Wait for it, Lewis
Legend Stewart tells Hamilton he isn’t a great ... yet
ONE man and a dog go after history here this weekend. But for a late change of travel plans, Lewis Hamilton will not have his father, mother, brother, a girlfriend or friends with him as he attempts to become only the second d British driver to win three Formula One world championships, the universally y recognised gold standard of f motor-racing greatness.
There will just be him and hiss pet bulldog Roscoe.
This no - frills , no - fanfare approach typifies the worldd champion’s mood on the eve off the American Grand Prix. It iss business as usual, and history can go and take care of itself.
‘I want to win the race and that’s all,’ says Hamilton, and not only too guard against being mentally overwhelmed by the wider context of his mission.
He will stick to his usual pre-race routine. He will take in a fan ‘meet and greet’ in Austin, the relaxed and welcoming city likened by old timers of the Formula One merry-go round to Adelaide: just small enough for the sport’s arrival in town to dominate totally all weekend.
Then, in the morning, he will pat Roscoe goodbye and go from his five- star downtown hotel to the Circuit of the Americas with his trainer Ville and his travelling companion Daniel, known as Spinz, who l ooks af t er his prodigious social media output.
Down the paddock, Sir Jackie Stewart, the only Briton ever to win three titles, was holding court. He could be a history lecturer, specialist subject: the royal families of the worldworld. Lightly prompted, he told how his two great advisers in life were Lord King of British Airways and King Hussein of Jordan.
‘I was a dummy at school but I learnt from other people,’ he said. ‘I was so hungry to meet people more important than I was, or who had more experience. I have invited Lewis up to the house many times, but I don’t think I have ever had a conversation with him.’
Stewart tried to help in the past, even organising a private meeting in London for the young Hamilton to meet a big figure in the sports management world. Hamilton, who was stuck in traffic, turned round and went home.
If the two men are hardly close f riends, and clearly cut f rom different cloth, Stewart does not guard his British record of three titles so jealously that he cannot pass fair, if cautious, judgment on the 30-year-old Hamilton.
Stewart rates Juan Manuel Fangio the greatest driver of all time. He calls Jim Clark, his old flatmate and godfather to his eldest son Paul, the finest British exponent. Clark, of course, perished in 1968 at Hockenheim, having won two world titles.
Stewart has a sense of history and, let’s be honest, his own place in it. Hamilton is less concerned by the subject in its broad sense ( other than for an emotional appreciation of Ayrton Senna) and, therefore, attaches l ess significance to his standing among the late greats.
‘Lewis can’t be considered a great driver yet,’ says Stewart, suggesting only reflection later allows a proper assessment. ‘ There is no disrespect in that. Even Jimmy was only fully appreciated later.’
Stewart puts Alain Prost ahead of Senna in the pantheon. ‘The manner he conducted himself, the mind management in the car he had and Senna didn’t, those are factors.
‘Senna was fearfully fast, but you only need to watch the in-car camera to see how many hand movements one driver made and how many the other made. Alain was considerably less on the limit, and he won four world championships.
‘With Lewis, when he is on form, there is not a lot of hand movement; when he isn’t, there’s a lot. If you push beyond the point of control that’s when you make mistakes.
‘My priority was not to make mild errors because they can become big mistakes.
‘I learned how not to overdrive from Jim Clark. I don’t know whether Lewis has had t he privilege of having somebody to compare himself with on the track.
‘Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso would be the two, but I had Jimmy, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt and John Surtees — a cluster of very good drivers and the technique of those drivers was very obvious, and all different.’
It is hoped Hamilton knows Stewart lost 57 friends or acquaintances in motor racing accidents and, through unremitting hard work, changed the face of the sport so modern drivers would not know death as a fortnightly routine.
In 1973, Stewart pulled out of the US Grand Prix, the final race of the season, following the death of his Tyrrell team-mate, Francois Cevert. Stewart had clinched his third title before he arrived at Watkins Glen that dreadful weekend.
Hamilton only needs to score nine points more than Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, whose engine penalty means he will start 10 places back on the grid from where he qualifies, and two points more than his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg, to emulate Stewart’s achievement of 42 years ago.
Separated by age and outlook, they are united by their prime skill. As Stewart said: ‘The animal is still the same. The Formula One driver mentality and skills are no different. We are exactly the same as Rudolf Caracciola or Tazio Nuvolari or Fangio. You are what you are in the period you are lucky to be in.’