MAN ON A MISSION ‘I’m a pain in the a*** to engineers — even if there is nothing wrong, I am asking, asking’
DESPITE walking around the paddock with a little black book in which he records his jottings, Lewis Hamilton’s commitment to long, pained debriefs had never been cited as key to his brilliance behind the wheel.
Each driver to his own, it was explained. And, while Nico Rosberg was raking over minutiae of data in his championship season of 2016, Hamilton was relying on his greater native wit as a racer.
But ahead of the Russian Grand Prix, and in the form of his life, the world champion revealed he is now working harder in backroom meetings and in cultivating a good working relationship across his Mercedes team — undertakings that his boss Toto Wolff described as part of the Briton’s ‘constant drive for perfection’.
‘It’s about doing extra stuff that is not visible,’ said Hamilton.
‘I have improved relationships and communications with the team. I have improved my time management and my health.
‘Relationships can always get better. But if you fix any part of a problem, it can only benefit the whole team.
‘Sometimes people can get stuck in their ways. You have to change. To break the mould. I’m a pain in the a*** to my engineers: challenging, challenging, challenging. Even if there is nothing wrong, I am asking, asking, asking, trying to spark an idea.’
The result of this hands-on approach has been seven wins this year and a 40-point advantage over Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel going into the final six races of the season.
Since Singapore a fortnight ago — and a fourth Hamilton victory in five rounds — Vettel has the advantage of an extensive Ferrari upgrade here, including a radically changed front wing. But Hamilton was still quickest in practice yesterday, half-a-second ahead of the German.
Although Hamilton came only fourth in Russia last year, Mercedes have won all four editions of this race by the Black Sea. The championship leader is, therefore, favourite. Wolff said of Hamilton: ‘What is impressive is the constant development and search for the optimum performance. ‘It’s about how the briefings are being done, how the interaction with the engineers happens, the analysis of his own driving. ‘He’s the only driver I’ve ever heard saying, “I haven’t driven well, so we have to look at that before we look at the data”.’ ‘He’s become a very solid and reliable pillar within the team. He is in a good place in his life. He is the complete racing driver.’