Lewis Hamilton: We definitely had the pace to win

Lewis Hamilton was adamant he and McLaren had the pace to win the Singapore Grand Prix earlier today, after the Briton suffered a catastrophe as his gearbox failed on lap 22 that sent him into retirement. This gifted victory to Sebastian Vettel, and saw Hamilton plummet down the Championship Standings from 2nd to 4th.

After starting the race from pole and dominating in the early stages, Lewis Hamilton looked set to secure yet another dominant victory for McLaren. However, the mechanical gremlins which plagued the outfit during the Italian Grand Prix returned around the Marina Bay street circuit, in the form of a gearbox failure.

This was Lewis Hamilton’s fourth retirement of the season, and his third in the last five races. On the other two occasions, the Briton has taken dominant victories in a season which has seen Hamilton secure consistent and competitive results for the Woking-based outfit. Amid speculation regarding the 2008 World Champion’s future, Hamilton seems to be unperturbed as he continues to remain a Championship contender.

“It’s heart-breaking not to have finished the race today.” Explained a disappointed Lewis Hamilton after his retirement. “We definitely had the pace to win this weekend. In fact, before I retired, I was cruising; just managing the gap back to Seb [Vettel]. Then I started to experience difficulty with the gearshift, then I lost third gear, and then the ’box kept dropping into neutral. Obviously, I was disappointed, but the good thing we can take away from this weekend is that we have extremely good pace. As a result, I think we can really attack in the next few races. There are six more races, and I need to go and win all six. I’ll fight until the end.”

With Lewis Hamilton failing to score a single World Championship point at the Singapore Grand Prix, the Briton has dropped from 2nd to 4th in the Drivers’ Championship, in yet another twist in this unique F1 season. Hamilton has been leap-frogged by the reigning World Champion of Sebastian Vettel and the Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen. Hamilton is currently 52 points behind Championship leader Fernando Alonso.

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