Hamilton calls on McLaren to ‘beef up’ his car

LEWIS Hamilton has called on McLaren to beef up his car in qualifying if he is to have a decent crack at this year’s Formula One world title.

Despite Jenson Button’s victory in Australia on Sunday, and McLaren collecting 54 points from the opening two grands prix to sit second in the constructors’ championship behind Ferrari, their Achilles heel has so far been their one-lap pace.

It has resulted in Hamilton and Button starting fourth and eighth on the grid in the season-opener in Bahrain respectively, and 11th and fourth in Melbourne.

The team’s saving grace has been the performance of the car during a race, allowing the British duo to haul themselves up the field and claim reasonable results.

“In both Bahrain and Australia we’ve felt more comfortable with our race pace than the pace we showed in qualifying,” said Hamilton.

“While that’s encouraging, it’s become clear we need to improve our qualifying pace if we’re to have a regular shot at winning races.

“It’s all very well being quick in the race, but if you can’t make up places from your grid position, then your race is still going to be a struggle.

“We can take home the positives: our car is fast, much faster than it was this time last year, and it seems to be reliable.

“Now we need to work on single-lap pace, the sooner the better.”

Hamilton’s travails in Melbourne are now behind him, and he appears to have made peace with the team following his outburst over the in-car radio when he accused them of a “freaking stupid” call.

The 25-year-old was left fuming after the race as he was told to pit for a second occasion for fresh tyres at a time when he was running third and certain of a podium finish.

Instead, following a late collision with Mark Webber, Hamilton was forced to settle for a disappointing sixth following what he felt was one of the drives of his career.

However, the 2008 world champion now understands the call after the reasoning behind it was explained to him.

After a run-in with Melbourne police on Friday night to add to his weekend of woe, Hamilton at least has the chance to swiftly put to the back of his mind the events of a troubling few days given the Malaysian Grand Prix looms large this Sunday.

Mercifully for Hamilton, McLaren are in there fighting at present as he could have experienced Sebastian Vettel’s depressing issues.

The Red Bull Racing star has qualified on pole and been on course for wins in Bahrain and Australia, only to suffer old reliability problems that plagued his title bid last season.

Red Bull's brake supplier Brembo has denied that a failure of its system was to blame for Vettel's retirement.

The German was leading when a wheel problem ended his race on lap 26.

“Vettel's exit was not caused by the braking system. The torque drive between the front left axle and wheel was lost,” Brembo said.

Appreciating he has at least scored heavily, Hamilton remarked: “The key to a good championship is consistent points scoring.

“Fortunately, the new points system makes it easier to pick up points in each race.