Lewis Hamilton had an ABSOLUTELY STELLAR WEEKEND; he was faultless all through.
It was a really tense contest between Mercedes and Ferrari at Spa, and I think it ended up a lot closer than a lot of people expected, including me. This really should have been a Lewis Hamilton/Mercedes slam-dunk, but actually Ferrari seemed to be in much better form than anybody really expected. All of a sudden, especially when we got to Q3, it became quite apparent that it was game on.
It’s interesting, because I think on Fridays during the race weekend, they — particularly Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull — all play games in terms of showing their hand. Therefore, as the season goes on with different engine cycles and things like that, we don’t see the peak performances until FP3.
During the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, when we got to Q2, we saw Mercedes turn the wick up and they gained around 5 kmph. I think that’s just sheer power. The wind didn’t really change direction, and I don’t think they changed a huge amount of downforce. So, it shows yet again that Mercedes’ extra horsepower makes a big difference.
That really came into play in the Grand Prix. When you look at the opportunities that Sebastian Vettel had at the end of the Kemmel Straight — the two chances when he had a great slipstream and a great tow — the German ran out of electrical juice and power before he could make a move. It was the superior horsepower of the Merc that kept Lewis in front just enough, as the two drivers went up the straight between Eau Rouge and Les Combes.
Lewis had an absolutely stellar weekend; he was faultless all through. In qualifying, the lap he delivered was absolutely brilliant. I don’t think there was anything left on the table. He did a solid job all through free practice.
For whatever reason, Valtteri Bottas looked really off-colour and didn’t look like he was anywhere close to where he needed to be to challenge Lewis.
This story is from the September 16, 2017 edition of Sportstar.
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This story is from the September 16, 2017 edition of Sportstar.
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