F1 IS GO, GO, GO
Full 2018 season preview
“I’m in ththe best shape I’ve ever bbeen; matching Fangio’s ffive titles is an excitinexciting prospect” LEWIS HAMIHAMILTON Mercedes
EVERY year for the past couple of seasons, the same question has been asked of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. With his many and varied activities away from the track, does he still have the hunger to fight for the F1 world title? And every year for the past couple of seasons, the answer has been an emphatic yes, with title wins in 2014, 2015 and 2017 and a down-to-the wire scrap with team-mate and eventual champion Nico Rosberg in 2016.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is in no doubt that 2018 will be no different. Speaking at the launch of the team’s car for this season, the W09, he said: “For me, Lewis is the personification of hunger. We’ve been together six years now and he’s extremely motivated coming back after the winter break. I don’t see a lack of motivation or hunger – or any complacency.”
Racing drivers often profess no interest in records and statistics, but Hamilton admits the prospect of matching the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio’s five world titles this season is an enticing one. “I didn’t think much about motor racing over the winter break, there was no-one around to remind me,” he said.
“But once you start training again, you start to think, ‘Why am I training, what are my goals?’ It’s a discovery process. You have to really figure out where you’re going to find the determination and drive. I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been going into a season and being up there with Fangio is an exciting prospect.”
Hamilton added: “I’ll continue while I still have that fire in me. I really love this job; after I went to the factory for the seat fit, as I was driving away, I was very conscious that one day I won’t be doing that any more, so I was able to enjoy that moment.”
So the motivation is there. But will Hamilton have the car for the job? The indications so far are positive. Apart from the obvious addition of the Halo, the W09 is an evolution of last season’s W08 – albeit, the team hopes, without the tricky handling and set-up issues that led to that car being nicknamed ‘the diva’.
Wolff explainedexplained: “We had amazing performances last year, at Monzmonza for example, but we also had some tracks where we didn’t perform well or understand the behaviour of the car well. So we needed to keep the traits that worked well and understand them, while minimising our difficulties on some tracks. That wasn’t an easy process.”
If the new Mercedes does turn out to be the class of the field, then Hamilton’s strongest competition could come from within the team. After being drafted in at the last minute for 2017 following Nico Rosberg’s shock retirement, Finn Valtteri Bottas showed flashes of inspiration, taking wins in Russia, Austria and Abu Dhabi, but often wasn’t on Hamilton’s level.
But with the benefit of a full season’s racing with the team, and a more settled off-season, the 28-yearold reckons he can step up in 2018. “I definitely think Lewis is beatable,” he said. “He’s definitely the toughest team-mate I’ve ever had, but I believe no driver is unbeatable and I believe in myself.
“I think starting this second year, my chances are much better to be performing at every race on the level I should be,” he continued. “Last year there were many weekends when I wasn’t on the level I should have been and wanted to be. I learned that I still had many things to learn – especially from the difficult weekends. Being in a new team, a new environment, there’s always lots to learn. There are so many details about set-up and tyre management I took on board.”
Bottas knows the pressure is on; he occupies one of the two most coveted seats in F1, with a host of Mercedes-backed junior drivers, not to mention most of the current grid, ready to pounce should he fail to deliver. Whether he and the rest of the field have made the steps necessary to give Hamilton a run for his money will become clear this weekend.