Pressure’s on …and I love it!
HAMILTON: I THRIVE IN THE HEAT OF BATTLE
LEWIS Hamilton spoke like a man with one opponent left standing: himself.
As Formula One reconvenes in the Ardennes hills after the summer recess, he holds a 24-point lead over Sebastian Vettel, meaning that the pressure should be weighing on the German to narrow the gap. It no doubt is.
But Hamilton is aware that to think complacently himself might undermine his competitive traction. And with nine races to go including tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix, he said: ‘Only Sebastian can tell you if he is feeling the pressure. I can only tell you the pressure is on me.
‘That pressure is as great as it can be, but I wouldn’t want it any other way. I welcome it. Under pressure, humans are moved to do extraordinary things, to evolve, to push the envelope, to be better in all areas. That is the excitement of this battle.
‘We are battling against Ferrari, a historic team which hasn’t won a championship in a while. And although we have won in recent years, we want to win as much as they do, if not more.’
Hamilton believes, as he intimated recently, that man versus man he is better than Vettel. Discrepancies in machinery (and Ferrari have fundamentally the faster car) may yet thwart his bid for a fifth title, but it is impossible to argue with Hamilton’s assessment of his merits over the only other quadruple world champion on the grid.
The weather is capricious around this track, which is travelled 70 per cent of the time at speeds of 200mph or more. There were spots of drizzle yesterday. It was overcast. Showers cannot be ruled out for qualifying today or the race tomorrow.
Whatever the conditions, Hamilton, who won here last season, will draw on his form of the past two years that makes him the supreme master of all seasons.
But Ferrari are strong again here. Vettel led the timesheets in yesterday’s first practice session and his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was fastest in the afternoon.
Hamilton was a third of a second and then 0.168sec off the pace. Both Mercedes and Ferrari have brought upgrades to Belgium. Hamilton, who visited Mercedes’ Northamptonshire factory on Tuesday, is traditionally stronger as the season reaches a peak of intensity.
Team insiders say he has been relaxed and focused on his return from his holidays — a whirlwind around seven countries in three weeks.
‘Going into the break we did an incredible job as a team,’ said Hamilton. ‘We may not have been best at all elements, but we did a solid job to come away with the points we did.
‘We know the areas that we have got to improve on, but we also know that there are things in the pipeline which take time to see results.
‘There is more juice to come. When you do have a little bit of a buffer, subconsciously there is a positive effect, but my approach is the same.
‘I don’t sit here thinking I have got a race advantage in the sense I can relax. I don’t want to lose the points that I have. I don’t want the pendulum to swing the other way again. How do I stop that? That is the question in the back of my mind.’
Eighteen- year- old Lando Norris, raised like Hamilton as part of the McLaren junior programme, made his F1 debut at a grand prix weekend, deputising for retirement-bound Fernando Alonso in morning practice yesterday. He was 18th fastest, two places ahead of team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne.
Sportsmail understands Norris is now favourite to be handed a race seat at the team next year, probably in place of Belgian Vandoorne.
McLaren have until the end of September to decide whether to partner Norris with the incoming Carlos Sainz for 2019 under a ‘ use him or lose him’ clause.
‘We want to win as much as Ferrari, if not more’