With the British Grand Prix just around the corner, Formula One writer Phil Duncan assesses five talking points heading into the ninth round of the championship.
Lewis Hamilton leads the championship by 10 points. He has been on pole in seven of the eight races this year and won here last year. Surely no one will stop him from winning in front of his home crowd on Sunday, will they?
It’d be a brave move to back against him. Aided by a dominant, and seemingly bulletproof Mercedes, Hamilton has been in the form of his life this season. He’s already won four races, and probably should have tasted victory in Malaysia too, had Mercedes not pitted him under the safety car period during the early phase of the race. He was also robbed of victory in Monaco after he inexplicably pitted for a change of tyres in the closing stages.
Hamilton appears at ease within himself and he relishes racing in front of his home crowd. However, that said, we should not write off his great rival Nico Rosberg. The German has won three of the last four races and outclassed Hamilton in their last outing in Austria. He’s also got good pedigree at Silverstone. He won here in 2013 and was on course to do so again last year before gearbox failed.
I notice Hamilton has been having a pop at the standard of trophies in Formula One right now. He’s got a point, hasn’t he?
“We just need to make better trophies, it’s shocking how bad the trophies are,” Hamilton said earlier this week. The famous gold Royal Automobile Club Trophy has been ditched by organisers of the British Grand Prix in recent years, in favour of a plastic, sponsors’ trophy – something which hasn’t gone down well with Hamilton.
The 30-year-old, who now takes home all of his silverware (he wasn’t permitted to do so at McLaren), revealed that he’s even raised the topic with Bernie Ecclestone. Perhaps we will revert back to the more traditional trophies, but I wouldn’t hold your breath.
I remember Ecclestone claiming Hamilton was the best champion F1′s ever had, yet in the GPDA global fans’ survey published yesterday, he wasn’t in their top three… what’s that all about?
Yes, despite boasting almost three million Twitter followers – more than any other driver – Hamilton failed to rank inside the top three when almost 220,000 Formula One fans were surveyed. The top honour fell to Kimi Raikkonen with Fernando Alonso second and Jenson Button in third. Hamilton’s popularity, unlike many of his peers, extends beyond F1, so, maybe we shouldn’t be surprised at the result.
Perhaps more startling was that 90 per cent of fans believe F1 needs to be more competitive, while fewer than 10 per cent claimed the sport is now in a better state than it was five years ago. The majority also described the sport as “boring”.
The Austrian Grand Prix was another dreary race, wasn’t it? It’s about time we saw some decent action in 2015. Do you expect Silverstone to deliver?
It’s sad that this is one of the better races of the season yet this one is still extremely boring + lacking competitiveness #F1 #AustriaGP
— Sam Carvalho (@SamCarvalho) June 21, 2015
Formula One hasn’t provided the best spectacle this year. We’re seeing fewer overtakes per race than at any point in the last five seasons, while Mercedes’ dominance isn’t helping either, although that’s hardly their fault.
With Wimbledon not reaching a climax until next weekend, and the Ashes getting under way on July 8, the eyes of the sporting world will be on Silverstone this weekend, so let’s hope that it puts on a good show – not least for the unprecedented 140,000 fans expected to descend on Northamptonshire on Sunday.
And what about Jenson Button? He and McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso have endured an awful year… is it going to get any better this weekend?
In a word: no. Button believes finishing in the points will represent a good weekend for McLaren, but it is unlikely he or Alonso will get anywhere near the top 10 based on current form. McLaren have been hopeless this year. Button’s finished inside the points just once while Alonso has retired from five of the seven races he has started.
Honda have also warned that both drivers may need to replace their respective power units at the British Grand Prix which could lead to yet another mammoth grid penalty as we saw in Austria. McLaren are desperately in need of a good result, but I don’t see it coming at their home race.
Source: SNAPPA
