The Hindu : Sport / Racing : Motor : Hamilton does it again for a McLaren 1-2

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Tuesday, Jun 19, 2007
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Hamilton does it again for a McLaren 1-2

The Briton has finished all seven races this season in top three; Alonso second

SENSATIONAL: Lewis Hamilton raced to his second straight victory in Sunday’s U.S. Grand Prix.

INDIANAPOLIS: Rookie sensation Lewis Hamilton did it again, racing to his second straight Formula One victory in Sunday’s U.S. Grand Prix.

The first black driver in Formula One’s 61-year history has finished all seven races this season in the top three. He now leads McLaren team-mate and two-time world champion Fernando Alonso by 10 points in the standings.

The two finished 1-2 for the third time this season, but this time the order was reversed from Malaysia in April and last month’s race at Monaco as the 22-year-old Englishman added this victory to his inaugural F-1 triumph last week in the Canadian Grand Prix.

“Coming into the season, being realistic, I never expected anything like this, but I hoped to do well,” Hamilton said. “I hoped maybe I’d get a podium at some point. This is just insane.” Alonso tried hard to pass his less experienced team-mate at the start, darting to the outside and pulling nearly alongside Hamilton for a moment, then backing off and diving to the inside as the leaders squirted through the first two narrow turns, a sharp right-hander and then a left-hander.

Key point

“I think the start was the key point of the race because after that, whatever, you were second and we finish second in the race,” Alonso said.

Hamilton managed to stay in front and was able to continue to fend off the pressure by the hard-charging Spaniard to the end of the 73-lap event on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 4.192-kilometer (2.605-mile) road circuit.

Alonso almost wrested the lead from Hamilton on lap 39. He had been dogging the back of his team-mate for several laps and pulled alongside on the main straightaway, but was unable to complete the pass.

The outcome was still in question until Alonso locked up his brakes on lap 47 and drove through the grass, allowing Hamilton to pull out to a 2.5-second lead. Hamilton drove on to the win without further challenge, finishing 1.5 seconds ahead of Alonso. “To follow that close is not easy,” Alonso said. “I did have my chance (at the end of lap 38), but it was not possible. I could get close to him but not overtake.”

As he crossed the line, Hamilton yelled excitedly into his radio, “We brought it home. Fantastic guys, I love you all.” He followed that transmission with a joyous cackle that brought a response from his engineer:

“We love you too, Lewis.”

Calm restarts

Unlike Canada, where Hamilton had to have perfect restarts to maintain his lead after each of the five full-course caution flags, Sunday’s race was very clean, with the safety car remaining behind the pit wall all day.

Reports earlier in the week that Alonso thought his new team-mate was being given preference by the British-based McLaren team were allayed by the warm hug they gave each other when they reached the victory podium.The Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen battled each other most of the day before finishing third and fourth, respectively.

BMW Sauber’s Sebastian Vettel, a 19-year-old rookie filling in for Robert Kubica and making his first F-1 start, finished eighth. — AP

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