Hamilton expects dip in form at Spa

Lewis Hamilton is pessimistic about McLaren’s chances of repeating its form from the last two races at the more aerodynamically-demanding Spa-Francorchamps circuit this weekend.

The Woking-based squad re-established itself at the back of the field in recent races on the back of a major development push, with Hamilton claiming its first win of the season in Hungary before heading a front-row lock-out and finishing second in Valencia.

However, while the team has made major improvements to all aspects of its once uncompetitive MP4-24, Hamilton has downplayed its hopes of matching the recent level of competitiveness in Belgium – predicting three teams may have cars more well-suited to the circuit's high-speed layout.

“I don't think we'll be as competitive as we've been at the last few races, because Spa is a circuit where you need a lot of downforce,” he told his official website.


“I think Brawn, Red Bull and even Ferrari will be fast there – it's a high-speed circuit and Ferrari has always been very quick there, so I'm expecting Kimi [Raikkonen] to be quick.

“It should also suit the Red Bulls because it's very high-speed and flowing and they have great downforce. But, like most races these days, it's going to be very competitive.”

He added: “For ourselves, we need to ensure that we are competitive without KERS, so that when we use it, it will give us the advantage that we need."

Nevertheless while not talking up his chances of repeating his Spa win from last year, given he failed to score points for five consecutive races before Hungary, Hamilton says he has been delighted by McLaren’s sudden resurgence.

He believes it now needs to find three more tenths in pace to get on a true par with championship leader Brawn.

"Before the recent upgrades, we'd have been hopeful of getting into the top 10 but now we're regularly hoping for a win or to finish second – and that's a big difference and very encouraging,” the world champion said.

“We're definitely strong again - but we're not fastest.

“With KERS, we are there or thereabouts but we still lack two or three tenths to the Brawns.

“Hopefully we can make some further changes to our aerodynamic package - Spa will be an interesting test for us."

Indeed knowing that Brawn maintains an advantage, he insists he wasn’t frustrated by his costly pit-stop mix-up in Valencia as Rubens Barrichello was always likely to win anyway.

"I'm not frustrated,” Hamilton stressed.

“We've been finishing close to last all year so to just finish second is great - it's my first second of the year, so I'm quite pleased.

“We win and lose as a team - simple as.

“There are some races where there will be a problem with me on the track and some races where there will be a problem with the car or the pit stop.

“The fact is that we have been extremely quick - it was always going to be a very tight fight with Rubens [Barrichello], but he just had the overall pace to win. Our car can't match that - at the moment."

Source: ITV