Lewis Hamilton announced at the Sepang circuit on Thursday that he does not intend to defer to his teammate and reigning world champion Fernando Alonso in 2007.
The 22-year-old British rookie drove sensationally to a debut podium in Australia last month, but he was behind the second placed Alonso.
“I have a lot of respect for Fernando,” Hamilton was quoted as saying by the news agency ‘sid’, “and (I) am very conscious of my position in the team.”
Hamilton, whose father Anthony is said to have turned down a $400,000 biography publishing offer since Australia, explained: “But I have been chosen by the team to win races and that is exactly what I intend to do.”
On a separate PR event in nearby Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, Hamilton repeated that he is not likely to settle in a support role at McLaren alongside his famed teammate.
“I’m not in F1 to finish second,” he insisted.
“It will be fantastic if I can go on pole and get some wins along the way.”
