Lewis Hamilton has belatedly admitted that McLaren-Mercedes were right to tell him not to attack
Fernando Alonso in last year's Monaco Grand Prix – a situation that prompted an uncharacteristic post-race outburst from the Briton and an investigation by the
FIA into whether the squad had broken the rules about illegal team orders.
After closely shadowing Alonso throughout the 78-lap encounter – but not being allowed to challenge the Spaniard for what would at the time have been Hamilton's maiden victory in only his fifth outing in the top flight – the Stevenage ace exclaimed that he recognised his status as
McLaren's ‘number two driver', adding about a week after the race that: “I just said what I felt. Sometimes your feelings need to be expressed.”
Twelve months on, however, and bidding to claim his second triumph of the 2008 campaign around the narrow, tortuous streets of the Principality, the 23-year-old appears to have modified his stance somewhat.
“I think anyone would have been happy with that,” he is quoted as having said by
F1SA. “Looking back, I don't have any regrets, and the team did the right thing.
“You learn a lot when you are behind someone anyway, but I just had to look at it and say ‘I'm here in
Formula 1, and it is my first Monaco Grand Prix'.”
Hamilton has already gone some way to ensuring that a similar scenario does not reproduce itself this year, by pacing the opening day's practice in Monte Carlo to the tune of almost four tenths of a second – in so doing dipping more than a tenth below the fastest race lap from 2007 set by Alonso – even if he did have a close call with someone crossing the pit-lane as he exited his garage.
“I simply love Monaco,” he enthused afterwards, “and enjoy every single moment I get to spend on the track. The car felt great almost immediately, and I was able to show good pace from the very beginning.
