Monday, December 22, 2008

The pressure is off Hamilton

Monday 22nd December 2008

Lewis Hamilton believes there is still plenty of room for improvement after winning the World Championship in only his second season in Formula One.

Hamilton became the youngest ever F1 World Champion last month when he pipped Ferrari's Felipe Massa by just one point, and the Briton believes he can get even better.

"I've won the Championship in my second year, but there is a lot more to come," Hamilton said on ITV's season-highlights show.

"I can do better, I can be fitter, I can be sharper, I can make less mistakes... I've analysed everything that's happened this season, the positives and the negatives, and I've turned some of the negatives into positives. I'm enjoying the present and I really look forward to the future."

The 23-year-old admits the pressure is off now that he has collected his maiden title.

"I feel less pressure. I don't feel the pressure comes from my surroundings, I feel it comes from within," he said.

"Putting that pressure on yourself to succeed is what either makes you or breaks you. I still have that pressure on me, but I know I can control it and use it to my own advantage now."

The McLaren driver also played down his unpopularity among other drivers, saying "it doesn't really bother me".

"It's been part of my life since my first year of racing," he said. "It's just the way it is. It's not necessarily people not liking me, it's that no one likes to lose. To have someone come up so quickly, like I have, and go straight to a team that perhaps someone else was hoping to be sitting in and then beating them... you know, I don't like losing."

Source : Planet F1

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