Lewis Hamilton in confident mood ahead of British Grand Prix

Mark Bryans 10:44 23/06/2015
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  • The reigning world champion believes he’s in better shape than last season.

    Lewis Hamilton insists he will not suffer an Austrian hangover as he heads to Silverstone stronger than ever.

    The reigning world champion lost out to Mercedes team-mate and title rival Nico Rosberg at the Red Bull Ring on Sunday.

    Rosberg had dominated for much of the weekend and capitalised on a poor start from pole-sitter Hamilton to take the win and close to within 10 points of the championship leader.

    In a race, which saw a massive accident for Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso’s McLaren, Hamilton was also hit with a five-second time penalty for crossing the white line on his exit from the pits. That error compounded a mediocre weekend by his own high standards but the 30-year-old will not be letting that get to him as he heads to the British Grand Prix looking to continue his tilt at a third world title.

    “I don’t feel you carry anything through,” Hamilton said when asked about potential momentum for Rosberg.

    “It starts again, you have a whole week of nothing racing-wise and then you arrive into a whole new weekend, I’ve never felt I’ve been carrying momentum from one weekend to the other, I feel like I’m coming there with the same approach each time.

    “It is not the end of the world at all. At the end of the day it is really positive for the team, a one-two. I’m grateful I still got the points.

    “You never want to go backwards from starting pole, finishing second from second is different.

    “I approach Silverstone the same way I approached this weekend. I hope it is a smoother weekend, it usually is a smoother weekend than it is here.”

    Hamilton has stormed to seven pole positions from the opening eight races and has backed that up by taking four wins. The former McLaren man believes he is better than last year and has had Rosberg’s number for much of the season – only admitting he has been out-driven twice by the German.

    “When you think about the places where points have been lost, it has been a pretty good year so far,”he added. “Nico has done Barcelona and here, two out of eight isn’t too bad really. I’m happy with that.

    “All I can think is that this year I’m stronger. It looks like we are kind of in a similar position but I feel stronger, getting better results, more consistent.

    “Hopefully it sits well for the rest of the season if I perform as well, if not better, than I did last year for the rest of the season.

    “Monaco, I performed better and generally I have only had a couple where I have not been the strongest, it has been the other way round.

    “When you say it has been balance and he (Rosberg) has been stronger, when you look at it seven poles out of eight is pretty decent and perhaps without Monaco, it wouldn’t be as close as it is now – he has had just two strong weekends.”

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