JULY 1, 2012

McLaren duo put Valencia behind them

Despite Lewis Hamilton crashing out of the European GP at Valencia on the penultimate lap and team mate Jenson Button having a third successive disappointing race, McLaren's all-British line-up is positive about prospects for the forthcoming British GP.

Despite Lewis Hamilton crashing out of the European GP at Valencia on the penultimate lap and team mate Jenson Button having a third successive disappointing race, McLaren's all-British line-up is positive about prospects for the forthcoming British GP.

Hamilton, criticised in some quarters for failing to consider the championship picture in his late-race coming-together with Pastor Maldonado, is adamant that he drives to win and certainly won't be changing his approach for his home race.

"To me," he says, "winning at Silverstone is right up there with winning at Monaco. Standing on the top step of the podium in 2008 was among the sweetest moments of my career."

Button also feels that improvements at McLaren were camouflaged by the circumstances of his race in Valencia.

"We've been making progress in a lot of areas and while I wasn't able to show that in terms of the result in Valencia -- mainly because I got boxed in at the start and wasn't very lucky with the Safety Car -- our strategy was fine and the car improved throughout the race."

Button has non-scored four times in 2012 while championship leader Fernando Alonso has registered points in every single race, meaning that the Australian GP winner has dropped to eighth in the championship standings, 62 points behind the Spaniard.