BARCELONA, May 11 – Defending world champion Briton Lewis Hamilton clearly blamed his McLaren Mercecdes team for his poor results on Sunday, but refused to concede his title hopes.
After finishing out of the points in ninth place in the Spanish Grand Prix, won by compatriot Jenson Button for Brawn GP, the 24-year-old Englishman said it was "a shame" his team had not given him a competitive car.
Hamilton said: "It’s just that the car is no good, no grip. I had nothing. It’s just a shame they (the team) have not given me a car to defend my championship.
"The car is that bad. I am driving the socks off it and there is just no hope."
But he added that he was still impressed with the efforts of the team to improve the car and refused to concede his title defence was over.
"I am not going even to start thinking like that," he said.
"We’re not even halfway through the season and the car is just really hardcore.
"At the moment, for sure, we don’t have the car to win the championship, but the team have done a fantastic job and every weekend they do a fantastic job.
"We have great reliability and the morale in the team is high. It’s just a shame."
