Lewis Hamilton has clarified some publications’ claims that he said he “must” win the world championship in 2008.
“No, that is not correct,” the Briton said in an interview provided by his team, McLaren.
“I want to win, I want to work harder than ever and I want to do whatever I can to win for sure,” Hamilton added.
“(I have) no expectations, but we plan to be at the front.”
The 23-year-old also played down the significance of going slower than the Ferraris and his new teammate Heikki Kovalainen at the Valencia test last week.
“Well, (testing) is not qualifying or the race. I don’t need to go out on low fuel to test if I can do the fastest time; it is not the most important thing,” he said.
“When it comes to qualifying runs we will see who will do the best one when the time comes,” Hamilton added.
He acknowledges, however, that with just over six weeks to go until Melbourne, Ferrari seems to be leading the pack at present.
“They have had some very impressive runs with their car, but it is not much different to last year,” Hamilton said.
“I think we still have work to improve but we have made a good step closer to them this year.”
