A defiant Lewis Hamilton has vowed to fight back at Silverstone after a second penalty in as many races ruined his French Grand Prix.
Hamilton wants to "hit 'em hard" at Silverstone
A defiant Lewis Hamilton has vowed to fight back at Silverstone in a fortnight's time after a second penalty in as many races ruined his French Grand Prix.
Starting 13th on the grid at Magny-Cours having suffered a 10-place penalty for running into the back of Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari in Canada, Hamilton was attempting to make up places on lap one when he again incurred the wrath of race stewards.
Passing the Toro Rosso of Sebastien Vettel through the Imola chicane, the McLaren Mercedes driver cut the second part of the corner and, having climbed to ninth place, was handed a drive through penalty minutes later.
The penalty ultimately compromised his race, with the Briton eventually finishing 10th and out of the points for the second successive grand prix.
Hamilton now finds himself 10 points adrift of race winner and new Championship leader Felipe Massa heading into the British Grand Prix on July 6th.
And, despite being clearly peeved at the outcome of Sunday's race, the 23-year-old is ready to fight.
"I absolutely 100 percent aim on bouncing back at the British Grand Prix in front of my home crowd," insisted Hamilton.
"Regardless of what's written in the papers tomorrow, I will go back to the workshop tomorrow and push with the team.
"I will see the engineers now, focus on the next race and then hit 'em hard."
Denying suggestions he looked angry after the race, Hamilton added: "I feel cool. All is good.
"I am going to keep battling because there is a long way to go. I don't care how far I am behind.
"Kimi was 13 points behind with two races to go (it was actually 17) and he still won the title.
"If I'm 20 points behind I don't care, I will still come back."
Conspiracy
Hamilton nevertheless bristled when asked whether he felt the penalty was harsh, and whether he felt there was another conspiracy against McLaren.
Alongside his own penalties, team-mate Heikki Kovalainen was penalised five grid places following qualifying on Saturday for impeding Red Bull's Mark Webber.
Hamilton refused to answer the pointed questions, although he clearly did feel he had done nothing wrong, adding: "I did everything I needed to do.
"I stayed out of trouble and drove what I thought was a fair race, just missing out on the points.
"That's three races without scoring points now (this season), but there's still 10 races to go."
Reflecting on the incident with Vettel, Hamilton added: "I was ahead, but I lost the back end of the car, corrected it and went over the kerb, which I don't see as cheating, but rules are rules."
However, McLaren boss Ron Dennis certainly felt his driver was harshly penalised, saying: "I just told him (FIA race director Charlie Whiting) that it was our opinion Lewis was past before he got squeezed off the circuit.
"I don't think he gained a position through being off the road, but obviously other people had a different opinion."
When asked about his feelings on the spate of penalties incurred by his team, Dennis added: "Draw your own conclusions."
