Hamilton chasing a GP record
MERCEDES’ Lewis Hamilton aims to make amends for a recent hiccup when he seeks a record sixth victory at his British Formula One home Grand Prix on Sunday.
Rivals Ferrari appear to have thrown in the towel before the weekend on the Silverstone track where its driver, Sebastian Vettel, triumphed last year ahead of Hamilton.
Team principal Mattia Binotto told the team homepage Ferrari would have “a further small aerodynamics modification” in place, but admitted in general terms that “we do not expect Silverstone to suit our car particularly well”.
He added “at every race, we have seen that the balance of power can change, often unexpectedly”, but Vettel and teammate Charles Leclerc are still without a victory in nine races this season.
“We will fight to make it a good one,” vowed Leclerc.
Vettel’s last success dates back another nine races to the 2018 Belgian GP, while Mercedes have won 14 of the 17 races since then to win another drivers’/constructors’ double and is firmly on course this time around as well.
Hamilton is well ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas in the drivers’ list and Mercedes far ahead in the constructors’ standings en route to a record sixth straight team title.
Mercedes is keen to make up for its first season defeat two weeks ago in Austria where it suffered from cooling problems in hot conditions as Bottas placed third and Hamilton fifth. Cooler conditions are forecast for the British weekend on the iconic 5.891km course where Hamilton could break a tie with Alain Prost with a sixth career win.
“The bad days are the ones when we learn the most to come back stronger. And we’ll be looking to do just that at the next race at Silverstone,” Mercedes motorsport chief Toto Wolff said.
But the end of Mercedes’ winning monopoly in Austria was good news for many fans, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen passing Leclerc with two laps left for the top spot.