Mercedes fear repeat of their Monaco nightmare
LEWIS Hamilton’s Mercedes team will head to Monaco “bloody worried” that they could face a repeat of their horror show last year.
Hamilton turned on the style to crush his rivals by winning so impressively in Spain on Sunday and extend his Championship lead to a healthy 17 points over Sebastian Vettel.
Hamilton toasted his triumph with the former McLaren driver Kevin Magnussen, who finished sixth for Haas, into the early hours ahead of his return to the cockpit of his Mercedes today for this week’s test at the Circuit de Catalunya.
The streets of Monte Carlo proved last year’s nadir for Hamilton after he qualified only 14th and took the chequered flag in a lowly seventh place on a weekend to forget.
Hamilton, along with teammate Valtteri Bottas who will drive for Mercedes tomorrow, will this week rack up valuable mileage to gather as much information as possible ahead of Monte Carlo a week on Sunday.
“I’m bloody worried,” Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said. “We have seen there are tracks which suit us well and some that we are not perfect at.
“For whatever reason it is very difficult to undo the DNA of our car, and Monaco, as well as Hun- gary and Singapore, are tracks where we have under-performed.
“As much as I am overwhelmed by the victory here, my mind is already on Monaco, and I remember it wasn’t a pleasant Sunday night last year.”
The slow-speed nature of the most famous race on the F1 calendar is one which played into Ferrari’s hands last term as Vettel led Kimi Raikkonen home in a one-two finish.
“There are a lot of challenging races coming up and Monaco is a serious challenge,” Hamilton added. “Toto’s job is to worry and his mind will already be on the next race. We know that it is going to be a difficult weekend, but as we have seen this year, you can still take great points from races you do not win.”
Hamilton also confirmed his long-running contract saga is nearing a conclusion.
THEY say a week is a long time in politics, and so it is in motorcycle racing if you are Ian Hutchinson. Up until last week, Hutchy was a doubtful starter for the Vauxhall International North West 200. And now, with practice commencing today, he will compete on his official Honda Fireblade in the Superbike and Superstock classes.
And for good measure, he will be reunited with Padgetts Honda — for whom he won a record five solo TTs in one week in 2010 — for the Supersport races.
Hutchinson, who actually piloted his own helicopter into the Triangle yesterday evening, had also hoped to race a KMR Kawasaki for Ryan Farquhar in the Supertwin races, but it is understood Honda vetoed this particular plan.
Hutchinson explained: “Originally I had planned to ride with Honda Racing in all three classes, but because I didn’t know until last week that I would be able to race, those plans changed.
“Clive’s (Padgett) circumstances also changed with Bruce Anstey not riding this year, so we were able to get the deal sorted.”
Anstey, who is locked in a battle with cancer, has given his blessing to Hutchy riding his bike.
Padgett said: “I rang Bruce and asked him if it was okay with Ian riding the bike and he had no problem with it at all.”
Following his crash during the Senior TT almost a year ago in which he re-broke the same leg he had broken at Silverstone in 2010, determination, perseverance and a dogged single mindedness by 38-yearold Hutchinson has seen him overcome well over 30 operations on his leg to get to this point, after he had an external fixator removed from his leg two weeks ago.
After passing a medical, he was straight onto his Honda, racing in a Mallory Park clubman’s event. He took two wins and a second place before a test at Cadwell Park, and now he is set for his first time back on the roads at the Triangle today for practice.
“It will be steady, but it will