Hamilton named fastest man on 2013 F1 grid

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton says he feels “invigorated” during his first season with Mercedes following his move from McLaren.

After an encouraging start to the season Hamilton finally secured his first victory for Mercedes at the Hungarian Grand Prix ahead of the mid-season break. Although Mercedes is more competitive than McLaren this season, Hamilton said one of the biggest differences he’s noticed about the move is the effect it’s had on him personally.

“I can honestly say I feel just so invigorated,” Hamilton told Al Jazeera. “It’s so refreshing to be somewhere new.”

Hamilton is an outsider in the title race as he currently sits 48 points behind Sebastian Vettel but he says his main motivation remains to win the drivers’ championship for a second time.

“I hope there’s a world championship somewhere ahead. That’s what I’m working for every year, that’s why I keep that discipline, that’s why I train so much over the winter, that’s why I wake up every day and train. That’s why I put so much effort into travelling and that’s why you sacrifice so many small things, certain things in your life, and so you know I hope at some stage I get that second world championship.”

And Lewis Hamilton is the fastest driver on the 2013 grid, the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport reports in a mid-season analysis.

Although the Mercedes driver only broke through for his first win of the year in Hungary, correspondent Michael Schmidt revealed Hamilton’s average qualifying position so far in 2013 is a field-best of 2.36.

Red Bull’s championship leader Sebastian Vettel’s average grid position is 2.45, ahead of Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate, Nico Rosberg, at 4.00.

The strongest driver in the crucial races, of course, is Vettel, with the German having held P1 during grands prix for a total of 1278 kilometres, compared to Fernando Alonso’s mere 424.

Lotus and Kimi Raikkonen, and Mercedes and Hamilton, are the most technically reliable packages of 2013, with 3,022 kilometres apiece, followed by the uncompetitive McLaren driven by Jenson Button.

But Finn Raikkonen is the only one of them who has scored points in every race.

The most crash, spin and incident-prone driver has been Williams’ Pastor Maldonado, followed by the under-pressure Caterham rookie Giedo van der Garde.

Toro Rosso has been the team with the most technical problems, while Red Bull has the fastest pitstop crew, with struggling Williams’ crew coming in slowest.