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Five reasons why Lewis Hamilton is in the driving seat to win the F1 title Five reasons why Lewis Hamilton is in the driving seat to win the F1 title
(about 2 hours later)
1
He has the momentumHe has the momentum
A word liberally over-applied to the Ryder Cup and surely more applicable here. Since losing a tyre to a poorly thought-out and executed move by Rosberg at Spa, Hamilton’s fortunes have surged and his rival experienced something of a tailspin. Nico Rosberg was firmly admonished and asked to apologise by the team after the incident and Hamilton followed it with a dominant drive at Monza, where Rosberg could only make second after making two unforced errors braking too late into turn one. Then, at the last race in Singapore, Rosberg’s mechanical failure was a gift compounded by another win for Hamilton as he charged past Sebastian Vettel following a long safety-car period. He has the front foot and now it is finally Rosberg, three points behind, playing catch-up in the championship battle for the first time since the Spanish Grand Prix. The leaderboard is filled with blue and Hamilton can hear the echoes of cheers from all around the course.A word liberally over-applied to the Ryder Cup and surely more applicable here. Since losing a tyre to a poorly thought-out and executed move by Rosberg at Spa, Hamilton’s fortunes have surged and his rival experienced something of a tailspin. Nico Rosberg was firmly admonished and asked to apologise by the team after the incident and Hamilton followed it with a dominant drive at Monza, where Rosberg could only make second after making two unforced errors braking too late into turn one. Then, at the last race in Singapore, Rosberg’s mechanical failure was a gift compounded by another win for Hamilton as he charged past Sebastian Vettel following a long safety-car period. He has the front foot and now it is finally Rosberg, three points behind, playing catch-up in the championship battle for the first time since the Spanish Grand Prix. The leaderboard is filled with blue and Hamilton can hear the echoes of cheers from all around the course.
He has the confidence 2He has the confidence
The victory at Singapore took Hamilton to seven wins this season to Nico Rosberg’s four, but it is also already two more than the five he scored in 2008, the year he took his only title. His car is, of course, far more dominant than the McLaren he was pedalling then, but for the driver it is the volume of victories that breeds belief. “This has been the most consistent, best performing season I remember having,” he said in Suzuka on Thursday. Which is a strong statement given that, with five races still to go, he has already suffered three retirements and two mechanical failures in qualifying and has spent almost all of the year behind Rosberg in the points. While Rosberg may have the slightest edge in qualifying over the season, barring mechanical failures he has yet to come from behind Hamilton on the grid and beat him, which the British driver did in Bahrain and again, failures excepted, he has won every race from which he has stared on pole. All the stuff of driver with swagger. The victory at Singapore took Hamilton to seven wins this season to Nico Rosberg’s four, but it is also already two more than the five he scored in 2008, the year he took his only title. His car is, of course, far more dominant than that McLaren he was pedalling then, but for the driver it is the volume of victories that breeds belief. “This has been the most consistent, best performing season I remember having,” he said in Suzuka on Thursday. Which is a strong statement given that, with five races still to go, he has already suffered three retirements and two mechanical failures in qualifying and has spent almost all of the year behind Rosberg in points. While Rosberg may have the slightest edge in qualifying over the season, but barring mechanical failures he has yet to come from behind Hamilton on the grid and beat him, which the British driver Briton did in Bahrain and again, failures excepted, he has won every race from which he has stared on pole. All the stuff of a driver with swagger.
3
He has the edgeHe has the edge
The racer’s racer, Hamilton’ driving matches his open, often emotional responses in public that seem to rub so many people up the wrong way. But it is part and parcel of the package; he wants to attack and wring the absolute maximum from his car even when it does not appear to be the best course. Told to maintain a gap at Monza he promptly floored it in a bid to catch Nico Rosberg that ultimately led to his win, which is what the fans just love to see and the last thing a rival wants to hear over the radio or see in his mirrors. Simply, it is who he is behind the wheel, as his father, Anthony, confirmed in Italy. “It is just head down and drive like he did in go-karts – to win. Drive to win, no other way.” When wheel to wheel in a classic duel with Rosberg in Bahrain and Spain it was an uncompromising Hamilton that came out on top in both cases, and an equally determined driver that flatly refused to move over for him in Hungary. Rosberg is a superlative driver, astute, careful and inch-perfect on lines, but if it comes down to a street fight on track in the last five races, then, as Nigel Mansell noted: “I don’t think there is any question that Lewis has got the edge.” The racer’s racer, Hamilton’s driving matches his open, often emotional responses in public that seem to rub so many people up the wrong way. But it is part and parcel of the package; he wants to attack and wring the absolute maximum from his car even when it does not appear to be the best course. Told to maintain a gap at Monza he promptly floored it in a bid to catch Nico Rosberg that ultimately led to his win, which is what the fans just love to see and the last thing a rival wants to hear over the radio or see in his mirrors. s his father, Anthony, confirmed in Italy. “It is just head down and drive like he did in go-karts – to win. Drive to win, no other way.” When wheel to wheel in a classic duel with Rosberg in Bahrain and Spain it was an uncompromising Hamilton that came out on top in both cases, and an equally determined driver that flatly refused to move over for him in Hungary. Rosberg is a superlative driver, astute, careful and inch-perfect on lines, but if it comes down to a street fight on track in the last five races, then, as Nigel Mansell noted: “I don’t think there is any question that Lewis has got the edge.”
