Lewis warned he’s going same way as James Hunt

ONE of the oldest cliches in sport says that form is temporary but class is permanent. Lewis Hamilton is clinging to that as the Spanish Grand Prix unfolds in Barcelona this weekend. He is 43 points behind Nico Rosberg, his Mercedes teammate, and last won a race seven months ago, leading to one team principal this week wondering whether all the flights to America, where Hamilton enjoys the celebrity whirl, are taking a toll. John Watson, who raced in the Seventies and Eighties, sees parallels between the decline of his contemporary James Hunt and the travails of Hamilton, who was third fastest in practice behind Rosberg and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen yesterday. ‘James was a celebrity as Lewis is now,’ said Watson. ‘James won the title in 1976, and then came all the spin-offs of being world champion. It’s easy to believe your social life doesn’t have an impact on your performance, but it has a drip, drip effect. ‘I’d like Lewis to rein in his transatlantic activities and concentrate on winning the world championship for a fourth time. If he does not want to do that he should pack it up.’