Hamilton too aggressive in Turkey - Whitmarsh

Martin Whitmarsh had some criticism of Lewis Hamilton’s driving after the Turkish grand prix last weekend.

After the 2008 world champion damaged his tyres in qualifying in Malaysia, he conserved his allocation in China and duly beat Sebastian Vettel.

But Hamilton struggled at Istanbul Park, and his McLaren team boss Whitmarsh blames the 26-year-old’s early aggression including his scrap with teammate Jenson Button.

"We want Lewis to attack but sometimes it does not pay off," he is quoted as saying by British newspapers.

"If you look at Lewis’s race pace it was ok later in the race but the tyres are so delicate and if you scrap with others including your own teammate you will damage your tyres. In a race that critical you can’t do that," added Whitmarsh.

Hamilton, who finished the race in fourth place, acknowledged the mistake.

"If I hadn’t damaged the tyres at the beginning, we would have been a lot closer," he conceded.

"The race is not won at the first two corners. I was impatient and that was my fault but it was a good recovery," said the Briton.