Hamilton under the weather
LEWIS HAMILTON was uneasy as he looked up at a sky that was not merely its usual smoggy dishcloth grey but smeared with rain.
shanghai forecasts suggest more of the sodden same over the next few days, including for sunday’s Chinese grand Prix — a prediction that would not ordinarily cause the three- time world champion to lose sleep.
He has built up his reputation with displays of mastery in the wet at Fuji, silverstone and Monaco. But this time it is different and the cause of his consternation goes back to his mysterious absence from testing in Barcelona last month.
it was then that the track was sprayed with water to trial the new Pirelli tyres. the night before, Hamilton had joked that he might pull a sickie. lo and behold, the next day his car suffered an ‘electrical fault’ and he sat out the session.
at other times the Englishman has been struck down by a fleeting illness or injury during testing — a round-and-round routine he says bores him rigid.
Whatever the real cause of his no-show, Hamilton feels he will be undercooked if it is a wet race as he tries to avenge defeat by german sebastian Vettel in the season’s opener in Melbourne.
‘i’m not looking forward to a wet track,’ said Mercedes driver Hamilton yesterday.
‘usually, i like driving in the wet but i’m a little apprehensive. i have to learn a lot in a short period because i have not driven on these tyres. it might be exactly the same as in the past but that’s unlikely. it is a much bigger tyre. .
‘the car might need to be put in differerent places but ii will still drive like i always do.
‘it’s a big risk that you damage the car. i’ve only y got four engines s and we have a shortage of partsarts but i relish the challenge. if anyone is able to do it, i can, so i’ll figure it out.’
Whatever problems Hamilton might have they are nothing compared to the realities at Mclaren, where Fernando alonso was trying manfully to be as constructive as possible.
the spaniard rules out any possibility of walking out on the team as a result of Honda’s underpowered and unreliable engines but everyone knows his tatalent is imprisoned in shoddy machinery. that is certainly the view of Hamilton, who has said he would relish a three- way fight between himself, Ferrari’s Vettel and alonso. it has almost sounded as if Hamilton wants his 2007 team- mate, whose Mclaren contract expires at the end of the season, alongside him at Mercedes. asked if that was a possibility, given the infighting of their previous partnership, alonso said: ‘there is no problem with lewis. We respect each other. the difficulties we had was because the team (Mclaren) was not managed properly. ‘He is a great champion of our generation. it is fantastic to have him on track and he means a lot to Formula one. not only because of the titles but the publicity outside the circuit with his lifestyle and character.
‘We like to compete against the best and to beat the best. it is something we had with Michael (schumacher) when he was here.
‘it was fantastic to win titles when he was on the track. they were not worth so much without him.’
While Hamilton and alonso are keen to tango again, it may be that Mercedes will block the prospect because of alonso’s involvement in the 2007 spygate scandal, which damaged the reputation of the then Mclaren-Mercedes team.