OCTOBER 20, 2015

'Good timing' powered Hamilton titles - Montoya

Lewis Hamilton's looming back-to-back title triumph is more about "timing" than driving brilliance.

That is the claim of former F1 race winner and 2015 Indycar runner-up Juan Pablo Montoya.

"It is always the same thing in formula one," said the Colombian.

He admits that Briton Hamilton has done a "good job", but said 2014 and 2015 has been more about the technical dominance of Mercedes.

"His (Hamilton's) timing is really good," Montoya told the German broadcaster RTL. "He always seems to be in the right car at the right time and he benefits from that."

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone believes Hamilton and Mercedes' current dominance is a big problem, as it has robbed the sport of its unpredictability.

"Now, we know who is going to win and be second, third and fourth," he told the German broadcaster ZDF in a joint interview with former FIA president Max Mosley.

"It's an engineers' championship (now), more or less. I'm not saying that Lewis is not a super driver, but he is given a hell of a lot of help. I'd like to see him in a GP2 car," Ecclestone added.

"I'm not saying he wouldn't win, but it would be interesting."

(GMM)