McLaren F1 team will be hoping to add another world title to the CV of Lewis Hamilton. After 10 years in the wilderness they will also desperately want to win the constructors title. Last time they won that Mika Hakkinen was at the wheel for the first of his two drivers titles. In that 10 years for Ferrari and Renault have dominated the championships, leaving McLaren consistently either second or third on the list!
Now that Lewis Hamilton has proven to be a winner at McLaren his chances of repeating his success for years to come are high to say the least. Even if his championship win was shrouded in controversy he still has the evidence procedure in place that he is able to win.
Allow me just to take a moment to define evidence procedure. This is basically the fact that you have achieved a certain task and therefore gives you the belief that you are able to replicate that task again. For example if you have a goal to win a race then once that first race is won winning your second race is not going to be as difficult because you have established the evidence procedure. You can now replicate that success instead of creating it from scratch, like you had to when you hadn’t won a race or the evidence procedure was non-existent.
With that in mind the prediction that Lewis Hamilton will win another championship grows stronger. He will undoubtedly outshine his teammate and continue to become the number 1 driver for McLaren. As the desperation of getting that first championship title under his belt has also disappeared he will become a calmer driver in fraught situations that will also contribute to his future success. Kovalainen didn’t experience a great first season with McLaren, and frankly with the calibre of their team I am surprised they retained him. It seemed as though he was frequently outgunned at the front with only one victory for the F1 08 season! He will only improve with his second stint at the McLaren. He has shown that he was a quality driver in the past and obviously this contributed to him being chosen however there will be pressure to perform for him this season or he could find himself searching for a drive in 2010.
All in all the McLaren F1 Team are not going anywhere anytime soon. They have established themselves as a force within F1 racing and whether they continue to repeat the success of 2008 or they have to wait a couple more years one thing that you can bet your money on is that they will without a doubt win another championship. It is very difficult to say that Lewis Hamilton won’t win another title the mind set he has is truly that of a champion. A man called Kerry Speckman can be credited with instilling him with that. He is a renowned neuroscientist that brought some groundbreaking techniques to the way the F1 drivers train. I had the good fortune of working alongside Kerry during his time at McLaren.
Keep racing!
