17/03/2015
NEWS STORY
World champion Lewis Hamilton has dismissed Red Bull's call for the FIA to consider reining in Mercedes advantage.
The Briton got the defence of his title off to the perfect start at the weekend, taking pole, the win and fastest lap.
Sadly, no sooner had he and his teammate crosses the line, albeit over thirty seconds ahead of the nearest opposition, all hell broke loose with Red Bull team boss Christian Horner calling on the FIA to rein in Mercedes and apply some sort of equalisation, whilst Helmut Marko, advisor to Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz, warned the team could leave the sport.
Their cries meant little to Hamilton.
"I was sitting next to Sebastian after the race and I said: ‘Sebastian, you did this for four years. You were thirty seconds ahead for four years'. So I know what it feels like," said the Briton.
"Back then he had no one behind pushing him," he added. "At least I've got my team-mate, who I was really racing. I don't remember that ever being the case (with Red Bull). If I was thirty seconds ahead every race then maybe, but we are racing and ultimately I still have to get the better of another very, very good driver."
In fairness Vettel and Red Bull had no such "thirty second" advantage in 2010, Vettel going into the final rounds with Fernando Alonso leading the championship and hot favourite. Indeed, in 2012, Vettel and Red Bull had a hard fight on its hands, with Alonso and Hamilton (then with McLaren) fighting him all the way.
"That's how Formula One is," said Hamilton. "There's isn't any doubt in my mind, if you want to put someone in the same car there is no doubt in my mind of where I would be finishing. People can create their own opinions. It's irrelevant. It is how it is.
"People say it's all the car," he added, "well, it's a big team that built this car for this performance. I'm the one who has to get in and extract the best from it. There has never been a driver that has won the championship that hasn't had a great car that year, as far as I'm aware. There's no one who had a Marussia and won the world championship, is there? Fangio still had a great car. It's the name of the game. You've got to have great equipment as well."
Worryingly, following Sunday's {i]tour de force, Hamilton believes he will be even stronger in Malaysia.
"Last year, when I went to Malaysia, I went fresh. It was like my first race of the year. I went into the race not really knowing how long the tyres were going to last. It was exceptional. Now I've done this race I'm going to extract everything from my data and see how I can better my performance. I definitely feel that in the next race I can be better than I was this weekend."