McLaren Duo Ready To Win

Topics:  McLaren, Hungarian Grand Prix

Anthony Fontanelle
August 1, 2007

After the decision came out on Thursday that McLaren will not be penalized for possession of documents owned by Ferrari, the team is now preparing for the next race. The eleventh race of the Formula One season will be the Hungarian Grand Prix and it will be held at the Hungaroring circuit.

Going into the race, McLaren is in leading in the constructors’ championship standing. The team’s rookie driver Lewis Hamilton is also leading all drivers for the championship. Behind Hamilton is double world champion and teammate Fernando Alonso who trails only by two points.

Alonso is fresh from his third season victory at the European Grand Prix which saw Mother Nature determining the fate of the competitors. Due to rain showers, the European Grand Prix saw numerous drivers including Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen retiring. Lewis Hamilton only managed to finish ninth after he started in the tenth position after he crashed in the qualifying session.

Alonso is looking for a back-to-back victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix. “It was great to take the win in Germany and I hope to achieve the same result in Hungary,” said Alonso who is in his first year of driving for McLaren. Both Hamilton and Alonso are on their first year with McLaren after the departure of Raikkonen to Ferrari and Juan Pablo Montoya to NASCAR.

Alonso has this to say about how he feels about the track for the next race: “I have some good memories from this track, as I took my first Formula 1 victory in Hungary; however last year was not so good! It was a challenging race, with the time penalty that meant I started in 15th, making it up to take the lead and then dropping out.”

“Despite this the track will always be special to me. I usually enjoy the race so am looking forward to racing there this year with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. It is a very slow track but also tough physically because of the conditions, which are usually very hot,” he added on.

The Spaniard pointed out the key to the MP4-22’s good performance at the Hungaroring. “A stable front end is also very important so the car feels completely under control in the slow, long corners and you can really push the car despite the slower speeds,” Alonso explained.

Hamilton is coming from the only non-podium finish for him in his Formula One career and is looking for a win in order to preserve his lead. At the team’s practice tests at Jerez last week, Hamilton took the wheel on the second day and he posted the fastest lap. He also drives an MP4-22 with an engine supplied by German automaker and makers of the Mercedes-Benz oil filler cap and Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

“We had a productive test in Jerez. I was there for a day and spent the time focusing on set-up and development work for Hungary, in the hot and dusty conditions,” said the rookie sensation.

Hamilton is looking to perform well at the next race counting on his previous outing at the Hungaroring. A classic example of how the rookie turns negative to positive he said: “Following a mistake on my out lap in qualifying, I started at the back of the grid in GP2 here last year. It was not a great start to the weekend, but I managed to work my way back up through the field, which was a good learning experience of the track, how to drive it and where it is possible to pass, which is notoriously difficult.”

The race is scheduled this Sunday and the qualifying session starts out on Saturday.

Source:  Amazines.com