Lewis fired after batteries recharged
Briton eyes his fifth world title ahead of Belgian race
Lewis Hamilton will return refreshed and ready to close in on his fifth world title this weekend when Formula One resumes after the summer break at the Belgian Grand Prix.
After three weeks of inactivity, punctuated by retirement and transfer announcements, the defending four-time champion and his Mercedes team will relish a chance to extend their three-race winning run at the majestic Spa-Francorchamps circuit set in the Ardennes forest.
Hamilton, who is 24 points clear of Ferrari’s four-time champion Sebastian Vettel with nine races remaining, has won two of the last three Belgian races and is seeking his fourth overall.
Hamilton will expect a tough battle with Vettel, however, as Ferrari bid to bounce back for the championship run-in starting with back-to-back weekend races in Belgium and then on home soil at Monza in Italy.
His Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff has been busy damping down any signs of over-opti- mism and warned that the final months were likely to remain as hotly-contested as the earlier part of the season.
“What is clear is that our competitors are pushing extremely hard and put up a very tough fight. There are no clear favourites.”
Hamilton’s healthy position at the head of the title race owes as much to fickle weather conditions and some good fortune, or bad luck for rivals, as it does to his mesmerising talent in wet conditions.
He will be fully prepared for a wet-and-dry contest this week- end at a track where it can be raining in one corner and bathed in sunshine in another.
Hamilton would be wise too to be ready for a challenge from Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, who is something of a Spa specialist.