Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Hamilton wants British Grand Prix win

Lewis Hamilton insists he has turned any negative feelings he might have had after the European Grand Prix into positives ahead of his home race next weekend that he is hoping to win.

Hamilton was downbeat immediately after his fourth place finish at Valencia, saying his title chances were "almost already over" and that he would "really be struggling" at Silverstone. However, he is now fired up for the British Grand Prix and believes McLaren can target an all-British one-two.

"I feel I've turned all the negatives I may have had into positives," he told BBC Sport. "I'm quite a realistic person so I know what we're up against, but nothing is impossible. The British Grand Prix, we're excited to go there and what we really want is a one-two - what that would do for British sport and for our fans… it would feel massively special to us."

Hamilton added that his 89-point gap to Sebastian Vettel in the drivers' championship is not insurmountable.

"I think it's never over until it's over," he added. "We're only just coming up to half way, so there's still a long way to go. If we were to win all the other grands prix we could still win the championship, so it's never over until it's really, really over. Of course he's pulling quite a big gap, but nothing is impossible."

Jenson Button, who was also downbeat about his chances at Silverstone immediately after the European Grand Prix, is hoping to bag his first home podium in F1.

"I think Lewis and myself were a bit negative after the race, but looking at it now we have some good improvements for Silverstone," he told BBC Sport. "I don't know whether it's going to be enough to fight with the Red Bulls and get on the podium, but we've got improvements and we're positive we are going to get the best out of them.

"We'll see, we want to put on a great show for the British fans and I think that's why we were a bit negative after the last race, because we get so excited about the British Grand Prix and you want to perform well. I wouldn't say there's more pressure but you want to put on a good performance because you get so much support there."

Button is marginally closer to Vettel in the championship, with a gap of 77 points to the Red Bull driver, but agrees that it will be a big challenge to reel the German back in.

"He's got a big advantage after eight races but who knows," he said. "We're not going to stop trying. We're going to be trying our best we've got a fantastic team in Vodafone McLaren Mercedes and if we keep pushing hard we'll slowly pull them back - I hope so. It's tricky because they [Red Bull] are doing a great job and the only people that have beaten them is us, Lewis and myself, so we are the challengers."

© ESPN EMEA Ltd.

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