Hamilton: Alonso would have passed me

Korean Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton said he would have struggled to win the Korean Grand Prix even if he hadn’t gone off in front of eventual winner Fernando Alonso.

Hamilton told his official website:

I think it would have been extremely difficult. For the whole race, I was struggling with grip, and having trouble getting the car slowed down without locking the fronts.

And that’s why I ran wide at the exit of Turn One – just because it was so difficult to get the car slowed for the corner. That’s where Fernando passed me, but I really think it would only have been a matter of time before he’d been able to get through anyway.

We had pretty decent pace through sectors one and two, but the car wasn’t fast enough through the final sector, where I was losing a couple of tenths, so I think I’d have been a sitting duck along the pits straight going into the first corner. So I don’t think it would have changed the overall result.

Also, in the closing laps, my tyres started falling away really sharply and my lap times just plummeted, it was so hard to keep the car on the track. So I’m pleased with those 18 points for second – I could have done with seven more points for the win, but I’m happy with what I got.
Lewis Hamilton

He played down his chances of winning the championship this year, saying the MP4-25 was the slowest of the three front-running cars at the moment:

Absolutely. It’s going to be tough – we saw again in Korea that we’ve probably only got the third-fastest car, so we’re probably not the favourites – but that’s okay.

We’re bringing new parts to the car all the time, and I know we’ll have some more upgrades in Brazil – whether that will be enough, we need to wait and see. But I’m going to enjoy pushing – I’ve had some good races in Brazil, it’s a place where you can really make a charge work, so I go there feeling very optimistic and hopeful of another good showing.

At this stage, the aim has to be to go to Abu Dhabi with a mathematical possibility of winning the title. As we’ve seen so many times before, anything can happen at the final race, so Brazil will be all about prolonging the challenge and then maximizing everything for Abu Dhabi.

Of course, it would be nice to take a win at Interlagos, but we’re taking it all one step at a time at the moment.
Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton was frustrated at the delay in starting the Korean Grand Prix but said afterwards he felt the organisers got it right:

During the first start behind the safety car, it was pretty tricky – mainly because visibility was so limited. There didn’t seem to be too much rain, but there was a lot of water in the air, and that meant that the spray was pretty intense. You couldn’t see much in front of you, so it was a good move to red-flag the event.

But when we restarted again behind the safety car, I didn’t think conditions were too bad. We’ve had some pretty full-on wet races over the last couple of years – Fuji 2007, Silverstone 2008 – and I think the conditions in Korea were definitely comparable to those. That’s why I wanted to go racing.

Actually, the strangest conditions were at the very end of the race, when it started to get darker, which was another challenge – and something that you’re not used to as a Formula 1 driver. I actually think the race organisers got it just right: yes, the light was fading towards the very end of the race, but I think it would have been a controversial decision to stop the race before full-distance, as it could have potentially favoured one team or driver over another.

And, as we saw, the light levels dropped really sharply once we’d got out of the cars, so I think we got it just right.
Lewis Hamilton

2010 Korean Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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27 comments on “Hamilton: Alonso would have passed me”

  1. Oliver
    29th October 2010, 9:06

    It appears Lewis and Jenson had the same problems with locking brakes.

    1. Anagh
      29th October 2010, 9:59

      And the Force Indias. But ofcourse Sutil managed to make that a “fun factor!” :-P

    2. Matt
      1st November 2010, 9:24

      Its just that Lewis is better at driving round problems than Jenson

  2. Troy
    29th October 2010, 9:12

    However, Lewis did manage to drive around the problem and finish 2nd. He had a little bit of luck with both Red bulls and Rosberg retiring but it was a good drive from him.

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      BasCB (@bascb)
      29th October 2010, 11:46

      Jenson might as well have finished in the points, if he had not stopped 3 laps before the SC. After that he was out of it.

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    Dallas27 (@)
    29th October 2010, 9:26

    Yeah he did get lucky and did have a good drive and he is just stating what we already know – his Mclaren is not that good ..

