Lewis Hamilton’s hopes of Austria victory hit by five-place penalty
Publicly at least, as Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel prepare for the Austrian Grand Prix, a civilised air has returned to their relationship after it reached boiling point in Baku.
Both drivers made all the right noises when they were face to face at a press conference on Thursday but perhaps it also revealed the bonhomie in the early part of the season had been a mask hiding their determination to win.
Hamilton, in particular, showed remarkable composure given that he knew, although it had not been made public, that he might need a gearbox change that would cause a grid penalty – which was then confirmed after Friday’s practice. Taking a five place drop on the grid, when he might have expected the FIA to impose similar on Vettel earlier in the week, is a major setback for the Mercedes driver who trails his Ferrari rival by 14 points in the world championship.
The first to break from the jovial tone would have been perceived to have handed an advantage to his opponent. For these two drivers this was a psychological battle characterised by knifes sheathed in smiles. Any interaction had been and will be a distraction as David Coulthard pointed out: “I don’t think either driver actually particularly cares about building strong relationships with any other driver in the paddock.”
On the track Hamilton topped both practice runs on Friday before the gearbox change was announced. He has yet to complete six races with it so a five-place grid penalty will be imposed. Mercedes knew it had been damaged in Baku although pointed out it was not connected with the clash with Vettel and that they were changing it as a precaution. Before that punishment he had been in fine fettle putting in the fastest lap recorded at the Red Bull Ring.
“The car feels fantastically fast here. There’s already a nice balance and it feels good out on track,” the Mercedes driver said. He trails Vettel by 14 points in the championship and the German’s Ferrari was just over a 10th of a second behind him in the second session. The margins look tiny again as they have all season.
Coulthard, who won 13 grands prix during his 14 years in F1 and is now a commentator for Channel Four, has been at the heart of a similar maelstrom. In 1998 at the Belgian Grand Prix during heavy rain, he attempted to let Michael Schumacher lap him by slowing going down the hill toward Pouhon, but remained on the racing line and Schumacher, unsighted by the spray, hit him. The German was furious and confronted Coulthard in the pits, accusing him of trying to kill him. The pair met privately a week later and cleared the air.
“With Michael I said: ‘I don’t accept I was responsible for you running into the back of me in that you are in control of your own car but I accept it was a mistake to lift off on the straight,” Coulthard said. “Michael was not prepared to accept any responsibility or blame. I asked him: ‘Have you ever been wrong’ and he said not that he remembered, so I said: ‘We have to agree to disagree,’ and we did.”
Almost 20 years on and there is a sense of familiarity to the scenario. “The only time Michael ever publicly apologised was whenever the FIA required him to,” Coulthard said. “People like that, serial winners, high-achievers, have an ability to never, ever, ever admit until such time as they are seeing the cell door close and then they apologise.
“Seb has been through this before when he ran up the back of Mark Webber in Fuji and then when they touched in Turkey and he partly apologised, then turned round at the next race and said: ‘I don’t see why I should apologise.’”. It is part of how they tick
That assessment fits remarkably well with Vettel’s uncompromising refusal to accept culpability before his FIA hearing, public apology and Thursday’s contrition and there are still after-effects.
Hamilton is clearly unhappy the FIA did not penalise Vettel further and the German is doubtless relieved at its decision but with a world championship at stake neither can afford to dwell on it.
“I was the baddie at Spa and at testing in Monza afterwards there were banners saying ‘killer Coulthard’. It was quite an uncomfortable situation,” Coulthard said. “But we moved on, I suspect they are quite happily moved on in their own minds and won’t do anything different on the race track.”
The timing sheets say the incident in Azerbaijan is behind them and qualifying on Saturday ought to be as tight as it has been at the previous eight grands prix this season.