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MONZA - Lewis Hamilton expects to be back up to speed in Sunday's Italian Grand Prix after a tyre failure robbed the championship leader of precious points in Turkey two weeks ago.
Tyre suppliers Bridgestone have blamed a phenomenon known as 'chunking', when small pieces of rubber debris get stuck to the tyre and form chunks, for the dramatic failure that sent the 22-year-old McLaren driver from third to fifth place in Istanbul.
The Briton, who leads double world champion team mate Fernando Alonso by five points with five races remaining, said the explanation 'did not make a huge amount of sense' to him.
"I don't understand why it happened, whether it was bad luck or not," he told reporters at Monza.
"But that's in the past, I don't blame Bridgestone," he added."
Hamilton, winner of three races in his astonishing 12 grand prix career, expected to fight back at Ferrari's home circuit after a strong showing in Monza testing last week.
"Since the last race I definitely feel we have made a step forward like we do at every race, there is always something new on the car and we make a step forward," he said.
"I think we have made a similar step forward to when we were at Monaco and I really think the team did a great job developing the aero package for here.
"They were strong here last year and also with our engine everything is feeling quite good....I think we will be more competitive here than McLaren have been in the past years."
- REUTERS
