F1 Monte Carlo - SUN - Race - Lewis Hamilton 6th

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Monte Carlo, Principality of Monaco, May 16, 2010

More points in the bag - but lack of overtaking hinders Lewis

LEWIS HAMILTON
- MP4-25A-01
- Started: 5th
- Finished: 5th
- Fastest lap: 1m16.219s (10th)
- Pitstops: One: on lap 17 (Opt-Pri)
- 2010 points: 59 (=6th)

�I got quite a good start, and was challenging the guys on the second row into Turn One, but it just wasn�t possible to make a move stick.


�It�s virtually impossible to overtake around here, especially when the guys in front of me were as fast as I was. After the result in Barcelona, I didn�t want any further mishaps, so I just looked after the car and went for the points.

�It was quite a straightforward race for me, and fifth was the maximum possible, but I�m not complaining; we need those points.

�I know we�re working hard to bring improvements to the car for Turkey, and I�m sure we�ll be able to make up the gap to the front at some stage soon.�

JENSON BUTTON
- MP4-25A-03
- Started: 8th
- Finished: Ret, lap 2
- Fastest lap: 2m14.285s (23rd)
- Pitstops: None (Opt)
- 2010 points: 70 (4th)

�That was extremely disappointing. I knew after the formation lap that there was a cooling cover left on the left-hand sidepod, where the radiator is.

�We thought everything was going to be okay, and it would probably have been fine if we hadn�t had a Safety Car. My car quickly began to overheat and I started losing engine power, so I turned the engine off pretty sharply because the last thing I wanted was to leave engine oil on the racing line.

�Today was just one of those days. It was human error, a mistake, and that�s all there is to it. I�m still only eight points behind the lead of the drivers� championship and we head to Turkey feeling confident that we�ll be more competitive there.�

MARTIN WHITMARSH
Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

�Lewis scored a useful 10 points as a consequence of his solid run to fifth place � which, since overtaking is notoriously difficult here at Monaco and since there was no attrition in front of him, was as good a result as he could realistically have hoped for from his fifth position on the grid. He drove faultlessly, in fact, looking after his brakes and tyres throughout.

�Jenson�s afternoon was very disappointing one for him, through no fault of his own. Human error caused a cooling cover to be left off the left-hand radiator on the lap to the grid � and, despite our best efforts to recover the situation, the components underneath the car got too hot, and Jenson was forced to switch the engine off when a small fire developed.�




* Official photos and info courtesy of VODAFONE MCLAREN MERCEDES *

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