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 06 July 2008 15:54 BST

Hamilton thrilled with putting title challenge back on track

Sunday, 27 Apr 2008 16:17
Lewis Hamilton finished just 0.9 seconds behind second-placed Felipe Massa
Lewis Hamilton admits he is relieved to get a podium finish at the Spanish grand prix to reignite his title challenge.

The McLaren driver finished third, behind the Ferrari's of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen.

Hamilton, 22, now lies nine points behind reigning world champion Raikkonen in the drivers' championship.

In stark contrast, his team-mate Heikki Kovaleinen is in hospital in Barcelona after a 150mph crash after losing control of his McLaren.

The Briton said he was pleased with his display having finished fifth in Malaysia and 13th in Bahrain a fortnight ago.

"After two bad races, to be back on the podium is fantastic. It's a great relief," he said.

"When we qualified fifth we knew it would be very difficult to match the Ferraris.

"It was a bad day for Heikki but I'm glad he's OK. Ron [Dennis] came on the radio and told me he was OK. I'm sure he'll bounce back and we will keep pushing forwards."

Meanwhile, Finn Raikkonen was delighted with his comfortable victory having started from pole.

"I didn't make the perfect start but did enough to stay in front," Raikkonen said.

"After that it was closer than we expected but at least we had the speed all weekend."

Renault's Fernando Alonso retired on lap 32 with engine failure when in fifth place.

The double world champion was philosophical over his bad luck, which leaves him 23 points behind in the championship standings.

"Unfortunately, it is not the right place as it's my home Grand Prix, but I am very happy," Alonso said.

"We saw Massa stopping three laps later than us, so our qualifying was quite OK, and in the race we were close to BMW so I can enjoy racing again." End of story


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