Eye on the 2008 F1 title – Part 4 – Lewis Hamilton

Time for the final part of this miniseries – look at title chances of Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton’s season has begun well. Although not going to Australia as a favourite he took full advantage of Ferrari technical issues and driver errors. First race, first win in a bag. He however had to wait till Monaco for his next win. If the races in Australia and Monaco reminded us about Hamilton’s qualities, the Bahrain and Candian GPs brough back memories of Shanghai and Brazil 2007 … Last year this time Hamilton was yet to finish outside top 3, this year he already has 2 pointless races to his name … But still, he is second in the driver’s standings and only 4 points behind. Not too bad position to be after 7 races knowing that the guy ahead may not have faster car.

Current position: shared 2nd
Points: 38 (4 behind the leader)
Results so far this season: 1 – 5 – 13 – 3 – 2 – 1 – DNF

Here is what is working for him:

- McLaren car that is still faster than the BMW Sauber of the current championship leader and can match Ferrari
- Qualifying form – He outqualified his team mate Heikki Kovalainen 5-2. He qualified on pole twice.
- He is quick, there can hardly be any doubts about that.
- He can do well in both normal and extreme conditions (see Fuji 2007, Monaco 2008)
- He does not seem to face too much competition from his team mate
- McLaren team is all about Hamilton
- He is very confident

What is working against him:

- He seems to be way too confident at times
- He lacks the consistency from the early days of his 2007 season
- He makes costly mistakes (see Canada and Bahrain)
- He does not seem to handle pressure well (see end of 2007 season)

Can he keep his head cool and do it this year ?