McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton wants ‘strong performance’ in Valencia

Lewis Hamilton is refusing to get carried away with his victory in Canada last weekend, insisting that consistency is the key to winning the world championship.

The McLaren driver produced a stunning drive in Montreal to clinch his first race win of 2012 and become the seventh different winner in as many races this season.

Hamilton, who leads the drivers’ standings by two points from Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, is now aiming to build on his triumph in Canada at the European Grand Prix in Valencia next weekend.

“My win in Montreal was obviously an extremely satisfying moment for me – but, actually, it does very little to alter things in the world championship,” he said.

“Firstly, while it’s always pleasing to be leading the championship, I’m only two points ahead of Fernando – which is nothing, particularly when there are a handful of really strong drivers all separated by a couple of points, so there’s still everything to play for.

“Secondly, the intensity of this year’s championship means there’s so little breathing space – we may have won in Canada, but there’s an enormous amount of pressure to keep racking up good results at every grand prix.”

Hamilton is hoping he can “back up” his result in Canada with another strong performance at the Valencia Street Circuit.

He added: “I think that consistency, rather than individual strong results, will be the key to winning this world championship, so we need to back it up in Valencia with another strong result.

“People are always asking me to predict what will happen at the next race and I always tell them it’s really difficult to make an accurate prediction – but I’ll be heading to Valencia feeling super-motivated to get another strong result and maintain my momentum before we head into Silverstone and the British Grand Prix.”

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Read more on: european grand prix 2012, fernando alonso, Formula 1, lewis hamilton, mclaren.