• McLaren news

Hamilton urges McLaren to find performance

Lewis Hamilton: "We need a lot of downforce from somewhere" © Sutton Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• News:
• McLaren form won't affect Hamilton talks - Whitmarsh
  

• Drivers:
• Lewis Hamilton

• Teams:
• McLaren

Lewis Hamilton is concerned that McLaren is starting to lag behind its rivals in this season's development race after he finished the British Grand Prix eighth.

Neither McLaren driver had the pace to take the fight to Red Bull, Ferrari and Lotus at Silverstone, and the result leaves Hamilton 37 points off the lead of the championship. He said he had not given up hope of the title, but urged McLaren to make a step forward.

"We are still in the fight but unless we find something it is going to be hard to stay in the fight," he told British newspapers. "I raced my heart out as always but we just struggled, we did not have enough speed in general. I wish we could have done better at my home grand prix but the others have clearly made another step forward so it was a real tough race.

"We have a lot of time to find from somewhere, we need a lot of downforce from somewhere. I don't know where the guys can find that but I really pray that they can find it."

Hamilton said McLaren's car was quite different to its rivals, but insisted it was capable of challenging for the title with the right upgrades.

"You have got to look at the cars in detail, just look at them and ours looks different from the others," he said. "I am not an aerodynamicist but there's got to be something there, so that's what we're looking at for this car, but also for next year's car.

"It is too big a change for this season. I feel for us all at the team because everyone is working their backsides off. Jenson and I are working our backsides off and the fans are giving us every ounce of support possible. But it's just not happening. Coming to your home grand prix you want a big upgrade package. You want to be fastest and you want to win every year.

"But neither Jenson nor I have the car to be able to do that at the moment. We can get there. I believe we can get there."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.