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Listen to the drivers, says Hamilton
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WORLD champion Lewis Hamilton has given his explanation for the drivers’ decision to issue an open letter requesting a radical rethink in Formula One.
The 31-year-old Briton, whose spectacular speed and bold attacking style has made him the sport’s biggest star, said the drivers simply wanted to be heard when it came to decision-making.
“I don’t have all the answers,” said the Mercedes driver.
“The same as you won’t have all the answers — just as Bernie wont have all the answers.
“None of us has all the answers. We all have an opinion about something. It’s picking out what the good parts and the right opinions are. For us, as drivers, we just wanted to be included a little bit.
“Not included in making the decisions, but let’s give you our input so you know what our limitation in the car is.
“As a driver, I know why it’s hard for me to overtake.
“I know what’s good on my car. I know what’s not good on my car, which is how I help the team develop — and there’s things that need to be better.
“From the 10 years of my experience — and Jenson’s (Button) got 16 years and Fernando (Alonso) has perhaps 13-whatever years experience of Formula 1 — from all those years, trying different things, we know what’s not been good whether it be tires, downforce, engines or whatever it may be.
“I grew up racing karts and karting is wheel-to-wheel battling — bumper-to-bumper almost — and overtaking from lap to lap and that’s what we want to see. The race I had here in 2014 was the most exciting Formula One race I’ve ever had. We need that more often, if not every weekend.”
Last week Button and Sebastian Vettel led calls for a radical rethink in Formula One, insisting that controversial changes threaten the sport’s very future. Drivers last week put their names to an open letter from the Grand Prix Drivers Association describing technical and sporting changes as “disruptive.” They also blasted the world championship decision-making progress as “obsolete and ill-structured.”
On the track, championship leader Nico Rosberg lapped half a second faster than Mercedes teammate Hamilton, and inside last year’s pole position time, in Friday’s first free practice for the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix.
Rosberg, who is chasing his fifth victory in a row after winning the season-opener in Australia, produced an impressive lap of one minute 32.294 seconds on a comparatively cool and gusty afternoon at the Sakhir circuit.
Hamilton, winner for the past two years in Bahrain, was second fastest with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen third and 1.834 off Rosberg’s pace on the same soft tires as the Mercedes pair.
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