Lewis Hamilton thinks he was knocked unconscious after crashing out of the recent Belgian grand prix.

Cockpit replays of the incident, where the McLaren driver actually dented the Spa-Francorchamps barriers after clashing with Kamui Kobayashi, showed Hamilton completely motionless for 15 seconds in the wake of the impact.

The 2008 world champion admits it is possible he was knocked out.

“I don’t really remember much from hitting the wall,” the Daily Star newspaper quotes him as saying at Monza.

“It’s possible I was out for a couple of seconds, I’m not really sure.”

The crash was the latest incident in a series for Hamilton this year, and he told the BBC 2011 might go down as the “worst” in his F1 career so far.

“I have got to find my way, learn from any mistakes and try to smooth out the creases through these last seven races,” he is quoted as saying by the Guardian.

Hamilton, 26, said he has managed to avoid all the media speculation about his aggressive driving style since Spa.

“I don’t read them, but I hear there are pretty bad stories written about me, so I am thinking it will be good to give you guys something good to write about me,” he told reporters ahead of the Italian grand prix.

“I guess I’m an easy target at the moment because I’m always in trouble.”

Some of his rivals defended Hamilton on Thursday, including Sauber’s Kobayashi, who insisted F1 drivers “need to be aggressive”.

Agreed Mark Webber: “He’s not that aggressive, he’s ok. He’s just had a tough run in the last few races.”

Hamilton’s own McLaren teammate Jenson Button, however, admitted he doesn’t always agree with his countryman’s methods.

“I personally feel it’s better to talk to the team than talk though the media, but we are built differently,” he said.

Sebastian Vettel will certainly win the 2011 world championship, according to Germany.
The SID news agency commissioned market research company Promit to ask Germans if their countryman Vettel is a sure bet to become F1′s first back-to-back world champion since Fernando Alonso five years ago.

An overwhelming 74.4 per cent answered yes, with only 11.8 per cent believing that one of the Red Bull driver’s rivals – like Alonso or the McLaren duo – can win the 2011 title.

Lewis Hamilton, who along with his teammate Jenson Button as well as Ferrari’s Alonso prevented Vettel from winning a single race in July, thinks he still has a chance.

“There are 200 points up for grabs and I will enter all the races believing I can win them,” the Briton told the Daily Star newspaper.

“It is going to be an exciting run down to the last race in Brazil and I can’t wait for the next round in Belgium.

“Our car’s pace is there right now as we have shown with our wins, mine in Germany with the fastest lap and Jenson’s in Hungary.

“The car’s on song because of our excellent qualifying pace at both,” said Hamilton.

McLaren’s race drivers have rubbished speculation they might soon have a new team boss.

The Woking based team’s managing director Jonathan Neale this week said rumours Martin Whitmarsh might lose his job was “part of the media circus” of a disappointing home performance at Silverstone recently.

Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button have now also publicly backed Whitmarsh amid rumours Ron Dennis might be looking to return to his post at the helm of the famous British team.

“There’s no chance of that,” Hamilton told the Daily Star when asked about reports of Whitmarsh’s possible demise.

“There is a better atmosphere within the team than there ever has been, it is constantly growing.

“I am certain there are no plans for him to go anywhere.”

Teammate Button agrees: “It was said people are unsure of his (Whitmarsh’s) position within the team, the engineers and mechanics. That’s absolute rubbish.”

Bernie Ecclestone has reportedly bought Flavio Briatore’s share of Queens Park Rangers and now owns the “majority” of the London football club.

It was earlier believed that both Briatore and Ecclestone were keen to sever their ties with QPR, with Force India boss Vijay Mallya close to buying the club.

But British newspapers quote F1′s 80-year-old chief executive as confirming that he has increased his stake to more than 60 per cent.

“I haven’t bought the club to see my name in the papers, I have bought it to support (QPR manager) Neil (Warnock),” the Daily Star quotes Ecclestone as saying.

“Neil tells us how to kick the ball and now our aim is the Premier League,” he added.

The Mirror said the club’s departed chairman Briatore is believed to still hold a nominal shareholding.

“I now own about 62 per cent of the club,” said Briton Ecclestone.

“I’m not thinking about competing with Manchester United or Arsenal. It is just something that I enjoy doing and we will just see what happens,” he added.

Lewis Hamilton on Sunday was visibly not jubilant as he accepted the winner’s trophy for the twelfth time in his career.

It emerges that the 2008 was unhappy not with teammate Jenson Button’s feisty racing from behind while the pair were running first and second at Istanbul, but the prior “communication” from the McLaren pitwall.

“The communication wasn’t clear for me,” said the Briton, who fought back and re-passed Button after they had been told to save fuel.

“When they suggested ‘save this much fuel’ it was not easy unless I went ridiculously slowly.

“I tried to reach that target and in doing so Jenson all of a sudden appeared from nowhere.”

Button confirmed that his attempt to take the lead from the sister MP4-25 came after he was also asked to save fuel.

“After that (incident) it was back to full save mode for me,” said the reigning world champion.

The Daily Star newspaper interpreted the save fuel instructions from McLaren as a veiled order for the pair to “Cut it out!”

But Hamilton insisted: “We don’t have instructions.”

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner saw the behaviour of Hamilton and Button as a lesson to his own drivers.

“When drivers are in the same team it is important they give each other a bit more respect and concede if one has got a run on the other,” he said.

Hamilton said he had a front-row seat to Sebastian Vettel’s crash with Mark Webber, and sided strongly with those who put the blame at the young German’s door.

“He did the exact same thing to me as he did to Mark.  It was dangerous.  He was so quick, so aggressive as he tried to turn into me, fortunately I had enough space,” said the Briton.

(GMM)

May 3 (GMM)  Nico Rosberg will soon notch up the first victory of his formula one career, team boss Ross Brawn predicts.

The 24-year-old German finished on the podium just twice during his four-year tenure with Williams, but within four races has already finished in the top-3 twice at the wheel of a Mercedes.

“Nico is very close to winning a race,” Brawn told the Daily Star newspaper.

“Things just need to fall into place — but that will come.  I am sure he’ll do it.  Definitely,” he added.

Rosberg, whose Finnish father Keke won the world championship in 1982, finished third in both Malaysia and China, while his famous teammate Michael Schumacher’s last two finishes have been in tenth place.

“Nico has raised his game,” said former triple world champion Sir Jackie Stewart, who while a sponsor representative at Williams worked close up with Rosberg.

“The boy has extraordinary skills.  I think Michael has been taken aback by that.  It must be affecting him,” added the Scot.

Rosberg’s former boss Sir Frank Williams told the Daily Mail: “Nico is a very self-confident young man with a reasonable amount of justification for being so.

“He won’t be overawed in Michael’s presence.”

But a report in the Telegraph newspaper expressed concern that Mercedes’ decision to alter the wheelbase length of the W01 car could affect Rosberg’s momentum.

“Instead of helping Schumacher get back up to speed, could it just upset Rosberg, costing him the chance to compete for the world title?” wondered writer Tom Cary.