Hamilton had to check himself when asked where the car ranked in his all-time
list. “It’s different,” he smiled. “One of the best. [The McLaren in] 2008
[in which he won his world title] was pretty good. I wanted to say it was
even better than that.”
The Briton also said his motivation levels were good despite the emotional
turmoil of his break up with his American popstar girlfriend Nicole
Scherzinger.
The 28-year-old dedicated Sunday’s win to Scherzinger and has been open about
trying to win her back, admitting the euphoria generated by victory would
only serve as a “Band Aid” for so long. “My dad’s been really supportive
these past couple of days, and my mum,” Hamilton said.
Rather than allow himself to wallow, Hamilton said he will be throwing himself
into training over the August factory shutdown. “I haven’t planned a
holiday,” he said. “Well, I had a holiday planned [with Scherzinger] but I
cancelled it. I’m just going to be training. I think the break’s good for
the team. It’s a phenomenal team. What an incredible job they do.”
Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn agreed that the championship was “open” and
said he hoped Sunday’s win showed Hamilton was right to switch from McLaren
last winter.
“Lewis showed faith in us at the end of last year, and people were speculating
about whether it was a bad move or not,” Brawn said. “I hope we have now
started to demonstrate that his faith was justified. It is very early days
but it’s encouraging.”
Meanwhile, Formula One chief executive Bernie Ecclestone said yesterday that
the Indian Grand Prix would “probably” be dropped from next year’s calendar,
adding that the race was “very political”.
The Delhi race, which has a contract until 2015, has hit some major
bureaucratic hurdles since it started in 2011, while teams have expressed
concerns about the high local taxation.
Vicky Chandhok, president of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India,
said race promoters Jaypee Sports International and Ecclestone were in talks
to shift it from a late 2014 slot to early 2015 with an extension to 2016 to
make up for the missed year.
Ferrari have confirmed James Allison is to return to the team from Sept 1. He
left his role as Lotus technical director in May and was immediately linked
with a move to Ferrari, who also announced Pat Fry’s appointment as director
of engineering.