Lewis Hamilton
After an incredibly cruel day yesterday which saw Lewis Hamilton plummet from 1st on the grid to 24th, the former World Champion has vowed to race his heart out in what will be an exceedingly tough race this afternoon.
Only moments after clinching a superlative pole-position in yesterday’s qualifying session, the British driver was instructed by his team to stop the car on track. McLaren explained this decision was because a technical fault prevented the correct amount of fuel entering the car prior to Lewis’ lap.
However, the race stewards failed to accept the ‘force majeure’, and under article 6.6 of the sports technical regulations was stripped of his pole and subsequently shunted to the rear of the grid.
With this the case, Lewis Hamilton is still aiming for a decent result in todays race. As ever, the 2008 World Champion is preparing to charge through the field as he starts amongst the HRT’s and Marussia’s.
“This is such a disappointment. Today’s qualifying session was one of the best I’ve ever driven – the whole car was just rolling so smoothly – it felt fantastic.” Explained a cast down Lewis Hamilton, “On my slowing-down lap, my engineers told me to stop on the track, and I didn’t know why. Later, to hear that I’d been excluded from qualifying, was of course extremely disappointing. But, now, looking ahead to tomorrow, I think it’s clear that it’s going to be an incredibly tough race for us. Even so, as always, I’ll never give up and I’ll give it everything I’ve got. It would mean so much to me to get a good result here in Spain: it’s such a pleasure to come here and the support I get is amazing. As I always say, and as I always do, whatever grid position I start a Grand Prix from, I’ll always race my heart out.”
The two McLaren’s start the race 10th and 24th respectively, a stark contrast to the opening race of the season when Hamilton and Button lined-up 1st and 2nd on the grid. However, with the tyres and the weather set to make this race unpredictable, anybody has the opportunity to excel.
