Lewis Hamilton: Rest at last for me
Monday 11th July 2011
Lewis Hamilton is finally being given the break he craves after expressing fears of burnout in the run-up to the British Grand Prix.
The McLaren driver was left bemoaning the number of sponsorship and media commitments he had ahead of the race at Silverstone, warning his team he would not be prepared to stomach such a situation in the future.
As a team which is sponsor-driven, the contracts of the drivers are understood to guarantee they undertake a stipulated number of days' PR work per year to keep their corporate clients happy.
It is understood Hamilton has already participated in around 70 events this year, which is why he made it clear at the weekend that would not be the case going forward.
"When I re-sign the contract with McLaren they are going to be shocked at how many days they are not going to be able to make me do. I will be doing a lot less work," said Hamilton.
Claiming he had only had "a day or two off" in between the grands prix in Valencia and Silverstone, Hamilton's words appear to have been taken on board.
"I was supposed to be working today and tomorrow, but I said 'no way' because I've been in England for the last week or so and it has been quite busy here," Hamilton said.
"I was also supposed to be flying in and out of India for a day on Wednesday," before then adding with a smile, "fortunately, for some reason, it has got cancelled.
"So that's good. I get to be in one place for a period of time and I can do some training (and) get my mind clear for the next race."
Team principal Martin Whitmarsh can understand Hamilton airing his grievances, and fully agrees his time has not been well managed.
Asked about Hamilton's commitments, Whitmarsh said: "I think Lewis has done too much coming into this grand prix.
"The problem we have is that a lot of it is media work, and we are in a difficult situation because by all accounts we have not done enough.
"Lots of media feel we haven't given enough time of Lewis, but I think we were too generous, that we gave a lot of media time.
"But having said that, we've managed to organise a bit of a break for him before Germany, which I know he wants. Then he has a big break after that in August as well.
"It's one of those things. He is a world superstar and lots of people want lots of time with him.
"And yet we're generally criticised for protecting him too much aren't we?"
Crucially for Hamilton, he is hoping the time spent ahead of the German Grand Prix in just under a fortnight's time will be enough for the team to get on top of their performance issues.
Certainly the ban on off-throttle blown diffusers, which came into force at the weekend, but appears as if it will be rescinded from the race at the Nurburgring onwards, affected McLaren.
Hamilton still conjured a vintage performance to finish fourth from 10th, knowing he did not have the pace to compete with winner Fernando Alonso in his Ferrari and Red Bull duo Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.
"Hopefully the team now has time to clarify the rules, because we lost a lot this weekend," added Hamilton.
"Fernando told me they did not lose anything, and the Red Bulls clearly didn't lose anything either, so hopefully we can catch it back, but I don't know how we will."
It has been noted Hamilton said 'when' and not 'if' he would sign a new deal with McLaren, suggesting he will be staying with the team who have nurtured him since he was 13.
Put to Whitmarsh that that was a positive, he replied: "Too much is being read into what his contractual situation is anyway.
"As far as we're concerned, we're comfortable with what that is."
Credit: ESPN STAR (www.espnstar.com)
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