Lewis Hamilton desperate for Spa spark

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS – Lewis Hamilton returns to action at Spa on Sunday desperate to bury the misery of his last outing in Hungary where he lost the world championship lead to Mark Webber. Hamilton, refreshed after a four-week summer break, failed to finish at the Hungaroring when his McLaren developed gearbox trouble. In contrast, Red Bull driver Webber sped to an impressive victory to take the championship lead from the Briton who had been in front since securing victory in Canada in June. “Neither (teammate and reigning world champion) Jenson Button or I had a great race at Spa last year,” said 2008 champion Hamilton. “I didn’t see much of it from the cockpit, but I think Jenson was pushed into a spin from behind at Les Combes and the resulting accident took me out too. So it was weird to watch the whole race back in the garage. “For this year, too, I head to Spa off the back of a disappointing non-finish in Hungary. We’ve investigated the causes, and think we’ve identified the reason and are confident that it shouldn’t happen again.” Meanwhile, Felipe Massa, his appetite undiminished by the furore surrounding Ferrari’s ‘fixed’ win in Germany in July, is keen to banish all bad memories with another long-awaited triumph for the Italian team here. At Hockenheim, the Brazilian seemed to have victory in his sights when he was persuaded to concede the lead to team-mate Fernando Alonso – a move that sparked widespread controversy. So, this time around, back at one of his favorite circuits, he wants to prove he has the talent and potential to be a race-winner again with a dominant and untarnished display of supremacy at the front of the field. “The last time I raced here was in 2008 when I won, but it’s not just because I won that race that I love this track,” he explained. “Everyone just loves to race here. “I think all the drivers look forward to racing on this fabulous circuit. It is high-speed, requiring less down-force than at many of the other tracks and fortunately, in the last few races, we showed that we have returned to being very competitive, even better than we had expected.” Massa has scored two seconds and one third place this season on his return from a life-threatening accident in last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix, but he is without a win…

Posted by admin 25 August 2010

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