First England raised eyebrows by beating the Aussies, then France crushed Kiwi hearts in the second RWC quarterfinal, but Lewis Hamilton’s ignominious exit from the Chinese Grand Prix – while seemingly coasting to a championship-clinching finish – was simply astonishing. There are several parallels between Hamilton’s meteoric rise and the dramatic impact that the late Ayrton Senna made in his first year at McLaren (1988)… Hamilton and Senna’s personalities are vastly different (thankfully) but, as F1 pilots, they have much in common… The young Briton has a spectacular driving style, demonstrates supreme car control time and again and possesses an almost unnerving ability to produce scintillating laps in qualifying sessions. He is no stranger to controversy, either – and the F1 stewards’ reluctance to penalise him for questionable driving behind the safety car at Fuji suggests young Lewis has a charismatic, larger-than-life presence – or at very least he can talk his way out of trouble much better than fellow rookie Sebastian Vettel.
But Lewis shares another, but inauspicious, quality with Senna – Impulsiveness – and he sure paid the price for that on Sunday. After putting himself in the ideal position to manage his race while main title rival Fernando Alonso was squabbling with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, Hamilton (and his crew) blew it in Shanghai. Intermittent showers had guaranteed that the Chinese Grand Prix wouldn’t be straightforward at all – but conditions weren’t nearly as treacherous as in Japan last week. Kimi Raikkonen, who has been back to his old self since Spa (much to the delight of Ferrari’s team management, I’m sure), had dominated virtually all the sessions at Shanghai bar qualifying; Lewis should have been smart enough to give best to the flying Finn, do just enough to finish in front of Alonso and he would have claimed the driver’s title with a race to spare.
Purists will argue that Lewis is an instinctive racer and he was fully justified in pulling out the stops in his bid for victory. Are they nuts? Hamilton had already dodged the proverbial bullet by talking his way out of penalty before the race, Alonso had all but given up hope of defending his title (more about that later) and trailed the Briton by some margin in the race. Instead of leaving himself a reasonable margin for a strong finish, Hamilton manhandled his McLaren until its tyres were threadbare and then meekly understeered into a gravel trap at the entry to the pitlane. What an abject disaster.
I still believe that Hamilton is likely to win the championship at Interlagos even though he’s never raced there and Ferrari might dominate as Massa did in last year’s race. But although Hamilton has established himself as F1’s newest superstar, the fact that he overcooked his tyres in trying to run out in front in Shanghai and, to add insult to injury, vainly struggled to keep a rampant Raikkonen (at the wheel of a palpably faster car) at bay, shows that he still has much to learn about F1. Without the aid of traction control in 2008, Lewis will certainly need to master the art of driving tactically and nursing his car and/or its tyres better if he is to repeat his successes of 2007. The Briton’s misfortune in Shanghai certainly puts his McLaren’s tyre failure in Turkey in a different light, too.
All of which leaves us with a three drivers in contention to win the ultimate prize at the Brazilian GP. Some may argue that it would be poetic justice if Raikkonen trumps the McLaren pair in lieu of the Woking-based team’s involvement in the espionage scandal – but the Finn and the Scuderia have just been too inconsistent this year.
It would be superb for Alonso to win the title three years in a row, but although he rebounded well after being slammed in Hungary and has been painted in a horrible light by the English Press, he has certainly not endeared himself to many by ranting and raving the way that he’s done this year. I’m sure that many of his grievances are founded and that he has genuinely been dealt a bad hand at times in 2007, but there comes a time that one simply needs to shut up, knuckle down and get on with the job, methinks.
Hamilton is a prime example of a young driver who seized a golden opportunity to drive for a top team and is making the most of it. Unlike countryman Nigel Mansell, Lewis may not need to pay his dues for virtually his entire F1 career before winning a driver’s title. “Lucky” Lewis still has one hand on the championship trophy, but another bizarre performance like the one we saw in China – and it could slip through his fingers.
