Lewis Hamilton’s recent flurry of publicity appearances has inevitably prompted talk that the McLaren-Mercedes driver is spending too much time tearing round the glad-handing circuit and too little racing round the track.
The promoters’ events will take their toll on the 23-year-old, say the critics, and if he is to sustain his focus on winning this year’s world championship he should seriously consider rationing his time away from the cockpit.
Hamilton’s diary for the four days of the British Grand Prix meeting at Silverstone reveal a punishing schedule for a young driver — though in reality it is an all too typical programme of events that are part and parcel of the life of any contemporary Formula One driver. The sponsors behind the team make sure the men behind the wheel sing for their expensive suppers.
Hamilton himself is confident his mind will be fresh and focused this weekend.
”I’m very, very relaxed,” he said. ”It’s very important you don’t worry about things so you try to keep your mind very clear. I might talk to my brother or watch some comedy — whatever it takes to take my mind off the actual race.
”If you think about the race you think about the first corner, you think about the start, the possibilities of people crashing into you — all these different things. It’s better you don’t think about that and just go out there. I know how to drive and you’ve got to hope for the best.”
Hamilton has been managed throughout his career by his father, Anthony, whose opinions and judgement are highly valued by his son. Last year he impressed the paddock by negotiating a reputed £1-million fee for Lewis’s official — if somewhat premature — memoirs, and the youngster will probably earn 10 times that amount under the terms of his new deal with Reebok sportswear, which was announced in Amsterdam this week.
There may, though, come a time when father and son need outside help to deal with the explosion of commercial interest in Lewis’s career.
Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren’s chief operating officer, is adamant that all the drivers’ sponsorship commitments are carefully built around their racing activities over a grand prix weekend and that none is allowed to impinge on the main business at hand, seeking to win the race.
”I think it is very clear that we have a good sense of balance in the team,” said Whitmarsh. ”Everything is done to keep the drivers’ minds clear from any extraneous distractions. In that respect I believe we managed things rather well.”
It was not always thus. Niki Lauda recalled that Nelson Piquet, his fellow triple world champion and a teammate in the early 1980s, would turn his back on a fat cheque from BMW for a personal appearance, preferring to stay in bed for as long as it took his fancy.
”Racing drivers are independent-minded souls,” said Lauda, ”and I don’t think you’ll get them to do anything they set their mind against at the end of the day. In that respect Lewis just needs to get on with things, as I’ve said before, and not worry what anybody outside McLaren says or thinks.”
After winning in Monaco in May, Hamilton is eager to conquer Silverstone — a circuit he describes as ”a British phenomenon” — and complete a personal hat-trick after his season-opening triumph in Australia. ”Winning your home race is something that every driver wants to achieve,” said Hamilton, who is 10 points adrift of Ferrari’s Felipe Massa in the drivers’ championship.
”People talk of winning the big four — Silverstone, Monaco, Monza and Spa — but it’s more straightforward for me. I want to win the first race of the season, I want to win Monte Carlo — both of which I did for the first time this year — and I want to win my home grand prix.
”Those are my goals and I’m ready for the challenge at Silverstone this weekend.” —