McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh has praised the way in which
Lewis Hamilton answered his detractors with his performance in the Spanish Grand Prix, and reckons that the top three teams in
Formula One are closing up again.
Hamilton headed to Barcelona after possibly the worst grand prix of his short career, in Bahrain three weeks ago, which generated many column inches dedicated to assessments of his mindset. Insisting that he had nothing to prove, however, the Briton turned a disappointing fifth place on the grid into a podium finish behind the two
Ferrari drivers.
"Lewis drove a great race," Whitmarsh claimed, "He took a very measured approach at the beginning, because we reasoned that
Fernando Alonso, who was running just ahead of him, was possibly a little bit lighter on fuel. It would have been very easy for Lewis to chase down Fernando at that stage and damage his tyres, which might have prevented him from taking advantage of Fernando's earlier stop.
"In fact, Lewis did just the right job in holding back and doing minimal damage to his tyres, so as to be able to press on later. That clearly put him in good shape. During the second and third stints, he was as quick as the Ferraris and able to catch up, but trying to pass a rival car at the Circuit de Catalunya is another matter altogether."
Hamilton's performance, which brought him in ahead of the best of the
BMW Saubers - which had managed a podium appearance in each of the opening three rounds - also convinced Whitmarsh that McLaren was back on a par with the two teams heading the constructors' championship heading to Spain.
"The three quickest teams - ourselves, Ferrari and BMW-Sauber - looked to be very closely matched, and
Renault has taken a major step forwards too," he reckoned, "It looks good for the sport, but we have to build on our own solid performance.
