Whitmarsh agrees with Pitpass pollsters

12/06/2006

It appears that McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh agrees with the 40% of those Pitpass readers that took part in a recent poll, claiming that Lewis Hamilton could win a Formula One Grand Prix before Jenson Button.

Speaking at the end of a British Grand Prix weekend which saw Button retire after just nine laps, while Hamilton, courtesy of some stunning overtaking, took a brace of wins in the GP2 series, Whitmarsh told reporters, when asked if the McLaren protégé could beat his fellow-Englishman to the top step of the F1 podium: "I would think he could. He has the capability.

"I don't want to be hard on Jenson," Whitmarsh added. "I think he is a very talented, quick driver but Jenson has committed his future to Honda and therefore I'm not going to wish him a victory at the moment, am I? I'm going to wish victories on those who are in our stable."

Along the pitlane Nick Fry was not so sure: "Do I think Lewis Hamilton will win a grand prix?" said the Honda boss. "Absolutely yes, I think he is a tremendously talented 21-year-old.

"Do I think he's going to win before Jenson?" he continued. "I doubt it."

Back towards the 'top end' of the pitlane, another team boss is clearly aware of Hamilton's talent, Ferrari team boss Jean Todt, whose son Nicolas runs the GP2 for which the English youngster is driving.

Asked if he talks to his son about the English sensation Todt replied: "No, my son talks to me about him. He gets on very well, he likes the guy, he's low profile, quick driver.

"But from what I understand, he has, for several years, a contract with one of our competitors (McLaren) and if I see the team principal involved at the end of each race, he seems to have a strong intention with him, but it's my personal feeling, so that's just my comment."

Asked if he had watched Hamilton, Todt admitted: "Yeah, not only today.

"He did a very good job," the Frenchman continued. "Maybe he was successful as well because I understand his teammate didn't manage to start the race. He made some good overtaking but if you saw the race yesterday he was very good, and he did the quickest time during the race."