A satisfactory point for Hamilton

Starting from twelfth place on the starting grid, Lewis Hamilton made an honorable start to the race, moving up to tenth position. The Englishman postponed his first stop as long as possible, with plenty of fuel on board his mount, he took advantage of the leaders' stops to finish fifth and refueled when the rain began to fall. “The choice of tires was quite complicated, because some parts of the track were a lot wetter than others, and you could see the clouds coming in,” explains Hamilton.

Fitted with rain tires a little too early, the team McLaren the call back to the pits to pass intermediates, then three laps later Lewis comes in to put on rain tires again. “When the rain really started to fall, it was no longer possible to stay on the track. I was aquaplaning everywhere. It was the most dangerous racing conditions I have ever encountered. I just tried to keep my car on the track. Stopping the race was the right decision to make, it was too dangerous for everyone. Normally I like the rain, but this was too much. »

Despite the premature retirement of Heikki Kovalainen following an exit from the track, Martin Whitmarsh is satisfied with this hard-won result. “The extremely changeable conditions made this race a difficult test for all competitors. But as always, Lewis showed his great abilities on a difficult track and this race is another illustration of his great talent. He stayed focused and this result is a hard-won point. This may not seem like much compared to the results we are used to, but considering where we are starting from, it proves that we are going in the right direction. »