HAMMY GETS CLOUDED OUT
F1 RADICAL CHANGE CALLED FOR Lewis in driving seat of push to find a solution to rain-delay problems
LEWIS HAMILTON led the calls for Formula One’s new owners to make radical changes to the schedule after practise for the Chinese Grand Prix was washed out yesterday.
Only a few laps were completed by drivers in Shanghai after the medical helicopter was unable to land at the designated hospital – 21 miles from the track – due to the foggy conditions.
The helicopter must be available to fly under Formula One’s safety guidelines but its grounding meant that the Shanghai International Circuit was effectively open for a paltry 15 minutes of business from a scheduled three hours.
Indeed the day’s second 90-minute session was delayed and then eventually cancelled before a single car had taken to the track.
While the poor weather is forecast to improve for qualifying, rain is still on the radar for today and the unprecedented idea of moving the race forward by a day was tabled by team bosses.
But following discussions with new owners Liberty Media the decision was taken to stick with the schedule.
It could prove to be a gamble which backfires if the unsettled weather causes problems again tomorrow with 50,000 tickets sold.
As for yesterday, it was left to triple world champion Hamilton to provide the action as he left his garage and walked straight over to his army of fans in the main grandstand.
The 32-year-old Englishman signed several caps before throwing them to his fans while recording the footage on his phone for his social media followers and said: “We must find a solution to deal with the weather issue.
“So sorry to all of you either watching on TV or here at the track.”
He then called on Liberty to make changes. He also suggested rescheduling the three practice sessions for Saturday and then staging both qualifying and the race a day later, saying: “We must find a solution to deal with the weather issue.
“This could actually be a blessing in disguise and a chance for the new bosses to be pro-active and creative. The track was fine and we could have run all day today with no issue if it weren’t for the clouds.
“It’s not good for the fans watching on TV and even worse for all those people in the stands, who have paid money to come out here from the city or even from other countries.
“They’ve barely seen a car on track today, which is tough for them. We must work with the FIA and Formula One Management to find an alternative plan of some kind when we have circumstances like this in the future.”
New McLaren boss Zak Brown added: “It was not good at all. It’s terrible. What we need is a contingency plan for when this happens.”
● The Malaysian Grand Prix has been dropped from the 2018 calendar.
This could be a chance for the new bosses to be pro-active
LEWIS HAMILTON