LAY OFF LEWIS
Mercedes boss defends Hamilton after he roars to pole at Silverstone
MERCEDES boss Toto Wolff said yesterday it was an ‘ insult’ to question Lewis Hamilton’s controversial absence from a British Grand Prix promotional event on the streets of London last week.
Hamilton took a dazzling pole position at Silverstone to the delight of his thousands of supporters — which was in stark contrast to the boos which rang around Trafalgar Square after his non-appearance on Wednesday evening.
Hamilton had flown off on holiday and was the only driver of 20 not to attend the marketing bash in the capital, but Wolff jumped to the defence of his star driver.
‘Questioning whether a threetime world champion who has just broken Ayrton Senna’s pole record and is going to beat Michael Schumacher’s understands how he should prepare himself is an insult,’ said Wolff.
The Mercedes chief also denied he had fallen out with Hamilton over the incident. ‘I give him freedom to organise his days in the way he wants,’ said the Austrian.
Hamilton, who took his 67th career pole by more than half a second, is aiming to equal the record of Jim Clark and Alain Prost by winning today’s British Grand Prix for a fifth time, and narrow his 20- point deficit to Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who will start third on the grid.
Meanwhile, Bernie Ecclestone has urged Formula One’s new owners, Liberty Media, to buy Silverstone and save the race.
The future of Formula One’s oldest championship race — first staged in 1950 — is in doubt after the British Racing Drivers’ Club, the circuit’s owners, confirmed last week they have triggered a break clause that r el eases t hem from their contract to host the race beyond 2019. Ecclestone, a long-time critic of the BRDC, said: ‘The place needs cleaning up instead of the BRDC running parts of it, other bits being leased out.
‘It’s a muddle. They have to do something to sort it out.’
Staging the race has lost Silverstone £7.6m over the last two years, but Ecclestone said: ‘That’s not a problem for Liberty.
‘If the race loses £3m, so what? They spent that on one night’s promotion in London last week.’