Planet-F1

Hamilton: We have the pace to win

Saturday 19th July 2008

Lewis Hamilton is confident McLaren's MP4-23 is packing the pace needed to win Sunday's German GP, which he will start from pole position.

The McLaren driver clocked a 1:15.666 to beat Felipe Massa to pole position on Saturday afternoon. But while Ferrari lost out over one lap to the MP4-23, it was the Scuderia's F2008 that actually had the pace over the long distance runs.

Hamilton, though, isn't too fazed by this, stating that he's confident he can follow up his pole position with victory on Sunday.

A happy Hamilton said: "It's quite cool coming here to Germany. I've had some great races here, but not just here but also at the Nurburgring as well.

"Driving into the stadium it's a bit like a football crowd, but the support means a lot and I'm really grateful.

"I feel pretty chilled and happy with what we've done so far, but it's tomorrow that counts and when Heikki (Kovalainen) and I have to do the best job possible.

"I feel we have the pace, so we will keep on pushing."

As for his qualifying lap, the 23-year-old said: "My final lap I was quite happy with to be honest. It went very smoothly.

"The first Q3 lap I had was looking to be a good lap but they put the flags out at Turn 12. I think Heikki ran a bit wide. I had to be careful not to get a penalty, so I gave a big lift.

"I know I had it in me and knew we had the pace. I could have gone a bit quicker if we needed to, so it was pretty cool."

With rain expected tomorrow Hamilton should be feeling extremely confident having dominated F1's last wet race, which took place at Silverstone two weeks ago.

However, that doesn't mean he's expecting an easy race.

"It is very close. I am surprised to see how close it is between all the teams...it is a tenth here and there," he said.