Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Lewis Hamilton and overtaking around the outside

Discussing his efforts to fend off Mark Webber in Sunday's German Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton remarked on the BBC's post-race Forum that, "I've been overtaken on the outside once before, and I don't wanna do it again."

Lewis here is presumably referring to the first corner of the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix, when Felipe Massa swept out of his slipstream, briefly locked-up his wheels under braking, and drove clean around the outside of the McLaren. Without the engine failure Massa subsequently suffered in that race, it would have been a championship-winning manoeuvre.

It's interesting that Lewis should be keeping count of this type of thing, and interesting to learn how much it's still in his mind, how much it still smarts.

Massa, of course, actually overtook Hamilton around the outside into the final corner of the British Grand Prix this year, only to be immediately retaken before the finish line. Perhaps that one doesn't count then.

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