BERNAL TOLD TO FOLLOW THOMAS’ LEAD
Mercedes this season, leading team-mate Valtteri Bottas, while the nearest challenger in a rival car is Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, some 74 points behind the title favourite.
And having won six of the opening nine races of the season in dominant fashion, Hill expects the Stevenage-born racer to wrap up a sixth crown.
“He currently has such a massive and comfortable points advantage,” added Hill. “He’s been collecting records secretly, on the quiet. He claims he doesn’t know what the records are, but I think he does.
“His approach is very much ‘win as many races as I possibly can and see what happens’.
“My experience with Lewis is that he likes to crack on, get the job done, and go on holiday at the end of the season.
“So, I don’t think he will want a cliffhanger, if he can possibly help it.” VALTTERI BOTTAS led the Mercedes comeback charge yesterday – and is now targeting pole position.
Having seen Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly steal top spot in opening practice, Bottas took bragging rights in the afternoon session ahead of Lewis Hamilton to leave today’s qualifying finely poised.
The Finn was the quickest of the two Silver Arrows, but by the narrowest of margins, finishing just 0.069 seconds ahead of his team-mate.
Hamilton, who is bidding for his fifth-straight pole at Silverstone and his seventh in total here, endured a scrappy opening day, and even took a spin off-track before delivering the lap that put him ahead of his Ferrari rivals.
But it was Bottas who left the Northamptonshire circuit happiest and he said: “I’ve had a good day from the get-go, both in terms of my own performance and the set-up of the car.
“It’s always a nice feeling when you start a weekend like that, but I still think it’s going to be close again.
“It will be all about who finds the most performance before qualifying, but it’s nice to start on a positive note.”
Mercedes’ nearest rivals were Ferrari with Charles Leclerc’s quickest time – just two tenths of a second slower than Bottas’s – suggesting the Italians have pace here at Silverstone.
In a further boost for the famous Scuderia, four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel brought his red challenger home in fourth ahead of Gasly.
Romain Grosjean (above) was left red faced when he lost control of his Haas before smacking into the barriers during the morning session. GERAINT THOMAS has regained control of the Team Ineos captaincy – taking the limelight away from young sidekick Egan Bernal.
Britain’s defending Tour de France champion turned a five-second deficit on 22-year-old Colombian sensation Bernal into a four-second advantage with a storming ride up La Planche des Belles Filles on Thursday.
And as the leaderboard remained unchanged on stage seven’s uneventful trundle through eastern France, the Ineos management revealed the change of narrative suited their plans.
Sporting director Nico
Portal said:
“What was reassuring was to see Geraint at this level. It’s good for Egan, who has a lot of pressure on him, a lot of expectation from his public, especially back home in Colombia.”
Team principal Sir Dave Brailsford (above) had talked up Bernal’s chances of winning Le Tour last week, but he conceded that Thomas has regained top billing.
He said: “People treat Egan and Geraint the same way, but although they are both very, very talented riders, I think you have to treat Geraint as a 33-year-old and Egan as a 22-year-old.
“You feel yourself falling into the trap all time, thinking he’s so good that he’s got all this experience – but he hasn’t. He has to spend time in those shoes, absorb it, get used to it.”
Thomas (above) is bracing himself for a long weekend of grind after surging into the top five ahead of all his main rivals in the general classification.
But a mundane, six-hour spin to Chalonsur-Saone gave him a chance to recharge his batteries and he said: “It was a long day, but it was better than riding 230km in full-on crosswinds. I don’t think tomorrow will affect the GC, but it will certainly be a tough day.
“Yesterday, I didn’t know what to expect going in there, but I felt good and it was nice to finish ahead of all the other GC guys. “Everyone thinks this next stage will be a breakaway day, so there will be a big fight for that. “The next two days will be tough.” Dylan Groenewegen timed his weave through the pack to perfection, taking the honours in a stage seven photo finish from Caleb Ewan.
The Dutch sprinter said: “The first day I crashed really hard, and in the next days I was f **** d, but yesterday I felt good again.
“Every time I sprint against Caleb it’s really close, but this time I could beat him so I’m pleased.”
Overnight leader Giulio Ciccone kept the Yellow Jersey ahead of today’s eighth stage, a 124-mile route from Macon to Saint Etienne, featuring almost three miles of categorised climbs.