Lewis
Hamilton needs to step up in his 200th race
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[August 23, 2017]
By Alan Baldwin
LONDON (Reuters) - Lewis Hamilton will
start the 200th grand prix of his Formula One career in Belgium this
weekend but the triple world champion has smaller but more
significant numbers on his mind.
Refreshed from an August break in the Caribbean, including a trip to
Cuba in his role as UNICEF ambassador, the Mercedes driver is 14
points behind championship leader Sebastian Vettel as he revs up for
the second half of the season.
A fifth victory of 2017 for the Briton would put the pressure back
on Ferrari's Vettel and Hamilton can celebrate another milestone by
bagging pole position on Saturday at the long and fast
Spa-Francorchamps circuit.
That would see Hamilton, who sportingly relinquished third place to
team mate Valtteri Bottas in Hungary before the summer shutdown,
match the record of 68 poles set by Michael Schumacher with Ferrari
in 2006.
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Mercedes have won the last two Belgian Grands Prix, with now-retired
2016 world champion Nico Rosberg triumphant from pole last year
after Hamilton won in 2015.
Nobody will be taking anything for granted, however, after Ferrari's
one-two win in Budapest at the end of July.
"On paper, people will assume that Spa should suit our car because
it is a circuit where aerodynamic efficiency is extremely
important," Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said.
"But assumptions are dangerous -- we have seen too many times
already this season that the form book can be rewritten from one
weekend to the next. So we will be making no assumptions."
Hamilton has won twice before at Spa, as has Vettel, but the track
-- a classic blast from the past -- has not been particularly kind
to him.
In 2008, when he won his first title, the Briton was demoted from
first to third after the race for cutting a chicane, with then
Ferrari rival Felipe Massa savoring victory instead.
Spa can often be a lottery, with its capricious weather, and rain
could be a boon for Red Bull's Belgian-born Dutch teenager Max
Verstappen, who can count on plenty of local support in what amounts
to a home race.
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Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton in action REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh
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"I just love the track and it'll be nice seeing so
many orange (Dutch) fans in the grandstands," he said.
"Spa is my favorite track of the year. You have to get everything
right but when you get a good lap it's very rewarding."
Belgium could also be good for Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who arrives
with a new contract for 2018 in his pocket.
The fearless Finnish 'Iceman' has won four times at Spa but will
need to be beyond the reach of Ferrari 'team orders' if he is to do
it again.
"For sure there are some circuits that fit us better," Raikkonen,
whose last Belgian win in 2009 was also Ferrari's most recent at
Spa, said in Hungary.
"The Mercedes has better horsepower but it depends on so many
things.
"If you purely look now, you would say it's not going to be as easy
for us as here (Hungary) but obviously we try to improve and we are
going to do our best."
Sunday's race, the 50th world championship Grand Prix held at Spa,
will also see a Belgian competing -- McLaren rookie Stoffel
Vandoorne -- for the first time since Jerome d'Ambrosio in 2012.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by John O'Brien) [© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All
rights reserved.]
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