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Hamilton urges McLaren to solve blown diffuser issues

Lewis Hamilton didn't want to ditch the diffuser after practice © Sutton Images

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Lewis Hamilton is confident that if McLaren can get its blown diffuser working, he will be able to take the fight to Red Bull for the remainder of the season.

McLaren had to abandon its blown diffuser at the British Grand Prix after the car became unbalanced while running the update during Friday practice. Hamilton finished the race second but was a long way off the pace of the Red Bulls, especially in qualifying.

The revised rear-end was originally scheduled to be introduced at the German Grand Prix and Hamilton has urged his team to get it fully working in time for the first practice session at Hockenheim next week.

"If we get our upgrade and it works we are going to be doing a mega job," Hamilton told PA. "I didn't actually want to change the floor. I wanted to stay with it, but the team had to make a team decision because it just wasn't delivering. I've no idea why.

"I am hoping they fix it and bring it, and I can go out there and use it to give me a much better fighting chance to get past these guys [Red Bull]. Our race pace is almost as good. I hope once we get that diffuser it really is going to help us close that gap and we have a real race with them."

He added that it was a surprise to be leading the championship at the midway point of the season, but also reflected on what could have been had he not retired from second place with a tyre failure on the penultimate lap of the Spanish Grand Prix.

"I definitely did not expect to be leading the championship at this point," he said. "I didn't really think I would be eking out the lead. Just think how far I'd be ahead if I had Barcelona in the bag as well. That would be nice. But on my side of the garage I've just been doing a solid job in getting the results."

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