Western Daily Press (Saturday)
There’s a long way to go, say championship rivals
LEWIS Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel feel no need to stamp their authority on the new Formula One season ahead of the curtain raiser in Australia.
The reigning champion starts the defence of his fifth title at Albert Park this weekend with Vettel, who himself has won the crown four times, eager to stop the Briton’s reign.
The rivals have said they will be able to race with, and against, their team-mates – despite the new team principal of the Italian outfit suggesting they would favour Vettel over Charles Leclerc in certain situations.
Hamilton is currently the happier of the two drivers, having completed a practice double yesterday and blown away questions about a disparity in pace between his Mercedes and the Ferrari in winter testing.
Hamilton, whose first win of last season came in Azerbaijan in round four, said he did not feel as if he needed to grab the new campaign by the scruff of the neck.
He said: “It’s a long season, so I don’t particularly feel it’s the most important thing. I think it’s really about finishing races and analysing and making sure you are getting as many points as you can, of course, but I’m not really one for needing to stamp authority.”
Vettel, seeking to make it three consecutive Australian Grand Prix wins in a row, said: “I don’t think we will win it here, I don’t think we will lose it here. It’s a long way. Hopefully we have a strong package, a strong team that carries us into a position at the end of the year to fight for it.”
The reigning world champion had said his team had “work to do” after the pre-season testing sessions, but no-one could match the Silver Arrows under blue skies at Albert Park in second practice yesterday.
First Valtteri Bottas went around in one minute 22.648 seconds to lead the pack with his first lap on soft tyres – half a second quicker than his pace on mediums. Then Hamilton went purple in his first sector and laid down a marker ahead of qualifying with a time of 1min 22.600secs.
Just as in first practice, the two British newcomers finished in the bottom three in second practice. Lando Norris was more than two seconds adrift, while George Russell had a deficit of 3.853 and seconds.