For Lewis Hamilton, success has come very easily at the British Grand Prix – winning every year since 2014 – and very little appears to be standing in his way again this weekend.
The Briton saw a 33-race points scoring streak come to a halt last Sunday in Austria as a fuel pressure problem forced him into retirement and allowed Sebastian Vettel to retake the championship lead by a single point.
But Mercedes has dominated at Silverstone thanks to their perfect combination of strength in high-speed corners and the best engine on the grid to power them around.
This year, their advantage may be even bigger as Pirelli bring the thinner-treaded tyres that Hamilton has used to claim comfortable wins in Barcelona and Paul Ricard, so it was understandable when he oozed confidence in the press conference on Thursday.
“The British GP is the most special for me of all the races we get to do,” he was quoted by Sky Sports.
“It is a real privilege. The fans here are just incredible. The weather is the best it has ever been. We are fighting for the World Cup. I think it is just a really great time for sport.”
The world champion also jokingly asked what the fine would be for skipping media duties on Saturday as England play Sweden in the World Cup quarterfinals immediately after qualifying as the 33-year-old is also gripped by football fever.
“The passion is crazy for everyone that’s watching their country play,” he told the British broadcaster “It’s like it’s in your DNA – it’s crazy, and it’s so exciting.
“[The final] is next Sunday and I’ve booked that day off, kept it free, because I want to be in Russia that day supporting them!
“There’s so much pressure on them, obviously with it being the World Cup, but there’s so much support for them. England has such excited fans, there’s so much passion in England for sport.”
Returning to the F1 though, Mercedes technical director James Allison admits there will be an anxious period at the start of the Silverstone weekend to see if any further mechanical issues with the engines occur.
“We think that both failures were confined to the items which failed and they are both things which can be replaced without breaking into the sealed areas of the car which attract sporting penalties,” he explained.
“But every time a car stops in an uncontrolled way, where a failure happens and systems are shut down, in a way which is unusual, we can’t be completely sure until we have done all the necessary checks that all the bits of the car which are sealed and which do attract penalties weren’t affected.
“We have got a bit of work on to make sure we are not taking undue risks with parts which might have had some consequential damage when the car was shut down.”
