Hamilton says Canada win proved McLaren point

Lewis Hamilton said his breakthrough win at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix became a defining moment in his Formula 1 career because it came only after McLaren finally gave him the same qualifying fuel load as Fernando Alonso.

Speaking to the media, including RacingNews365, Hamilton said his first pole position and first grand prix victory in Montreal were more than rookie milestones. In his account, they were proof that he could beat Alonso on equal terms after spending the opening part of the season fighting what he felt was a built-in disadvantage.

Hamilton said the tension inside McLaren was clear from the start of 2007. Alonso had arrived as a back-to-back Renault world champion and, according to Hamilton, believed he deserved number one status. Hamilton, in his rookie season, said he was determined to show he merited equal treatment instead.

The flashpoint was fuel strategy in qualifying. Hamilton said McLaren "would always give Fernando the lighter fuel load, separating the cars by two laps," at a time when Q3 running was done with the fuel for the opening race stint already onboard. He said that left him feeling he had to "work twice as hard" and be "at least a tenth quicker than him or more, a tenth and a bit," just to get ahead.

Hamilton said he kept pushing the team to remove that gap. "Just give me the chance, and I'll show you what I can do," he said of his message to McLaren.

That chance, he said, came in Canada. Hamilton said McLaren ran both drivers on equal fuel there, and again at Indianapolis afterwards. In Montreal, he turned it into his first F1 pole position by qualifying four-tenths of a second faster than Alonso, then converted it into victory. He won the race by 4.343 seconds from BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld, while Alonso finished seventh, 22 seconds back.

Hamilton called Montreal "a real special moment" because it confirmed what he believed all along about his level against Alonso. "When they gave us the opportunity, I affirmed that belief," he said. For Hamilton, that first win was not simply the day he opened his Formula 1 account, but the point at which he felt he had proved he belonged in an equal fight at the front.