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Hamilton clueless over performance

05/07/2008

Lewis Hamilton was unable to explain why his McLaren car was nearly a second slower than that of his team-mate Heikki Kovalainen in qualifying for the British Grand Prix at .

Hamilton will start from fourth place on the grid, while Kovalainen secured his first ever pole position.

“I have no clue why the car's not perfect," Hamilton said following the qualifying session. "I haven't changed it, really, since testing. I don't know where the time is.

"On my first lap, my first two sectors were quite good," he said, "but at Priory I got a bit of oversteer - I had good front end, but the rear just gave up - I had to correct and went into the gravel.

"On my second lap, I didn't push as much into Priory and that was it." Hamilton also revealed that he was warned over the radio by his engineer not to "over-drive" during his second qualifying run.

Hamilton, who goes into the race in fourth place in the world championship, ten points behind leader Felipe Massa, added that he was “quite happy” with fourth position and insisted he can still win the race.

"I know I've only two chances left to win here,” Hamilton said, “and if I do then it would be great.

"Heikki did a fantastic job and he deserves to be on pole. Fourth is not bad, I'm quite happy with it to be honest, and I'll do the best job I can. I'm honestly not disappointed.”