Formula One news

Whitmarsh proud of Hamilton's attitude

Lewis Hamilton had all but secured a podium finish in Sunday's Italian Grand Prix but all was lost when the Englishman crashed at Lesmo 1 and failed to score any points after a strong weekend. Team boss Martin Whitmarsh is disappointed with McLaren's result but praises Hamilton's never-give-up attitude.

Hamilton started the Italian Grand Prix from his second pole position of the season

Looking back at McLaren's Italian Grand Prix, Whitmarsh said: "A disappointing result - there's no point in me denying that we'd expected to achieve a lot more here at Monza than a sixth place and a DNF.

"Looking at the positives, though, thankfully Lewis walked away unharmed from what was a pretty big shunt - simply the result of his never-give-up attitude, his unquenchable desire to fight until the very last metre of the very last lap.

"Throughout the final stint he'd been pushing as hard as he possibly could, driving beautifully, right on the limit, in an effort to catch Jenson (Button) for second place and he pushed just a fraction too hard - and the result was that he lost it on the exit of the first Lesmo on that final lap. He'd just gone 'purple' in the first sector of that final lap, in fact.

The World Champion hits the Lesmo barriers hard on the final lap of the race

"But that's the nature of a driver like Lewis and there aren't many like him: if you give it 100 on every single lap, every so often you'll give it 101 percent - and then the result will be an 'off' - but that's racing and Lewis is very definitely a racer and we wouldn't want him any other way.

"So, yes, we're disappointed with our points haul today, of course we are, but we're also pleased that our race pace was almost on a par with that of the Brawns and as quick or quicker than that of anyone else.

"Now, though, we're already focusing on Singapore, where we intend to be every bit as competitive as we've been here at Monza this weekend." With four races remaining, McLaren lies 15 points behind Ferrari for third in the Constructors' Championship. However, Sunday's result does confirm that new Champions will be crowned in both title races in 2009.

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