Lewis out to make sparks fly this time
LEWIS Hamilton needs to set his World Championship alight in the smog of Shanghai to overturn a statistical inevitability that has held sway for 36 years.
Not since 1982 has the driver who has won the first two races failed to take the title. That season Keke Rosberg beat Alain Prost despite the Frenchman’s head start.
Now Hamilton, who was quickest in practice yesterday, must reverse the momentum Sebastian Vettel established by winning the opening two rounds and moving into a 17point lead.
‘I feel hungry,’ said Hamilton. ‘I have been racing a long, long time so I know it isn’t won or lost in a couple of races. Those experiences just build your strength. It is a tougher season than last year but I want to win this weekend and the next 19 races.’
The defending champion was in relaxed mood on the grey tarmac of the biggest and dullest paddock in Formula One, and rightly feels that time remains marginally on his side. There are five more rounds this year than in 1982, and Hamilton’s car is likely to be at least the equal of Vettel’s Ferrari at the majority of venues, including this one.
That is certainly the view of the German challenger. ‘If you take testing into account, Mercedes are still favourites,’ said Vettel.
Yes, part of Hamilton’s sluggish start has been the result of one-off faults. A strategy gremlin cost him a certain win in Melbourne, and he had a gearbox change in the second race in Bahrain. However, the Ferrari was also quicker in the desert. Its tyres did not overheat on the hot, abrasive surface as Mercedes’ did.
Shanghai’s colder climes and smoother track are more likely to favour Mercedes. Hamilton is also the master of this place, having won here a record five times, twice for McLaren and thrice for Mercedes. And his current employers have triumphed here in each of the last four years.
But Hamilton, who was seven-thousandths of a second ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen in yesterday’s running, cautioned: ‘This should be a good track for us, but it will be harder than you think. It is impossible for anyone to say we are faster or they are faster. There are milliseconds in it. We need to bring our A-game. Every level has to be turned up to maximum.’
A lot rests on tomorrow’s result. If Mercedes were to fail to win, it would mark the end of four years of dominance. They have not had a winless streak extending to three races since the start of 2014.
Hamilton has sat down with his team to discuss their radio communications. In Bahrain, they were giving him information he did not want at the wrong times, and he has stressed the importance of developing a rapport.
‘I generally don’t start the season the best,’ said Hamilton. ‘I don’t think it’s a bad thing to get some wake-up calls. It is easy to be complacent or over-confident or under-confident. You stumble through the first two races and then find your feet.’