AS 37-YEAR-OLD LEWIS HAMILTON returns for his assault on what would be a record eighth world championship he faces a subtly different challenge to last year. His age is not yet a barrier to achieving his aim. There are way too many case studies of sustained world-class performances even from drivers in their forties to suggest there’s a physiological reason why there should be any performance drop-off at this age.
Forty-year-old Fernando Alonso’s performances in the latter half of last season were just yet another example. The crucial physiological factors that make one driver intrinsically faster than