Dennis: Title tough from here
by Niamh O'Mahony, 13 October 2008
Ron Dennis believes that Lewis Hamilton faces a battle to gain his first ever World Championship having finished outside the points in Japan on Sunday.
The Chinese Grand Prix is next up for the title contenders before the season concludes in Felipe Massa's native Brazil, where the Ferrari man will be going all out to impress.
Dennis defended his charge on Monday following suggestions that Hamilton should have showed more patience after losing out to Kimi Raikkonen off the grid.
However, his team boss says he would not change the 23-year-old for any other racer.
"He's a racing driver. That's what makes him the driver he is. He is going to fight for positions at every opportunity and you're not going to stop him doing that," Dennis insisted, quoted by The Guardian.
"Of course, with the benefit of hindsight it would have been nice if he could have been a bit more prudent in the first corner but that's the benefit of hindsight.
"Some of the things he does you're in awe of him. How long did it take Felipe to get past the Honda? Five laps? Six laps? And Lewis just blasted past him.
"You can't just cherry-pick aspects of drivers. The simple fact is he is a great driver, we're going to fight for the world championship, but it's sometimes an uphill struggle."
Dennis was also quick to pull the rug from under Massa's theory that the collision on lap two was actually caused Hamilton, when he pushed the Ferrari wide.
"Everybody saw the same TV images that I saw. He was off the road and he drove back on into the side of Lewis. It's as simple as that and it's there for everyone to see.
"Felipe made a huge mistake going in, he ran completely wide and Lewis went on the inside and was 100 percent on the circuit all the time."