Lewis Hamilton has urged his McLaren team to take no respite after rediscovering the winning habit in Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix. While the race was overshadowed by the Ferrari driver Felipe Massa's crash in qualifying, there could be no disguising Hamilton's delight at a long-overdue win after a previously wretched season in an uncompetitive car, with his last victory nine months ago in China.
McLaren have rediscovered the winning formula, with world champion Hamilton taking the chequered flag for the 10th time in his career and first since becoming world champion. Martin Whitmarsh, who joined Hamilton on the podium for the first time as team principal, has confirmed a further upgrade will be made on the car for the European Grand Prix in Valencia in four weeks. "It is important we just continue to push," remarked Hamilton, who was never troubled after inheriting the lead from Fernando Alonso on lap 13 of the 70-lap race at the Hungaroring.
"We want to come back next year with the best possible chance of winning championships. "So we need to continue to work this year and understand everything to help us, and hopefully make a good foundation for us to work on next year which, of course, is our emphasis. "But we just want to keep winning. We definitely deserved this after such a tough stretch of time. "It's been hard on everyone - our new team principal and all the members of our team, but I couldn't have done it without them. They've done a fantastic job, and I'm just very, very proud to be associated with them because they've never given up, they've kept pushing.
"We're going to continue to push and see how far we can get in the championship, but we will keep a keen eye on next year. "Hopefully, we'll go to Valencia, make another step forward, with another opportunity to get on to the podium." gcaygill@thenational.ae