Lewis Hamilton believes victory could have been difficult elsewhere

Lewis Hamilton has stated that the result at Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix would have been different had the race been held on a track where overtaking is easier, in a race which saw Kimi Raikkonen come agonizingly close to stealing victory away from the Briton.

However, with passing exceedingly tough around the tight confines of the Hungaroring, Lewis Hamilton was able to remain ahead of the Lotus driver. With Kimi Raikkonen unable to close the gap sufficiently enough to use the DRS device, the ‘Iceman’ was unable to even try an overtaking maneuver, with the gap only coming down to a few tenths of a second at best.

The 2008 World Champion also utilized cunning tactics in securing the race victory, allowing Kimi Raikkonen to close the gap in certain corners. This tactic was aimed at trying to trick the Lotus driver into suffering from tyre wear, due to the dirty air which is present whilst closely following another competitor.

“It was just trying to make those tyres last a long time while keeping this guy [Räikkönen] behind.” Explained Lewis Hamilton. “Which as you know, they are absolutely rapid, these guys. So, you know, if we were on another track where overtaking was much easier I think perhaps the result would have been different.

“I purposely allowed him to close up in certain corners, so that he may have problems with his tyres eventually – but it didn’t look like it was going to happen.” Continued the McLaren driver, “But I had to make sure I saved my speed for the last sector and made sure I drew a big enough gap in the last three corners and I did that every lap. I could see it was very difficult for them to follow, particularly through those areas, so it was important to make sure you maximize, especially with the DRS.”

This result allowed Lewis Hamilton to move ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in the Drivers’ Championship, with the two former World Champions separated by only one point. This statistic shows the consistency of Kimi Raikkonen, who has yet to win a race in 2012 in comparison to Lewis Hamilton who has now won two. With the ‘Iceman’ edging closer to his first race win since his return, it’s evidently clear that the 32-year-old has lost none of his competitiveness.

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