McLaren's Lewis Hamilton will be in the spotlight more than ever
when Formula One's championship-leading rookie makes his British
Grand Prix debut on Sunday.
Yet fellow Britons David Coulthard and Jenson Button suspect that
the 22-year-old, 14 points clear of team mate Fernando Alonso after
an astonishing eight podiums in a row, will feel no more pressure
at Silverstone than anywhere else.
There is a rare burden of expectation on Hamilton, the youngest
Briton and first black driver to win a grand prix, but he has
demonstrated repeatedly this season that he can cope.
"I've been gaining podiums all my life so it's not a case of
getting used to it," Hamilton told reporters in France last
weekend. "It's something I enjoy doing and I hope I can
continue."
Honda's Button said Hamilton, who was given a foretaste of what
he can expect when 65,000 people turned up to see him drive last
year's McLaren at a wet and muddy Goodwood in June, would be
fine.
"He won't feel any more pressure. He's leading the
championship," he said.
"He's going to have a lot of support so it's not going to be a
tough grand prix for him or any more difficult than any
others."
Red Bull's Coulthard, the last British driver to win at
Silverstone in 2000 with McLaren, agreed: "The reality is it will
be just another grand prix for him that he will want to win," he
said.
FERRARI THREAT
Hamilton can expect Alonso, the double world champion who won at
Silverstone last year with Renault, to be just as much as of a
handful as Ferrari drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa.
Alonso had hoped to fight back at Magny-Cours last weekend but
finished seventh after a gearbox problem wrecked his best efforts
in qualifying. The Spaniard now has an even greater sense of
urgency at the halfway point to the season.
Alonso, whose rivalry with Hamilton has lent a compelling
psychological twist to a four-way title battle, told Spain's Cadena
Ser on Monday that he felt McLaren would be happier if his team
mate won at Silverstone.
"This shouldn't generate any particular controversy," he added.
"We will be in England, a Spaniard and an Englishman and the Briton
is leading the championship. If he wins there, they will be
happier."
While the Spaniard will do his utmost to win, he recognised that
Ferrari might well be even more competitive after their one-two in
France.
It remains to be seen also how much the championship leaders are
unsettled by Tuesday's revelations that a senior McLaren technical
employee allegedly received a wealth of leaked information from
Ferrari.
The Italian team were very quick in recent tests at Silverstone
and are confident they can continue their resurgence.
"If we get all the parts we tested there to the car, Ferrari
will be even more competitive next weekend," Raikkonen said on his
Web site. The Finn is 22 points behind Hamilton and five adrift of
Massa.
(China Daily via Reuters July 5, 2007)