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Lewis Hamilton in McLaren's new F1 car - Source: Getty Images -
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McLaren's Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton said he finally had the tools to do the job after securing his first pole position of the season on Sunday.
Following up his victory in Hungary last month, the 24-year-old Briton seized top slot on the European Grand Prix grid with Finnish team mate Heikki Kovalainen lining up alongside.
"It's night and day really, it doesn't feel like the same car," Hamilton told reporters when asked how different it was to the one he started with 10 races ago.
"It's just being able to have the confidence in it," he added.
"When we began (the season) we had no confidence to push anywhere as the car was always willing to step out and throw us off the circuit, whereas now we've got the confidence to do our job in the car and that's why you're seeing the results."
Hamilton will race with a shorter wheelbase version of the MP4-24 car than Kovalainen, who has a similar one to that used by the Briton in Hungary.
McLaren have shown an amazing pace of development in turning an uncompetitive car that was struggling near the back of the grid, and that some had suggested should be scrapped, into a race winner in a matter of months.
Poor Job
"Having done a relatively poor job during the winter, we had plenty of scope to improve," said team boss Martin Whitmarsh. "In week 11 we were two and a half seconds slower than a competitive car.
"Since then those cars have only improved themselves ... it was a painful start to the year for everyone, a good kick up the pants for us, but I'm delighted by the focus and discipline everyone had."
Hamilton said there was still more to be done, however.
"While we are on the front row, we don't have the best car at the moment," said the sport's youngest champion. "I think we have probably got the second, maybe third best car on the grid.
"I think our KERS (the kinetic energy recovery system that only Ferrari and McLaren are using) overshadows the level of downforce we have compared to, say, the Brawn.
"If you look at the Brawn, I think it was perhaps 3/10ths quicker than us today and they didn't even have KERS. It would maybe be an even bigger gap if we took KERS off so we've got to focus on improving the car still."
