Hamilton faces a true test of nerve
‘ It’s good to see fire within the people you’re competing with.’ LEWIS HAMILTON
AT an early but intriguing stage of the Formula One season, Lewis Hamilton knows that he must overcome the contrasting geometric challenges of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix this weekend if he is to bring an end to his run of six races without a victory.
On 51 anti-clockwise laps of the 6.003km circuit around central Baku early tomorrow (NZ time), the drivers will be tested by the divergent demands of long, fast straights running parallel to the Caspian Sea and some fiendishly tight turns as the track skirts past the ancient turrets and ramparts of the old city heritage site. It is one thing to be fast but, as Max Verstappen discovered in practice, time gained in the longest straight in Formula One – a 2-kilometre stretch producing speeds of up to 344km/h – can soon be squandered if those corners cannot be safely navigated.
Last season, the fastest street circuit produced the most incident-packed race of the season and a flashpoint in the rivalry between Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, who seem destined for another fascinating duel this year. Both are vying for a fifth world title and, at 30, three years younger than Hamilton, Vettel has more time on his side.
In Baku last year, there were three safety car periods, one red flag and a series of audacious overtaking manoeuvres that propelled Daniel Ricciardo to victory from tenth on the grid. Vettel uncharacteristically lost his cool in dramatic fashion, drawing up alongside Hamilton and shunting him deliberately, having felt that the British driver had braked sud- GETTY IMAGES denly ahead of him. ‘‘It’s good to see fire within the people you’re competing with,’’ Hamilton said. ‘‘The respect has grown a considerable amount since then.’’
The Baku circuit’s contrasts of sinuous curves and hard, straight lines mirror the design of this rapidly evolving city. In almost every direction, the eyes are drawn to jaw-droppingly modern architecture, most strikingly the Flame Towers, a triumvirate of elliptical skyscrapers that glower over the track, and the Heydar Aliyev Cul- tural Centre, designed by Zaha Hadid, a short drive to the east.
The drivers, of course, must keep their eyes on the road and Hamilton, rather than distracting himself with the buildings of Hadid, has this week released promotional videos of his driving with Gigi Hadid, a supermodel, not an architect.
The trademark curves that made Hadid famous – the architect, not the supermodel – were imprinted on Baku’s cityscape to contrast with the straight lines of Soviet-style apartment blocks in the surrounding area. For a country that had thrown off the Soviet shackles and begun to revel in the wealth generated by Caspian oil, this bold architecture was a statement that a new era had dawned.
Bringing Formula One to Azerbaijan was a further display of intent and the talk in the paddock has been of whether the era of Mercedes dominance, spearheaded by Hamilton, could be drawing to a close. Three races into the season is too early to leap to conclusions, but Vettel won the first two of those races in his Ferrari and Ricciardo was victorious for Red Bull in Shanghai. TIMES