Hamilton raring to go after red light crash

David Tremayne
Wednesday 11 June 2008 00:00 BST
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Despite the embarrassing red light gaffe in Canada last weekend that cost him a likely victory, his world championship lead and 10 grid places in the forthcoming French Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton has vowed that the incident will not destabilise his title campaign and that nothing can stop him now.

"This will make no difference," Hamilton said. "It hasn't knocked me confidence-wise. I'm not gutted or disappointed.

"Going forward the mood is strong. The fact is we destroyed everyone this weekend. With the car we have right now there is no stopping us.

"It is not going to take me a day to recover or anything. I'll be up first thing training and really looking forward to Magny-Cours. You can't win them all.”

Hamilton labelled the red light rule that caused his problems as "silly".

"We are baffled how it came to that in the space of 30 seconds. They fuelled me longer, I had two guys in front of me and suddenly they have stopped as I have looked at the red light.

"Personally I think the rule is silly. We are in the race, how can you see a red light at the end of the pitlane? But that's the rule and I accept it.

"I start ten places back in the next race. It's a bit harsh really. I didn't aim to ruin anyone's race. I've already lost everything. But this makes me stronger. I can't wait for Magny-Cours."

There was some good news for McLaren on Monday evening. Forty years to the day since founder Bruce McLaren scored the team’s first grand prix victory, in Belgium, chief executive and team principal Ron Dennis was awarded the Prince Philip Medal from HRH the Duke of Edinburgh at a prestigious awards ceremony hosted by The Royal Academy of Engineeringat the Merchant Taylor’s Hall.

Professor Keith Glover FR Eng said: “Ron Dennis has founded and led a world-leading engineering enterprise that is probably the most visible and compelling example of high performance engineering available. His exceptional contribution to engineering is not only seen in the motorsports domain but is also evident in the public perception of engineering.”

Dennis himself said: "When you look at the list of past winners, I feel flattered and honoured to have been selected for this award. In truth, though, it's an award for all who work at McLaren, not just for me."

In 1989 HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Senior Fellow of The Royal Academy of Engineering, agreed to the commissioning of a gold medal to be ‘awarded periodically to an engineer of any nationality who has made an exceptional contribution to engineering as a whole through practice, management or education’, to be known as the Prince Philip Medal.

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