By Simon Strang and Jonathan Noble Tuesday, July 22nd 2008, 09:07 GMT
Mika Hakkinen and Lewis HamiltonFormer world champion Mika Hakkinen believes Lewis Hamilton has gone through the same learning curve he went through himself - and is now mature enough to go on to win the title.
With Hamilton having banished the memories of his errors in Canada and France with two stunning drives in Britain and Germany, Hakkinen sees similarities between the current world championship leader's recovery and his own career.
"I can relate what is happening now to Lewis to when I was racing," said Hakkinen, who witnessed Hamilton's Hockenheim victory first half last weekend.
"When I was a young guy at McLaren I was flat out, always at the maximum. Sometimes the excitement took over my thinking and there were times when I went over the top, I made mistakes.
"It took time for me to stabilise myself and calm down a little, and then I got the results. That is now the situation with Lewis. He has calmed down and is stable, more mature.
"There is still a way to go this year and a lot of things can still happen, and yes it is a long time since I won McLaren's last title, but I am hopeful this year they can do it."
Hakkinen believes the key to McLaren keeping up their current momentum is in maintaining belief in themselves.
"They just have to keep working, thinking positively," said Hakkinen. "Formula One always changes from race to race, it has always been like that and always will be.
"Drivers are developing all the time. They are improving, getting faster, and if you keep pushing then you get the result like Lewis did here. What happened a few races ago has all changed again and the pressure is on another camp."
Hakkinen has also praised the way that team boss Ron Dennis and Mercedes-Benz motorsport chief Norbert Haug have moulded the spirit at McLaren.
"What Ron Dennis and Norbert Haug have done is brought together two fantastically talented young drivers. They are fast, they motivate the whole team, and they are getting better, stronger, more solid, more stable - they deliver the whole package.
"I can see right now McLaren Mercedes are a solid team, positive in terms of spirit both behind the scenes and on the track. I can sense that just by being around the teams these days."
