INSPIRED HAMILTON IS SUPERB AT SPA
It’s strange to think that the 2020 Belgian Grand Prix produced only the second Mercedes 1-2 of the Formula 1 season so far, given how fast the W11 challenger is and how dominant the team’s position has looked at times.
In previous events, Mercedes has lost the maximum result to poor starts (for Valtteri Bottas), to penalties (for Lewis Hamilton), and of course to the famous rubber-strewn ending to the first race at Silverstone.
This time, though, nothing got in its way, and in the intra-team battle of the Black Arrows it was Hamilton who again emerged triumphant. But there was something familiar about this weekend, which perhaps explained why Hamilton was so noticeably downbeat to have lost pole to Bottas at Silverstone’s 70th Anniversary GP in early August.
Hamilton’s Spa pole lap was simply majestic. Whatever he asked of the W11 it did, and it was such an engaging piece of faultless, energetic driving. The result was his fifth pole of the season, which means he’s matched his total from 21 races in 2019 in the opening seven of 2020. And that number is an important one to Hamilton.
Since Mercedes became F1’s powerhouse squad in 2014, Hamilton’s pole tally each season before 2019 is: seven (team-mate Nico Rosberg bested him on 11 in 2014), 11, 12, 11 and 11. But last year
