Hamilton: when things go right

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton says he will not get too downhearted by his recent run of results, despite problems both in the pits and on-track seeing him drop further away from the lead of the world championship after the Spanish Grand Prix. While there has been no re-appearance of the 2011-spec Hamilton, save perhaps from a brief flash of petulance after missing victory in Melbourne, he has yet to win any of the opening five races, primarily due to pit-stop errors, and then the operational mistake that saw him stop out on track after securing pole in Barcelona - and be sent to the back of the grid as a result. While Williams' Pastor Maldonado went on to claim a maiden F1 win after inheriting Hamilton's pole position, the Briton reflected positively on a drive that netted eighth place from 24th on the grid, and kept him within striking distance of the championship leaders Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso. "When things go right, we'll be in a great position," he told BBC Sport, "It was a huge challenge to come from the back [and] this race was damage limitation. To get a couple of points from where I was, I cannot complain." Just as McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh had claimed before the race, Hamilton appears to have taken the latest setback on the chin rather than allow it to fester in his mind as he appeared to do for much of last season. "We were in the wrong," he admitted phlegmatically, "It was a subtle mistake and a very big punishment, but we just took it, gritted our teeth and turned our heads to the race. It was just like the karting days, when me and my dad and my family went racing. That's what we sometimes had to do, and that's where I learnt to do my overtaking." There was no absence of aggression in Hamilton's recovery, but the Briton was particularly pleased to have made his climb through the field on just two stops for fresh rubber. "I'm proud of myself and the team," he said, "We did a good job today. It was a fantastic race for me trying to manage the tyres at the same time. It was incredibly tough. Considering everyone is always talking about how aggressive my driving style is, and how much better my team-mate is on tyres than me, today was a good demonstration that they're perhaps wrong." Asked whether, with his contract situation at McLaren still unresolved, the mistakes would have any bearing on his long-term future, Hamilton insisted that he was not even thinking about anything else but racing. "I'm not looking at the bigger picture at the moment, I'm just looking at the season, and I want to win the world championship," he told Sky Sports, "Of course, these last five races with the situations I've been in has not helped. We could have a healthy lead in the championship right now if we had capitalised on the performance we've had in qualifying. "But we've just been unfortunate and, at some stage, things will come together for our team and we'll get the points we deserve. That's bound to happen.