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The Question Again: Can Hamilton Win the Title This Year?

Lewis Hamilton was a vindicated man after a dominating performance during the British Grand Prix to take the victory in his home race. Prior to that, he had been under media criticism for his attitude, as well as having two bad races without scoring any point.

The youngster certainly had a couple of prominent victories like the season opener in Australia, then the prestigious Monaco and now Silverstone in Britain. It looked as though this week was yet another bad week for him when he had the press conference gaffe which led to embarrassment after his father Hamilton Senior over-rid his agreement to take on Jenson Button in a triathlon race. The McLaren management actually had no issues with the British drivers' squaring their shoulders in a well-meaning race which could led to a donation to any charity of Hamilton's choice (Button's stake) but Anthony Hamilton thought the title race is the priority and his son should not be distracted.

Hamilton left the Canadian GP red-faced after he failed to spot the red light and crashed into the rear of Kimi Räikkönen's Ferrari, ending both their races. He then had a 10-grid penalty for the next race in France as a punishment for his mistake and suffered another drive-through penalty when he ran over the grass area in a bid to overtake Sebastian Vettel. After refusing to speak to the press as he was leaving the venue, Hamilton was slammed by the press as being arrogant and self-pitying.

Coming into the British GP, which enjoyed an overwhelming response of a total sell-out, Hamilton was touted as a favourite but detractors thought that he would crumble under the immense pressure of trailing in the Drivers' Championship and having to perform in front of the home crowd. However, he overcame all odds and did a flawless race, lapping almost all the drivers on the track except for fellow podium finishers Nick Heidfeld and Rubens Barrichello.

Hamilton obviously is not going to stop at that. He is looking at winning the Drivers' title now.

"I've ticked off Monaco, I've ticked off winning the British Grand Prix. Now I've got to tick off winning the World Championship. Those were the targets for this season.

"Winning at Silverstone has given me a massive boost and great momentum. I'm in a good spot now but I have to keep on scoring points.

"I've got to take it race by race and just try to continue this. We know we have great performance with the car."

Now who's to say that is an impossible task after a victory like the one he had for the British GP?

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Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved.

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