What is it with this man Lewis Hamilton? I think he could be the greatest racer Formula One has ever seen – Why?

 He started from 20th on the grid at the recent German Grand Prix and finished 3rd, rapidly closing on second man Bottas.  Many people have condemned this year’s F1 as boring because of Mercedes domination with Rosberg and Hamilton.  However, most races have seen in qualifying only 1 second between the top 10 grid positions.

Why was Hamilton starting so far back in 20th position?  After being either 1st or 2nd in the lead up practice sessions, in the qualifying which decides grid positions, he crashed.  Mercedes immediately said it was caused by a brake failure.  Hamilton had requested that the world famous Brembo brakes be fitted to his car to extract that one tenth of a second a lap over his rival Rosberg.  Because the crash happened early in qualifying, Hamilton had hardly warmed up his car and thus fell to 15th spot. As the rules state if you change any component on your car once practice has begun another penalty of 5 grid positions will also be imposed.  Mercedes thought it wise to revert to their normal set up, so 20th out of 22 on the grid was Hamilton’s lot.

It is incredible to see that Hamilton finished 1.5 secs behind Bottas (Williams) and 21 secs ahead of Vettel (Red Bull), champion driver for the last 3 years.

Even when his car was repaired there was no time to trial the car to see if all was well or if the balance suited Hamilton.  Also he had wrenched neck muscles and back injuries that required doctors attention after the race.

Even though Mercedes have won every Grand Prix this year with either Rosberg or Hamilton some exciting racing between these two has almost always occurred.  Further down the field several new boys, such as Ricardo (Red Bull), Bottas (Williams), Magnussen (McLaren) are challenging named drivers such as Vettel and Alonso.

Why should people interested in motor vehicles have some passing interest in F1 racing?  Grand Prix racing is the major area where innovation is put to the test especially in safety matters and these always find their way into our everyday cars.  Such things as Disc Brakes, safety protective materials and of course Dynamic Stability Control.  This last feature was regarded as making driving F1 machines far too easy and not allowing driver ability to be of paramount importance.  It has since been not allowed in this year’s regulations.  The big experiment this year is hybrid power.  We have seen where this has not only increased power from smaller engines but also reduced fuel consumption.

Motor racing is becoming one of the world’s most watched sporting events. The largest one day crowd ever is reputed to have been at the Indianapolis 500 last year.  I believe some 180,000 watched on course.

The 2014 German Grand Prix results –
1. Nico Rosberg – Mercedes
2. V. Bottas – Williams
3. L. Hamilton – Mercedes
4. S. Vettel – Red Bull
5. F. Alonso  -  Ferrari
6. D. Ricciardo – Red Bull

Also of note in the support races on the same day, was New Zealander, Mitch Evans win in the GP2 Feature race along with 10th in the reverse grid second race. Mitch now is in 5th place in the championship.

By Neville Barlow

Postscript:
Lewis Hamilton continued to demonstrate his incredible driving skills in the Hungarian Grand Prix. On the first lap of the qualifying race his car caught fire, meaning that he didn’t get the opportunity to record a lap time and therefore a place on the starting grid. He had to start from the pit lane, and remarkably from there achieved a podium finish in third place. This result was made even more remarkable due to the fact the circuit in Hungary is not an easy one to pass on and the track was wet from heavy rain before the race. Young Daniel Ricciardo deservedly won the race after an excellent drive of his own. How can anyone say that this year’s competition is boring!!!  Watch this space!!