Lewis thinks McLaren sitting pretty on the second row
Saturday 27 October 2012 12:56, UK
Lewis Hamilton has declared that McLaren can "definitely" challenge Red Bull for victory in the Indian Grand Prix given the race pace displayed by the MP4-27 during practice.
Speaking later to Sky Sports News' Craig Slater, Hamilton added: "Tomorrow I'm going to be pushing. I'm going to be pushing real hard tomorrow. "Hopefully we won't have any problems so we can be in the fight." Hamilton's confidence for a more competitive Sunday was shared by Sky Sports F1's Johnny Herbert, who agreed that Friday's long runs had been too close to call. "I think we did see that yesterday," Johnny said in reflection on Hamilton's comments that McLaren are closer on race pace. "It was interesting to see what Christian [Horner] was saying asking about 'do you know what fuel loads they were on' and everything else but I think generally the race is going to be a completely different here." Damon Hill also believes that Red Bull are wary about the threat likely to be posed by McLaren over the race distance and will know that Hamilton, who is effectively out of the title battle, in particular has nothing to lose. "I sense from speaking to Christian that he wasn't as confident, perhaps cocky, as Sebastian was about this qualifying as they would have liked to have been. It gets tighter," the 1996 World Champion observed. "I sense they are nervous about McLaren and I'd be nervous about Lewis Hamilton because he hasn't got much to lose. He's on the grippy side of the track and this is a dusty old grid."
