F1: Hamilton eyes world title in three years

Rory Phoulorie · Zorce Jedi Knight Joined: 26 Jan 2007 Posts: 1698

Lewis Hamilton has targeted a World Championship within three years following his astonishing F1 debut at the Australian GP.

The rookie stole the Melbourne limelight by guiding his McLaren to third place with a performance that Niki Lauda described as the best he had ever seen from a debutant.

Whilst the moneymen are queuing up to exploit his entry into F1, Hamilton has his eyes set on only one thing: wins.

"Formula One is the highest challenge I've ever had. I am very competitive and winning is what I want to do," said Hamilton. "My dream is to win and be come a world champion. Three years is a good time to put on my goal to win a world title."

Although Hamilton drove a near-flawless race, a number of F1 personnel have since questioned whether he could - and should - have finished ahead of team-mate Fernando Alonso.

"I think he drove an absolutely fabulous race," Renault technical director Pat Symonds told The Guardian. "I know that the results sheets showed that he finished third but I think a lot of people in the pit lane who can read a race believe that he could have beaten Fernando."

http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,18954,3213_2007246,00.html

Rory Phoulorie · Zorce Jedi Knight Joined: 26 Jan 2007 Posts: 1698

The good thing about Frank Williams is that there is never a number one and number two driver in his team. This may be to his detriment sometimes, like in 1986 when Piquet and Mansell took points away from each other such that Alain Prost slipped between them to win the driver's championship. Again, in 1996 in Jacques Villeneuve's first race he could have won the race if he hadn't damaged an oil line by running over a kerb (he ended up finishing second). Frank Williams had no problem letting JV win, despite being "junior" to Damon Hill (who finished in first place with JV preserving the car to take second in that race).

I would have thought that if Lewis had fairly beaten Alonso that it would have been a morale booster for the young driver (finishing third in your first race is already that in itself). It would be unfortunate if his third place was as a result of team tactics.