2008 British Grand Prix preview: Can Lewis Hamilton win at Silverstone?
30th June 2008, 7:00 by Keith Collantine 23 Comments »
A home victory would be the perfect way for Lewis Hamilton to respond to criticism of his driving after two consecutive no-scores in Canada and France.
Do McLaren have the car – and does Hamilton have the nerve – for him to win the British Grand Prix at a sold-out Silverstone? He will be hoping his disqualification from a yacht race last weekend will be the last of his misfortune for now…
Are McLaren quick enough?
The silver cars looked threatening in pre-Grand prix testing at Silverstone last week:
Tuesday
1 Felipe Massa, Ferrari 1’20.188
2 Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren-Mercedes 1:20.477
Wednesday
1 Kovalainen 1’20.015
7 Massa 1’21.069
Thursday
1 Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes 1’19.170
3 Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari 1’20.321
It’s important not to read too much into a few tenths one way or the other in testing. Hamilton’s Thursday time might have been a full second quicker than anything Ferrari managed but the presence of Timo Glock’s Toyota 0.7s down on his time suggests if McLaren have any advantage over Ferrari it will only be marginal.
Last year Kimi Raikkonen was able to lap Silverstone during the race almost half a second faster than either of the McLarens. So far this year they’ve not had that kind of superiority anywhere under normal conditions where both teams had cars running in clean air on a dry day.
Is Lewis Hamilton up to it?
Plenty has been written about Hamilton’s temperament in past weeks and there’s no need to add more to it here.
But while much of the criticism has focused on his race craft a word should be said about his performances in qualifying. In those tricky conditions at Montreal he out-classed the field, but on a few occasions this year he’s taken a lighter fuel load into qualifying and not extracted the time advantage from it he really should.
Assuming he takes the same approach at Silverstone he will need to repeat his pole position from last year. He can’t rely on making up ground on the short run to the first corner.
On the face of it, McLaren have a competitive car and can expect to fight for the win this weekend. They will have to be sure not to repeat some of the careless and naive mistakes by team and driver that provoked the rash of penalties they picked up in recent races.
It’s up to Lewis Hamilton, in front of a sold-out home crowd, to do the rest.
Read more about Lewis Hamilton: Lewis Hamilton biography
scottmcm said on 30th June 2008, 10:08
I think he’ll nail the pole slot, with low fuel and softer tyres, talk-up his chances for the race, negating the fact that P1 on the grid sacrifices a race advantage. He looks good for a 3rd place again.
Remember this year, he’s piling pressure on himself as team leader, but now there’s the added threat of BMW, a quicker, low-fuel Renault, his own team mate who like Silverstone – and then of course the Ferraris.
Ferrari will want to exert pressure from all angles in practice, quali, press conferences, race-strategy etc..to deliver a psychological blow as well as a strategic one – on Hamilton’s home territory.
If Hamilton doesn’t fare well in the British GP, the sponsors and financial backers will start asking some serious questions on their investments – especially at a time when marketing budgets are being squeezed around the world….
sChUmAcHeRtHeGrEaTeStEvEr said on 30th June 2008, 10:28
the only way i see it happening is if hamilton runs a short 1str and 2nd stint or a 3 stop strategy
Terry Fabulous said on 30th June 2008, 10:31
I’m with Scottmcm, he will definately stick it on pole and get everyone pumped.
I don’t think he WILL win the race, but he most certainly COULD!
1. Kimi
2. Kubica
3. Lewis
DG said on 30th June 2008, 10:54
Nope, not this year. He will make another silly mistake and leave it in the kitty-litter.
Jean said on 30th June 2008, 11:03
Don’t think he’ll win if normal weather conditions prevail. The pressure of where he is has finally sunk in , coupled with the fact that this years Ferrari is more competitive than last years , and last year Ferrari were the class at Silvestone. Of course , with adverse weather , which is a good chance at Silverstone , anything can happen , but I would not bet on Lewis winning this one.
cyanide said on 30th June 2008, 11:25
I’d put my money on Hamilton winning this one. Long overdue in my opinion, and I’m not even his fan.
