Lewis Hamilton describes victory as a phenomenal feeling

After storming to his first victory of the 2012 season, Lewis Hamilton has described it as a phenomenal feeling to have finally returned to his winning ways with his first win since the 2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The British driver completed a two-stop strategy, and was forced to overtake both Vettel and Alonso along the way to victory.

Lewis Hamilton was forced to overcome several hurdles to take his 18th career victory, firstly after being leap-frogged by Fernando Alonso in the opening round of pit-stops and then suffering a slightly delayed pit-stop second time around. However, with the assistance of fresh Pirelli tyres and the DRS overtaking device, Lewis Hamilton was able to catch and pass two former World Champions of the sport on his way to victory.

“It is a phenomenal feeling to be back here again,” explained Lewis Hamilton. “To go out and have a performance like that and when coming back seeing the team in our special tops - that was awesome. It was the place of my first win and to win here today brought back a lot of fantastic memories. And believe me, today it felt just as good as back in 2007.”

Since his first Formula 1 victory at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton has continued to be competitive around the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. The Briton won for a second time in Montreal in 2010, and yesterday made it a hat-trick of victories on Canadian soil.

McLaren’s 2012 season has so far been a difficult journey of mixed emotions, with pit-stop issues plaguing the teams ability the have competitive races. Both Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button have been on the receiving end of bad pit-stops, and once again in Canada yesterday the two pits-stops for Hamilton weren’t the smoothest of the day.

“Well the first pit stop was good,” Said Hamilton, when asked about the two stops. “Just the launch was not that great as the clutch slipped - and the second was a bit slower on the rear, but it was still a huge improvement compared to previous times, so all was good.”

As the F1 fraternity now gears up for the next round the World Championship at the European Grand Prix in Valencia, where the temperatures could well be even hotter, Lewis Hamilton believes the unpredictability could well continue and that an eighth different driver could win the race.

“I think that the Championship is still so unpredictable that we very likely could see an eighth winner there.” Said the Brit, who has never won the race at Valencia. “All I hope is that I am there in the fight and having the chance to be among the possible winners again.”

Lewis Hamilton heads to the European Grand Prix leading the Drivers’ Championship, yet the 2008 World Champion has admitted he is in no way in control at the top. With the competitive nature of the 2012 season set to continue, Hamilton will have a tough time protecting his lead at the top of the Championship.

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