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Penalised Hamilton not changing approach

Lewis Hamilton says he will not change his approach to the French Grand Prix despite the penalty he will have to serve in Magny-Cours

The McLaren driver will lose ten places on the starting grid after his crash with Ferrari rival Kimi Raikkonen during the Canadian Grand Prix nearly two weeks ago.

The penalty means Hamilton, who lost the championship lead in Montreal, will start from at least 11th place.

But the Briton says he will approach the race as usual.

"It doesn't really (change the approach)," Hamilton told a news conference. "It's a race, I'm here to win and so I approach it the same.

"Obviously we want to finish, we want to get as many points as possible. It just makes that harder but it's quite funny, that's the way it goes.

"Obviously it would be nice to qualify on the front row which would put us just outside the top ten but I don't know. I will have to wait and speak to my engineers."

Despite the slim chances of fighting near the top due to the penalty, Hamilton says he is not feeling less pressure to perform well in the race.

"For me, I don't think I have less pressure. At the back I think there's more work for me to do. Considering we're all so close in the championship, I guess it spices it up a bit, if that's what they want.

"It's going to be harder, coming from the back, but I don't have any doubts or any worries, I think we're going to have a very strong package this weekend, and I think the car will be as good if not better than it was in the last race. With that pace, as long as we stay out of trouble we should be able to score some good points."

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