Jun.7 (GMM) After falling at the first of qualifying's three hurdles in Turkey, reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton then dropped his guard with the world's media.
Until recently the McLaren driver, embroiled in the 'lie-gate' saga, was operating under a press gag, but on Saturday the floodgates truly opened as - just two weeks from perhaps his last home grand prix at Silverstone - he contemplated starting the Istanbul race from a lowly 16th.TV pundit Eddie Jordan had told the BBC that the MP4-24 was "possibly the worst car McLaren has ever designed", and Hamilton did not try hard to disagree.In fact, he suggested it is perhaps the worst in the current field, telling reporters that through Turkey's long turn eight "we are 10 to 15 kph slower than the Force Indias".Team boss Martin Whitmarsh is promising to work the Woking factory hard so that an upgrade package scheduled for the German GP is ready for Silverstone.But Hamilton said: "I don't think we should rush anything. It's not like it will make a huge difference, not like we can win back 60 points."The 24-year-old then suggested the British team are making a mistake persevering with the Mercedes-powered machine at all."We've lost our way with this car. We probably should have scrapped it a long time ago."We need to understand what has gone wrong so we can bounce back next year," said Hamilton.Allan McNish, a Scottish two-time Le Mans winner who raced in F1 with Toyota in 2002, believes 2009 is a period of adjustment for Hamilton, having burst onto the scene two years ago to instantly find the steering wheel of a winning car."Lewis must appreciate how lucky he was," the 39-year-old said. "The question for Lewis is: can he cope? The answer right now is that he's struggling," McNish told the Independent newspaper.
