Bottas on pole
Hamilton is edged out at Silverstone
No sooner had Lewis Hamilton been squeezed out of pole position at the British Grand Prix by six thousandths of a second, than he was mounting the most robust defence yet of his travelheavy lifestyle.
After a less-than-stellar couple of days for the reigning world champion, in which he failed to top any of the three practice time sheets and scuppered his qualifying efforts with an unusual mistake at Silverstone’s Brooklands corner, he was asked whether it was sensible to have flown to Los Angeles and back in the buildup to his home race.
“I do what I want, not what you think I should do,” Hamilton shot back, still sore at losing pole to Valtteri Bottas, his Mercedes team-mate. “Only I know what is right for me, and that is what led me to five world titles. Don’t forget the number of wins I have.”
Hamilton, with 79 race victories, is long past the point where he has to answer to anybody about combining his Formula One duties with jet-setting for his own ends. Last year, after winning the Italian Grand Prix, he flew from Monza to his home in Monaco, then to Shanghai for the launch of his fashion collection, back to Italy for a friend’s wedding, to New York for a photo shoot and finally to Singapore, where he promptly secured pole with perhaps the greatest flying lap of his life.
“Valtteri parties way more than I do,” he said, gesturing to Bottas, who enjoyed marathon vodka-drinking sessions with his Finnish friends during the last winter break. “When I started focusing on other things, there was always the pressure of having to deliver the same. It took time to break that mould and I have done it time and again. The pressure is high, with this being a home grand prix, and I don’t take that lightly. I prepare the best way I can.”
Hamilton, pursuing a record sixth British Grand Prix triumph today, to lift him clear of Jim Clark and Alain Prost, was in defiant mood, as if weary of the constant sniping about the way he carries himself. At one stage, he was even pressed on the doubts over his Britishness, with his Monaco home and mid-Atlantic accent cited as evidence against him.
“We all live in Monaco,” Hamilton said. “It’s crazy. I remember watching Jenson Button and all the youngsters coming through, and everyone emigrated to Monaco. Nobody ever said anything about it. But, of course, when I did, they had something to say. No matter how often you go abroad, you come back to the UK. I see all my family who are also here, and this feels where my heart is. I am fully British.
“I still like to honour my family heritage, as they are from the Caribbean. If you look around, there are a lot of ‘Team LH’ caps, and the support for me has grown. While some will have negative views, I feel every day there is an opportunity to turn those around. I go to all these races and I lift the British flag proudly. No one else in this sport has raised it so high.”
It was an impassioned rebuke from a driver who has nothing left to prove. Hamilton has won at Silverstone in four of the last five races, although he was not quite at his exhilarating best yesterday. In an intense battle with Bottas, he experienced a moment of oversteer through Brooklands, a tiny error but enough for him to be edged out of pole by the slenderest margin.
For Bottas, this was a crucial breakthrough in his efforts to reel in Hamilton, 31 points clear in the hunt for the championship. For all that he lacks the measure of his rival in race pace, he has been highly impressive on Saturdays, outqualifying Hamilton by four poles to three. Ferrari, typically, flattered to deceive, with Charles Leclerc only third and Sebastian Vettel a dismal sixth, the third race in a row where the four-time champion has not made even the top five on the grid.
There was, at least, encouragement for McLaren’s Lando Norris, who underlined the merit of his recent contract extension in eighth. But for today, all eyes will be on Hamilton, and on his chance to write yet more history.