He has the experience 4He has the experience
Nico Rosberg has been competing in F1 for a year longer than Hamilton – he started for Williams in 2006, his rival for McLaren in 2007 – but only one of them has won the world championship. Hamilton knows how to cross the line under intense pressure, his title-winning year could not have been closer and was sealed on the last corner of the last lap in Brazil. That win notwithstanding he has also been in a title race that has gone to the wire on two other occasions. In his rookie year, 2007, he was in a three-way fight with Kimi Raikkonen and his McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso. That too went to the final race in Brazil but a gear box problem for Hamilton saw Raikkonen take the title by just one point. Then, in 2010, he had an outside chance in a four-way fight at the decider in Abu Dhabi where Fernando Alonso was pipped to the championship by Sebastian Vettel. Notably Rosberg has played down this advantage. “It’s not a concern for me,” he said. “It might help him, yes, quite possibly having those experiences. But it’s not something that I am concerned about.” Yet much as Hamilton still wears his heart on his sleeve, he is definitely an older and wiser driver for having gone through the wringer at the death of a title fight. “Back then it was all instinct,” he said here of the 2008 win. “I think my maturity was at a very early stage and I probably think that is the biggest change.” He did not choke then and is highly unlikely to do so now. Nico Rosberg has been competing in F1 for a year longer than Hamilton – he started for Williams in 2006, his rival for McLaren in 2007 – but only one of them has won the world championship. Hamilton knows how to cross the line under intense pressure, his title-winning year could not have been closer and was sealed on the last corner of the last lap in Brazil. That win notwithstanding he has also been in a title race that has gone to the wire on two other occasions. In his rookie year, 2007, he was in a three-way fight with Kimi Raikkonen and his McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso. That too went to the final race in Brazil but a gear box problem for Hamilton saw Raikkonen take the title by only one point. In 2010, he had an outside chance in a four-way fight at the decider in Abu Dhabi where Alonso was pipped to the championship by Sebastian Vettel. Rosberg has played down this advantage. “It might help him, yes, quite possibly having those experiences,” he said. “But it’s not something that I am concerned about.” Yet much as Hamilton is definitely an older and wiser driver for having gone through the wringer at the death of a title fight. “Back then it was all instinct,” he said here of the 2008 win. “My maturity was at a very early stage and I probably think that is the biggest change.” He did not choke then and is highly unlikely to now.
5
He has the focusHe has the focus
Taken to task at various points during his career for allowing off-track distractions to impact on his on-track performance, the 2014 Hamilton has pitched his every effort into this title fight. After a particularly torrid time in 2011, fifth in the world championship and beaten for the first time by his team-mate Jenson Button, he instigated changes to his lifestyle in a bid to return to the “disciplined” period of his early career. It has worked. This season his ability to cope with the setbacks and return with a renewed vigour for the following meetings has been exemplary. Perhaps this renewed mental strength was most amply demonstrated by the superb recovery drives from those qualifying woes in Germany and Hungary, coming from 20th and 22nd in each race to make third, not only fight backs after setbacks but done so with calculating precision by coming through the field clean. “My work ethic is a lot better, more serious and more understanding – it seems to be working well for me,” he said. “Just arriving with the sole purpose of winning is what you have to do.” One senses he is more purposeful now than at any point in his career. Taken to task at various points during his career for allowing off-track distractions to impact on his on-track performance, the 2014 Hamilton has pitched his every effort into this title fight. After a particularly torrid time in 2011, fifth in the world championship and beaten for the first time by his team-mate Jenson Button, he instigated changes to his lifestyle in a bid to return to the “disciplined” period of his early career. It has worked. This season his ability to cope with the setbacks and return with a renewed vigour for the following meetings has been exemplary. Perhaps tThis renewed mental strength was most amply demonstrated by the superb recovery drives from those qualifying woes in Germany and Hungary, coming from 20th and 22nd in each race to make third, not only fight-backs but done so with calculating precision by coming through the field clean. “My work ethic is a lot better, more serious and more understanding – it seems to be working well for me,” he said. “Just arriving with the sole purpose of winning is what you have to do.” One senses he is more purposeful now than at any point in his career.