    1. Anagh
      29th October 2010, 9:59

      Mature of him though to admit it!

  4. cesium
    29th October 2010, 10:39

    i was wondering how good was Hamilton results before Hungary!…with 3 or 4 DNF he’s still 3rd! less than 25 points behind the leader!

    1. RobertG
      29th October 2010, 16:49

      Imagine what would be if Vettel andd Hamilton had no problems….

      1. Calum
        29th October 2010, 22:16

        It’s been shown on this site before…something like Vettel 1st in the championship with a pretty big lead with Hamilton 2nd and Webber 3rd with Vettel more than likely to have gone on and won the title :0

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    Icthyes (@icthyes)
    29th October 2010, 10:41

    Clear-headed in hindsight as usual, I’ve really been impressed with his mental approach this year. Bar running into Massa I’d be saying the same about his on-track mentality, but 1 from 17 is still pretty excellent in my book.

    Just think though, for one place he could be 7, not 21 points behind. If there’s one thing the new points have done, it’s mess with the psychology of things – “3 instead of 8” doesn’t sound nearly as dramatic!

    Your fans are proud of you already, let’s just see what you can get from the last two races.

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      BasCB (@bascb)
      29th October 2010, 11:52

      Certainly looks like he is growing into that. Good job on him, and very good for McLaren to have him in their team.
      I do think Button helped him see these things clearer this year.

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        US_Peter (@us_peter)
        29th October 2010, 19:34

        Button, and the lack of his dad constantly watching over his shoulder. I think the combination has been great for him.

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    Dallas27 (@)
    29th October 2010, 10:53

    Yes we are – and like you say any points finishes from those two DNF and it would be different story for him.
    But well done to both McClaren drivers this year…..

  7. David BR
    29th October 2010, 11:44

    we’ll have some more upgrades

    OK, enough already! How about an extra bouncy front wing?! Win or lose the championships, it’d be great to see the Red Bull’s finally knocked off the front row. (Dream on, I know.)

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    Dallas27 (@)
    29th October 2010, 12:06

    Just gazed into my plastic crystal ball(times are hard) and i can see a hmaliton and alonso front row and it goes cloudy after that – must be the weather……

  9. verstappen
    29th October 2010, 13:59

    Sort of related story: teamores at ferrari in Korea?

    1. verstappen
      29th October 2010, 14:00

      ores must be orders (to avoid confusion from filling in ch or wh before…)

    2. LuvinF1
      29th October 2010, 15:10

      Does anyone have the location of the Mark Hughes Autosport report that GP Update (your link) refers to?

    3. Nov
      29th October 2010, 18:53

      Nice try. Always try to find something against him.

    4. Santi
      29th October 2010, 20:10

      This is the most ridiculous conspiracy theory I’ve read this year :)

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      Todfod (@todfod)
      30th October 2010, 7:51

      Even if its true, its perfectly legal, since Massa is no longer mathematically capable of winning the championship. Having said that, I think the article is all BS.

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        Steph (@)
        30th October 2010, 10:20

        I’m not sure if it would be legal. It would be fine for Alo and Mas to switch but I’m not sure if it would be ok if Massa was wrecking everyone else’s race. That’s if the article is accurate of course

  10. Anagh
    29th October 2010, 15:08

    They should fit a EMP gun on their cars. Just go berserk with it n win the race! :D

  11. RobertG
    29th October 2010, 16:54

    I think he is right. Ferni was quicker

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    wasiF1 (@wasif1)
    30th October 2010, 2:35

    He is right Ferrari was quicker but it would have been great to watch both of them fight other then Hamilton just gave the place to Alonso as a gift.

  13. DaveW
    1st November 2010, 13:31

    I don’t know that the MP425 is third-quickest. How is it that Massa frequently ends up behind one McLaren? More to the point I don’t think that the car is the main story now now. This is about which of the top drivers will perform on the day, out-performing the car, and seize the advantage, as Alonso did in Singapore, and who will crack and make the disasterous error, as Webber did in Korea and Hamilton did at Monza.

Comments are closed.