HAMILTON HOLDS ALL THE ACES
Mercedes is the car to beat once again as Lewis chases his fifth title
IT may be time to raid your pension fund, empty the piggy bank or remortgage your house. For, as the timesheets were digested in the paddock yesterday, there seemed no surer investment than pumping every penny on Lewis Hamilton’s successful title defence.
The only faces at the champion’s mercedes team that were not smiling from ear to ear belonged to those trying desperately to hide their elation.
Sport being sport, danger being danger, the confidence could evaporate in a puff of smoke or a false turn of the wheel. But on the bare hard evidence, the car in which Hamilton sits is supremely equipped to take him to a fifth championship triumph and level with Juan manuel Fangio.
Further reassurance for Hamilton backers is that even if it rains during tomorrow’s opening australian Grand Prix, as is forecast, it is hardly as if Hamilton will be exposed as a bad driver in a good car. as the best performer in the wet since Gene Kelly, he is well equipped to carry himself to the chequered flag by dint of his own artistry.
What about Ferrari and Red Bull, you may wonder? Well, Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal, summed up the position accurately when he said yesterday that, although there could be a contest between his team and Ferrari, mercedes are out on their own.
‘It is a matter of how fast Lewis wants to drive,’ he said, suggesting the margin of advantage was for Hamilton to conjure at will.
That the Briton led the timesheets virtually all through the day’s sessions told part of the story, but not the full extent of it.
Red Bull do not have total faith in their Renault engine, fearing its lack of grunt over one lap on Saturdays. They have star drivers in max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, plus a good chassis. But two out of three will only carry them so far.
and Ferrari are glum. Sebastian Vettel wore a despondent air on the final day of pre-season testing in Barcelona. His team had tampered with the car over the winter, seeking to extend the unmatched speed they possessed at a few circuits last year to a broader consistency, and he knew their endeavours had not worked.
a 21-race season provides opportunity to improve, and Vettel, another four-time world champion, nodded in the direction of that hope when he said: ‘We don’t have the answer now. We will try. It’s a long campaign.’
Strangely, the one individual who shouldn’t be jumpy but has been is Hamilton himself.
He was a touch recalcitrant in his press conference on Thursday, as if something was bugging him or he had a point to make.
He then complained about the chairs he had been asked to sit on. ‘They suck,’ he said.
But it must have been more than unwelcome upholstery that was playing on his mind. It is only surmise, but it is possible that his imminent new contract, and talks over money and terms, and the love or otherwise he feels from those he is negotiating with, are factors figuring in his thoughts.
yesterday he posted a curious two-minute video on Instagram, showing him brilliantly beating Fernando alonso, the then reigning champion, as they duelled at Indianapolis in 2007. It gave Hamilton his second win, as he pointed out in the message contained below the footage, and put him in the world championship lead in his rookie season. ‘People forget, so I’m reminding them,’ he signed off. Who is forgetting? What is the coded implication? We members of the written press did not get to see him last night to discover an answer, so we can only guess. anyway, if Hamilton were to romp to the title prematurely, it would be a bitter blow to a sport feeling a little fragile behind all its collective ego. But a one-sided title fight is not the only problem.
The cars need to be made louder, faster, raunchier for the next rule change in 2021, part of the immediate test set for Liberty media, the sport’s new owners, who need to find a way through the politics, not least to see off Ferrari’s threat to quit the sport if renegotiations do not suit their liking.
Formula One’s rulers should also ponder that a show built on the vicarious thrill of risk cannot entirely turn its back on danger to embrace every blessed health and safety innovation.
Which is why the introduction this season of the halo safety device, designed to protect drivers from flying debris, is a regrettable step. It compromises the open-