JUNE 24, 2019

Hamilton era can annihilate F1

Lewis Hamilton on Sunday said it is not his fault if this year's world championship is boring.

Lewis Hamilton on Sunday said it is not his fault if this year's world championship is boring.

At Paul Ricard, the Briton continued to utterly dominate in a season also dominated by Mercedes. Even teammate Valtteri Bottas' early challenge to Hamilton seems now to be fading.

"A faster man won," a despondent Bottas said after the French GP.

The Finn wasn't the only despondent one. One reporter looked so down about the plight of F1 after the French GP that Hamilton observed: "You look so bored."

That reporter had asked Hamilton if he has thought about 'showboating' in a desperate attempt to spice up the season.

"I think with the world we're in today, you can't win and you lose any way you do it," said Hamilton.

"I think what's really important for people to realise is it's not the drivers' fault.

"This is a constant cycle of Formula 1 for years and years and years, even before I got here, and it's because the way Bernie had it set up and the decisions they were making back then. It's still the same."

For a driver who often calls in sick for other appearances, it is significant that Hamilton took part in the crisis meeting about F1's rules for 2021 recently in Paris.

Luca Budel, the correspondent for Italy's Mediaset, observes: "Lewis risks being remembered as the champion who won alone in a boring era dominated by a single team.

"If the goal is to annihilate Formula 1, the road being taken is correct."

And clearly, Hamilton thinks what is being proposed for 2021 is not going to fix F1.

"There is a discussion about making the cars heavier," Hamilton told Bild newspaper.

"That is not the right way. They are much heavier now than when I started. We have the best brakes in the world, but if we make the cars heavier, the brakes get too hot and we're just saving more and more fuel."

He also says the Pirelli tyres are wrong, observing: "I don't know who wrote the brief for these tyres, but they have never spoken to a driver.

"Those responsible have taken too long to understand that us drivers should be in the discussion about the rules."

(GMM)