Daniel said on 30th June 2008, 11:28
Just as when he had nine consecutive podiums it became clear that, one day, his good fortune would be over, know it’s very unlikely he’ll make yet another mistake. I bet he’ll be back, drive a brilliant race, and run very close to the Ferraris.
Evenstar Saima said on 30th June 2008, 13:47
Well, Lewis hasn’t really shown resilience when he needed to so far this year. I hope he manages to do better than last year, because quite frankly the media wth Hamilton is pretty ugly and in effect he’s becoming ugly like them. He needs to completely re-focus. He’s going on about the media, the fans, who’s on his side and blah blah blah. For flips sake Lewis, just shut up and drive. Plain and simple.
Unfortunately, he’ll be chattering more than ever this weekend and I don’t think he’ll win. Ferrari are the faster car on these high speed corner circuits. The fact that Kimi still finished 2nd after such a serious mechanical issue in France is something to worry about. If that happened to a McLaren or another car, I’m quite positive they wouldn’t have finished the race. Same goes for the driver. Lewis really has to prove his mettle in the toughest conditions if he wants to ‘win the media/fans’ back. He needs to do it for himself actually.
The best he can do is prepare for the race, not for qualifying. Last year he just went for a glory run in qualy, and was completely off it during the race. He’s probably learnt from that, but we’ll just have to wait and see. He can win, only if something strange happens with the Ferraris. And if that happens, first he has to be there to pick up the pieces, like in Monaco. But this is a different circuit, so it will be difficult for him. Best of luck to him.
KB said on 30th June 2008, 13:56
I think if it rains, or is changeable he will win
zedray said on 30th June 2008, 14:04
I’m with Evenstar on this. Lewis needs to really get his focus back and reduce his off-track digressions about him being the Great among the minions and the whole world out to get him.
This being his and his team’s home grand prix, I would expect the pressure to be mich higher than the usual. Which again needs him to focus more on the race and his driving.
I haven’t seen him soak up pressure very well so far, so I do not expect him to beat Kimi or Massa for that sake, who happen to be in a better car and much lesser pressure. But I would be happy if he proves me wrong.
donwatters said on 30th June 2008, 14:11
Lewis has certainly proven that he’s capable of winning this event. Whether he will or not is up to the ever fickle GP Gods…or, god forbid, the FIA and some silly ruling.
Internet said on 30th June 2008, 14:27
You guys complain about the Lewis hype, but blog posts like these aren’t exactly helping. The title is troll worthy and the content of the article is nothing but fluff.
Keith Collantine said on 30th June 2008, 14:38
Well until you came along everyone seemed to be having a fairly reasonable discussion.
Why did I write this article?
(a) A driver winning their home Grand Prix doesn’t happen every day – in fact Hamilton and Massa are the only drivers with a realistic shot this year.
(b) McLaren looked quicker than usual in testing (and I haven’t had time to do a round-up of what all the teams did at Silverstone).
Hamilton may be hyped to a nauseating degree but it would be stupid to react to that by never mentioning him at all, or by only ever criticising him.
Nor am I terribly impressed by accusations of “trolling” from someone hiding behind a fake name.
George said on 30th June 2008, 16:16
The short answer is, yes he can. Looked at objectively, Lewis was inspired at Monaco, devastingly quick in Montreal before making error in an unpredictable situation, and then seriously quick in France (any analysis of the lap-time data from Magny Cours shows that he was on for at least fifth place and possibly a podium, bearing in mind that he was ahead of Kovalainen – who eventually finished fourth, metres behind Trulli in third – before receiving his hotly debated and rather marginal penalty.
Can he soak up pressure? He seemed to in Hungary and Fuji last year. I wish I’d been so composed and mentally resilient at his age.
Snoopy said on 30th June 2008, 16:44
My answer is 50/50. he can win but will he win is other story. He is under huge pressure and he really have not been good int hat kind of situation so far. Hill and Coulthard and Sir Jackie tried help him but his answer was “They do not know in what kind of situation i am.My fathers opinium is only what is matter and i listen him 99 %”
That tells all i think. Honestly i will be sorry of him if he will not win. Pressure after that will brake him or make him stronger. It will be intresting weekend.