People Massively Impressed With Hamilton

By Sam Cooper
March 19 2007

The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Team driver Lewis Hamilton finished only 3rd at the Australian Grand Prix, have this been a experienced driver the world wouldn’t be impressed, but since he’s a rookie, things are very different.

The young Britain drove an remarkable race, starting 4th on the grid, and ultimately finishing 3rd on his first grand prix debut Hamilton was running up higher up the field but team mate Fernando Alonso, possibly having the better strategy, managed to get past him at the final stop to win Lewis to second place. However Lewis looked much faster than Fernando in the race, possibly the 22 year old brit is faster than the double world champion

After his performance team boss Ron Dennis has applauded Lewis’s race pace and overall performance and is enormously proud of the young Brit.

"Lewis did a really good job with a very disciplined race," Dennis said. "The strategy favoured Fernando slightly so he was just biding his time but you can't take anything away from Lewis who drove a really mature race."

"It's the result of ten years hard work by him and he's made a lot of sacrifices to pursue his dream and it's his day," Dennis added. "We're so proud that he and Fernando are part of our team because they're both such very nice chaps which makes it so much more enjoyable."

Lewis Hamilton himself is ecstatic over his performance, the young brit flowing with confidence.

"I'm absolutely ecstatic - today's result is more than I ever dreamed of achieving on my Grand Prix debut. A big thank you to the team who have worked so hard during the winter to make sure I was as prepared as I possible could be. I made a good start but the BMWs were quick off the line and Kubica managed to get past. There was no room on the inside so I got on the left and managed to out brake both Kubica and Fernando coming into the first corner to take third. The race was intense, and I was working very hard. I made a few mistakes but nothing major and really enjoyed myself. It was great to lead the race for a few laps, but I knew it was only a temporary thing. Fernando got past me at the second pit stop as he was able to stay out a bit longer and I lost some time behind back markers. We now have a lot of work ahead of us with the Malaysia test and the rest of the season, but there is no doubt that we can build from what has been achieved today."

"Of course as always we came to Australia to win, but a somewhat unexpected strategy adopted by BMW was very disruptive to our race. Following Heidfeld's first pitstop the gap was just too big to realistically close it and the additional range from our strategy was subsequently wasted. Both drivers did an excellent job giving us a narrow lead in the Constructors' Championship. A special thank you to the test team and the workforce back at the McLaren Technology Centre who have worked so hard during the winter and contributed so much to the faultless reliability that we have enjoyed throughout the weekend. The coming Malaysian test should give us every opportunity to further improve the competitiveness of our cars."