Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Hamilton quickest – but Red Bull protest
LEWIS Hamilton’s assault on a seventh world title has been thrown into deep uncertainty after Red Bull launched an official protest against the Briton’s car.
Hamilton, who is bidding to equal Michael Schumacher’s record collection of titles, lit up the time charts in Spielberg as Formula One roared back into action 215 days after last year’s concluding round in Abu Dhabi.
Hamilton’s Mercedes was quickest in both sessions on day one, finishing two-tenths clear of his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas. Remarkably, no other driver was within half a second of the six-time champion.
But his team are now being investigated by Formula One’s sporting federation, the FIA, after rivals’ Red Bull demanded to know whether Mercedes’ controversial Dual-Axis Steering (DAS) system is legal. The device, which the sport’s allconquering team first unveiled at testing in February, has already been banned for 2021.
It enables Hamilton and Bottas to pull the steering wheel towards them, narrowing the alignment of the front wheels on the Mercedes and increasing straight-line speed. They can also push the wheel away before cornering to improve the set-up.
Mercedes, who liaised with the FIA as they spent more than a year developing the concept, were braced for the protest.
The outcome, which could determine the direction of Hamilton’s historic title bid, now sits in the hands of the stewards. All parties will be hopeful a resolution is found before qualifying today.
Hamilton’s boss, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, had earlier pleaded with Red Bull counterpart Christian Horner not to overshadow the first global sport event of the Covid19 era by launching a protest following the chequered flag.
Such a move would have delayed the official classification until hours after the finish.
“It is the first race, and although it is fair enough to seek clarification on the other side we don’t want to end up with a big debate on Sunday,” said Wolff. “All teams are pretty much aware that we are in a sensitive situation by going racing. I think Christian is going to take the right decision.
“Controversy on engineering innovation has always been a part of Formula One and this has to be expected. It is part of the risk. We think we are on the right side, and that is the reason we have it on our car.”
With Ferrari off the pace – Sebastian Vettel finished fourth, sixth tenths down on Hamilton, while team-mate Charles Leclerc was ninth – Red Bull’s Max Verstappen is set to be Hamilton’s closest challenger during this truncated season. Tomorrow’s race is the first of eight scheduled rounds in just ten weeks.
The Silverstone-based Racing Point team could provide the surprise of the campaign after basing their new design on last year’s Mercedes. Their Mexican driver Sergio Perez finished third in the day’s concluding practice session. Somerset’s Lando Norris, 20, was an encouraging sixth for McLaren.