Not a good start for Lewis Hamilton
It has not been a good start to the 2010 Formula One season for Lewis Hamilton, both on and off the track.
After a string of disappointing races, he finds himself 19 points off co-leaders Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel in the drivers’ standings, and away from the track he’s in trouble too.
At the weekend, Hamilton was charged with “intentional loss of control of a motor vehicle”, as on the eve of the Australian Grand Prix he allegedly performed stunts in a Mercedes car as he was leaving the circuit. Unfortunately for him, it all took place right in front of the police.
A court hearing is set for August 24th in Australia, but given that’s just a few days before the Belgian Grand Prix there has to be some question about whether Hamilton will make the trip Down Under for the hearing.
The whole situation sums up the kind of season that the 2008 World Champion has had so far.
He finished third in Bahrain, but was a long way off the Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa. Then in Australia – following his visit by the police – he had a frustrating race, finishing in sixth. He had hunted Alonso down in fourth position after making an unnecessary pit stop, but was hit by Webber in the closing stages, and lost out on a chance to get more points.
Malaysia was probably one of his strongest performances, as he started from the back of the grid and salvaged sixth, while in China he finished second to his teammate Jenson Button in the wet.
A recovery in the Spanish Grand Prix saw him reach second, but just as he was set to collect 18 points he suffered a puncture on the penultimate lap. Then in the last race at Monaco, he couldn’t do better than fifth.
It’s a bad run of luck with tyres that now stretches back to the year Hamilton entered Formula One in 2007.
When his right tyre went at the 2007 German Grand Prix, he went straight off the track and crashed head on into the tyre wall. That same season, at the Turkish Grand Prix, his left front tyre went, causing him to lose points, while at China he almost clinched the world championship, but his rear tyre had worn out, and when entering the pits he slid off the track and beached his car, forcing him to retire.
In 2008 he lost third place at the Hungarian Grand Prix after a puncture on the final few laps. This year’s blowout in Spain continued that bad luck.
“This is my third or fourth, more than most people have in their whole lifetime. There was no warning, the car felt great, so it was a surprise and a very disappointing end to the race. Up until that point it was pretty positive. I was just cruising to the finish line and heading for some great points,” he said in Barcelona.
Last season was a difficult time for Hamilton and McLaren. At the start, the car was a couple of seconds off the race pace of winners Brawn GP (now Mercedes-Benz GP), and it took the Woking outfit half the season to match the pace, by which it was too late for Hamilton to defend his 2008 title. Now, this season, the McLaren car has better speed than last year, but it is a matter of Hamilton avoiding trouble to try and claw himself back into the fight.
When Button made the move to McLaren from Brawn GP at the start of the season, many suggested this was a mistake, as entering “Hamilton’s territory” was a step backwards.
However, Hamilton is currently being outclassed by his teammate, who already has two race wins and is 11 points ahead in the championship.
Yet to win a race this season, and being blown away by the race pace of the Red Bulls, Hamilton believes all is not lost.
“I still reckon we can win both championships,” he said.
“We're the best team. I have a lot of belief and faith in our team. I think we're doing an exceptional job considering our real true pace. We're punching a bit above our weight. It's not all doom and gloom because when it starts coming good then we're off. It's up to me to go in and really push these guys and get them on it, you know, keep stressing to them that they've got to make that step forward. But they're under no illusions that we've got a big gap to make up.”
Hamilton must find some form very quickly.
With the Red Bulls running away with both the drivers’ and constructors’ titles, his 2010 could be like just like his mediocre 2009.
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