Hamilton vows to get race pace

Lewis Hamilton has vowed that his nose will be firmly stuck into further development of McLaren’s race cars as soon as the UK factory re-opens after the compulsory two-week "off" season.

There are seven races left in the season. Hamilton lost his championship lead at the Hungaroring on Sunday thanks to gearbox failure so when Woking's doors re-open he’s sworn to be "on the tail of all the team, all the engineers, making sure they don't miss anything" ahead of Spa-Francorchamps towards the end of August.

"If we were not going on holiday I would have loved to have gone straight to the factory," he said. "I'm not an engineer but I’d drag the chief designer down to the wind tunnel, question him many times and try to understand it – it’s what I do.

"Things I have suggested in the past have worked.  I don't think I’m going to come up with the idea this time but the more you ask the easier you’ll get to the solution.”

In-season testing is banned but Hamilton says there are other ways he can influence McLaren's push to improve.

"I feel it's just as much my job to kick them as it is for them to kick me," he said.