualifying shortfall a slight worry as it underlines Ferrari's step forward on such a slow and twisting circuit.
Massa's performance also laid down a marker within the Ferrari team itself on a weekend when Kimi Raikkonen might have been better off staying on his yacht to continue partying with his Finnish friends. Raikkonen's erratic performance reach its lowest point when he lost control and slammed into the back of the hapless Adrian Sutil as the German headed for his first championship points after a drive that was arguably more impressive than Hamilton's. The resulting retirement cost Force India at least $5m (£2.5m) in future payments since, with all due respect to the former Jordan team, a place so high in the points is unlikely in the remaining 12 races.
Raikkonen apologised immediately and the chances are that the world champion will be back on form next weekend after losing his lead of the championship to Hamilton. But, of the two Ferrari drivers, it is Massa who has suddenly developed the consistency as well as the speed to make the most of the much improved Ferrari.
Hamilton will also be aware that he cannot discount his team-mate who, but for a rare glitch in the McLaren's electronics at the start, would have been in the fight for a podium finish at Monaco. A maiden victory in Canada, similar to Hamilton's in 2007, would revive Kovalainen's increasingly slim chances of taking the title. A repeat for Hamilton would extend his lead and set the scene for the run up to the British Grand Prix on 6 July.
And this was Hammy on his way home after the race Clicky
Gilles Villeneuve: If someone said to me that you can have three wishes, my first would have been to get into racing, my second to be in Formula 1, my third to drive for Ferrari.
