Hamilton ready for Silverstone heroics but Ferrari threaten again

By Elmar Dreher Jul 2, 2007, 11:16 GMT

Magny-Cours, France - Lewis Hamilton is ready to make the home fans happy on Britain's upcoming super sports weekend but will face some stiff resistance from a revived Ferrari team at Sunday's Silverstone Formula One race.

The British GP competes with the Wimbledon tennis finals on the weekend and the world's best cyclers are also in the country for the prologue and the first stage of the Tour de France.

But only the shooting star Hamilton has a chance of winning on his own home soil and that of his McLaren team. The last Briton to win their own Grand Prix was David Coulthard, who also won in a McLaren in 2000.

'Hero Hamilton eyes British GP win,' said The Sun daily on Monday in anticipation of the big weekend.

Hamilton, 22, extended his world championship lead on Sunday, but he was comprehensively beaten into third place at the French GP by the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa.

Hamilton was overtaken for the first time on the track in his eight-race F1 career, at the start by Raikkonen, as his dream of a third straight race win evaporated early. In the end he trailed the winning Finn by 32 seconds and Massa by almost 29 seconds.

But Hamilton remained upbeat: 'I'm looking forward to Silverstone as it's my home race. It will be an extra buzz for me, and I think it will be a good weekend.

'The Ferraris were very quick this weekend but I still think we can take it to them in the next race.'

Hamilton has finished on the podium in each of his first eight career races, winning two, four runner-up finishes and two third places.

'I think and I keep saying that I didn't even expect to finish on the podium in my first race let alone eight races in the season so I am very happy. Going into my first Silverstone Grand Prix in the team that I have always wanted to drive for and leading the world championship is one of the greatest feelings that a driver can have,' he said.

Hamilton in fact stretched his lead atop the standings to 14 points with 64 points as his team-mate Fernando Alonso managed no better than seventh after gearbox problems left him stranded in 10th place on the starting grid.

Alonso has 50, with Massa threatening on 47 and Raikkonen on 42 after the famed Italian team ended a three-race winning drought with their first one-two finish of the season.

'Ferraris comeback in France. Now they are challenging Hamilton,' said Italian daily Il Secolo XIX on Monday.

Raikkonen said: 'I think we knew what our problems were. We try to improve them all the time and I think the work is starting to pay off now.

'It maybe took longer than we expected but I think in the end that it's good that we got the win and we're kind of back in the right place now. We just need to keep it up and improve.'

McLaren and Ferrari have won four races each as the season approaches the halfway mark, with Silverstone the ninth of 17 races.