LONDON, England (AP) -- McLaren's Lewis Hamilton was "thrilled" with his finish in Turkey and believes they are closing the gap on Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton believes McLaren are catching Ferrari and cannot wait for the Monaco Grand Prix. Hamilton is itching to get to Monaco for the next grand prix and believes his team have given the Scuderia a reason to worry. The Briton, who was forced to pit three times in Istanbul, said the Turkish Grand Prix was his "best race ever" despite finishing second. "It's not about winning, it's about feeling you extract 100 percent from yourself and the car and I did that," Hamilton said. "I really think we have closed the gap to Ferrari. I'm so excited about the next race in Monaco and just can't wait... I just feel my race pace is getting stronger and stronger over the year." Hamilton said McLaren knew they were closing the gap on Ferrari. "They still have a strong car but so do we, as you can see... we need to figure out exactly how we can improve our last sectors because that's where we are losing." Ron Dennis , McLaren's team boss, said Hamilton's Turkish drive was "phenomenal," especially as they were forced to use a three-stop strategy because of concerns with his tires. "He closed the gap on Kimi [Raikkonen] in the world drivers' championship to just seven points." Ferrari, meanwhile, appear to be taking some of Hamilton's words -- and lessons from the past -- to heart. Felipe Massa, who won his third consecutive Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul, said McLaren were "very strong" in Monaco last year (they finished first and second). "We have been working a lot -- even from last year -- on the set-up for Monte Carlo this year, so hopefully we will have a good car and a good chance to win," Massa said. "We know Monte Carlo is a track which can be very tricky, especially without traction control." Raikkonen, Massa's team-mate, said Ferrari were still in a good position. "We didn't lose too many points [in Turkey]... the next two races last year were very difficult for us so we need to see how strong we can be and hopefully we can challenge for wins and go from there." Stefano Domenicali, Ferrari's sporting director, said Raikkonen's trouble at the start in Turkey -- his and Heikki Kovalainen's cars collided -- was another example how little it took for the "pendulum to swing one way or the other" in Formula One. "Now we have to prepare, maybe even more carefully, for the next rounds. At Monaco and Canada last year we suffered a lot and we will have to do our best preparing for these races." Meanwhile Flavio Briatore, Renault's managing director, said it had been nice to see "some encouraging signs of improvement," after Fernando Alonso finished sixth in Turkey. "We are confident that we are starting a new phase which will see us get closer and closer to the top three teams."
I think Hamilton has fooled himself into thinking McLaren has closed on Ferrari. Massa was untouchable all weekend. McLaren's strategy only worked because they kept the car on light tanks and Hamilton pounded out fast laps while Kimi seemed off all weekend and didn't get close enough to pass him. Otherwise Hammy would have been best of the rest. A great job on Hamilton's part but Ferrari is still way ahead of the McLaren performance wise.
Fred is going to make him wish they were friends at Monaco... Hamilton is an idiot, big mouth, no brains... Monaco is not a fast track to begin with, all the cars will be competitive there, and I mean all the cars.. I would look for Ferrari to do well, but watch out for Renault and BMW... It's going to be superior driver day at Monaco, not superior car day and Hamilton is not that good a driver without the help of Microsoft Windows doing the throttle modulation....
