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F1: Hamilton Did a Great Job, Says Dennis
Written by: Adam Cooper
RACER Magazine   http://www.racer.com/speedtv
05/12/2008 - 02:29 PM
Istanbul, Turkey
 
Hamilton: best drive of his career in Turkey? (LAT Photo) ยป More Photos

Ron Dennis has praised Lewis Hamilton for his forceful drive in Turkey, and especially his pass for the lead on Felipe Massa.

In the end Hamilton finished second, just ahead of the other Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen. Lewis himself felt it was his best F1 drive to date.

“I think he did a great job,” said Dennis. He was very disciplined, he did everything that was asked. We asked him to overtake Massa and he did. That was quite impressive! It was if you can, do it, and he did, and he did it very cleanly.”

Hamilton’s race was divided into four stints because of concerns over tire wear, in the light of the costly failure he suffered in 2007.

“We had a small problem in practice on the tires and it was that which moved us to a three-stop strategy, which we felt was safer. That was the recommendation of Bridgestone, so we tried to optimize that.

“Lewis has a certain driving style which requires us to set the car and just loads up the front tires a lot. We’re aware of it. All of the relevant data was provided to Bridgestone [in advance], and they felt it wasn’t going to be an issue, but it proved to be.”

The problem did not afflict Heikki Kovalainen, and with a heavier fuel load than his teammate, the Finn was well placed to at the very
least hang onto the second he secured on the grid.

“Heikki was very, very quick – he was a bit disappointed to get a cut tire off a skirmish with Raikkonen at the start, but we picked that up with the telemetry. It was slow enough that we could do one lap behind the safety car, and avoid coming in with the pitlane closed. So that was a pretty good call.

“He would have been very strong. You can’t predict, but he would have been very strong. He had every opportunity today to win his first race. But that’s life!’

Dennis insists that the battle between the top teams is closer, and that McLaren could have the edge next time out at Monaco.

“I think we came here with the ability to get good results. I don’t like saying we would have won, but obviously I don’t think here was any doubt that Ferrari was pushing hard from beginning to end. It was a very close race. There’s a long way to go. There’s two points out of the lead, as it were, so a bit closer to Kimi. And we’re looking forward to Monte Carlo, a circuit we normally do well on.

“We’re always strong there. I think we’ve comfortably won there more than anybody else, and that’s what we’ve got to do, go there to try and do it again.”
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