Hamilton confident of race pace

Editor 27 Oct 2012 11:26 AM

Lewis Hamilton is confident of challenging the Red Bulls in Sunday’s India even though he failed to do just that in qualifying…

Lewis Hamilton is confident of challenging the Red Bulls in Sunday’s India even though he failed to do just that in qualifying.

Throughout the build-up to qualifying at the Buddh International circuit it was evident that Red Bull had the edge in terms of single lap pace.

And this is exactly how it played out on Saturday afternoon as Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber locked out the front row of the grid.

Hamilton was third with his McLaren team-mate Jenson Button qualifying alongside him.

However, the 27-year-old isn’t too fazed about it as he firmly believes he can challenge the Red Bull duo over a race distance.

“Absolutely,” was Hamilton’s response when asked if he was happy with third on the grid.

“The team have done a great job this weekend in just trying to dial the set-up into the car and to have us on the second row, we’re not quick enough to be ahead of these guys [the Red Bulls], but we can definitely challenge them in the race.

“I think our race pace was just as good as theirs through practice. So I’m excited about it.”