Hamilton: penalty

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McLaren Mercedes have started putting together a race strategy they hope can hand Lewis Hamilton the best possible result at the French Grand Prix after he received a 10-place grid penalty for colliding with Kimi Raikkonen in Canada.

The Briton was leading at the Circuit Gilles Villenueve before the pit stop which proceeded the coming together on lap 20.

After Ferrari's pit crew had turned Raikkonen around quicker than Hamilton, the latter then hit the back of the Finn's car as he waited on a red light at the exit of the pit lane.

It knocked both drivers out of the race and cost Hamilton not just the lead in the Drivers' Championship but also a 10-place drop down the grid at Magny-Cours on June 22nd.

"We're going into France with a 10-place penalty for Lewis so that will clearly affect our approach," McLaren F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh said.

"Without giving too much away, I suspect he'll run a little bit longer in the first stint than would otherwise have been the case. We haven't modelled it yet, but intuitively that's what we'll probably do."

Regret

Whitmarsh said McLaren regretted ruining Raikkonen's race and would not contest the punishment received from FIA race stewards in Canada.

"You have to feel sorry for Kimi and Ferrari, who were the innocent victims on this occasion," Whitmarsh continued.

"We regard the stewards' decision as hard but fair. Hard in the sense that it clearly makes Lewis's task more difficult in Magny-Cours, but fair on the grounds that we have no argument with their contention that he did cause an avoidable accident.

"Sometimes severe consequences can be the results of split-second misjudgments. And, in this instance, we'll take the loss of a likely win and the 10-place grid penalty squarely on the chin."

Hamilton's relegation down the grid means McLaren's best hope of success now rests with Heikki Kovalainen, who had another disappointing race at the weekend, managing only ninth place.

"This weekend didn't quite come together for him," Whitmarsh added. "The reality is that, in every race he's done for us so far, Heikki has done a fantastic job and if you look at fuel-corrected times, he's frequently out-qualified Lewis.

"This weekend, for whatever reason, he didn't quite get on it. We know he puts a lot of pressure on himself but, as a team, we very much believe in him and think he's robust enough in his approach that he'll recover in time.

"In reality, he's the guy who is our best hope of winning the French Grand Prix."