HAMILTON GEARED UP FOR A DUEL TO SAVOUR
THE talking will stop and the lights will go out. All guarantees are then off. Suddenly, in the snaking sequence of danger on the first lap, all the week’s jaw-jaw about keeping it clean will be for the birds.
That is not my contention but the admission of the two men who occupy the front row of the grid for this afternoon’s British Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton, on pole, and Nico Rosberg, in the other silver Mercedes in second, were asked if they can give assurances that no collision will occur.
‘What do you want me to say to that?’ said Rosberg. Hamilton said: ‘Same.’ They talked about battling hard yet trying not to crash. But they can no more promise a clean race than they can predict the weather. Close to 140,000 souls in this breezy old airfield will hold their breath as battle unfolds. None more so than Toto Wolff, the Austrian team principal of Mercedes, who will find out if his instructions not to collide count for anything in the minds of two drivers battling it out for motor racing’s championship of the world.
Wolff, a manager for a corporate age, has promised to axe one or both of his superstars if they err, as they did on the last lap in Austria a week ago.
Do Hamilton and Rosberg believe he has the nerve to dispose of their talents? In a practical sense, which one of them would think it is a good idea to give way to the other?
The man who does that may surrender not only the psychological advantage but his claim on the crown. This tantalising insight into the competitive nuances of both men makes for one of the most exciting prospects in our sporting summer.
The fact that daring is central to motor racing’s attraction was picked up by Bernie Ecclestone, watching qualifying in the paddock.
‘I don’t know why Mercedes bothered to try to manage the problem,’ he said. ‘I am trying to publicise a sport here and look at the headlines the collision in Austria generated. It was brilliant for F1. Let them race, then the stewards can deal with it from there.’
The stewards were, indeed, busy yesterday. It looked as if they would deny Hamilton pole position for going off-track, following up on a warning they would penalise anyone who put four wheels off the tarmac at Copse, Stowe or Club corners.
Indeed, the stewards were the only people who could possibly stop Hamilton in this blistering form. In the second qualifying session, he set the fastest lap time since Silverstone was reconfigured five years ago — 1min 29.243sec — and then another lap only fractions slower in the final session. But that second time was rubbed out by officialdom. Hamilton had run wide at Copse.
‘Not before time the FIA have insisted that the track limits are not abused,’ said John Watson, winner of this race in 1981. ‘I’m delighted to see them strip Lewis of that time.’
Watson’s verdict was not a personal slight on Hamilton but the expression of a bugbear shared by many observers about drivers routinely roaming far and wide.
Leaving aside the whys and wherefores of the debate, the fact was that Hamilton had to compose himself for a final dash to climb from 10th, where his relegation had placed him, to get pole here for the fourth time.
He appeared to run a little wide coming out of Luffield on that last run. But, for some reason, Luffield was not included on the list of those where the stewards were going to be strictest. The rest of the lap was a blur of perfection. The world champion’s time gazumped Rosberg by three-tenths of a second.
The flags in the grandstands were waved and people hailed another bravura display from Hamilton, who today will try to become the first man to win at Silverstone in three consecutive years.
‘Imagine the most pressure you can be under, and that’s it,’ said Hamilton of his final lap.
‘I feel comfortable in that scenario.
‘Not if I’m having an argument with someone — I don’t like confrontation — but in a car it’s to do with confidence and belief in your ability.
‘I do things the hard way. I don’t know why. It was brilliant going through Maggots and Becketts — like a pinball machine when you hit all the right spots. Ping, ping, ping! I’ve never got through there like that before.’
It was a content man who returned to his new motorhome — a pearlwhite palace in the Northamptonshire countryside, the colour to match his giant Maybach road car.
His bulldogs were supposed to be joining him there for a night of relaxation, if he shuns the counterattraction of London’s bright lights.
Stringfellows before Silverstone? It sounds unlikely.
The start is important. Recent form suggests Rosberg has an edge. Hamilton has been sluggish off the grid three or four times this season, depending on how you analyse it.
‘As well as the starts, tyre degradation offers another chance for me,’ said Rosberg. ‘Otherwise, I shall look to the sky for help.’