Hamilton repeated his admission of two weeks ago that he is now effectively an
also-ran in a 2012 title race that looks to be between Red Bull’s Sebastian
Vettel and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, saying it was a shame his six years at
McLaren look as if they will yield just one solitary drivers’ championship.
With four races remaining, Vettel is six points clear of Alonso.
Hamilton is fourth, 62 points adrift, while McLaren have slipped to third in
the constructors’ standings – six points behind Ferrari and 83 points adrift
of leaders and defending champions Red Bull.
“When I won the world championship, I wasn’t as lucky as Sebastian has been to
have a car that’s as dominant the next year as well,” Hamilton said of the
25-year-old German who is chasing a third championship in a row.
“I’m very sad that we’ve not been able to win another world championship … I
feel that we, as a team, are good enough to have done so and I feel that I’m
good enough to have done so. For whatever reason it hasn’t happened and I’m
not going to complain. For the rest of the year now it’s just to try and
help the team win the constructors’ championship.
“Realistically we are too far away, I would say, to win the drivers’. If we
did through some kind of miracle, then I’ll eat my words.”
McLaren last won the constructors’ title in 1998, although they would have won
the 2007 championship had the team not been stripped of all their points for
a scandal involving leaked Ferrari data in their possession. “To go out on a
high like that would be fantastic,” Hamilton said.