Is Hamilton moving into Top Gear?

21Feb 2013

Pre-season testing in Spain has gone very well for Lewis Hamilton so far, but as Ralph Ellis points out, we can't read too much into that...

It was a good time for Lewis Hamilton to go on Top Gear and remind the world that he's probably the fastest driver on the planet.

Give him a Suzuki Liani round the top secret two mile circuit somewhere near the A281 between Bramley and Bucks Green, and Hamilton is peerless. His time of one minute, 42.9 seconds was nearly two seconds faster than when he did the same run in pouring rain six years ago - and more than a second quicker than Sebastian Vettel managed when he last appeared on the show.

So round one of a new season went to Lewis - but the trouble is that when the lights go out and the first race of the Formula One season gets under way in Australia on March 17, they won't both be driving the same car. Meanwhile we're looking for clues on whether Hamilton's new Mercedes will give him a chance of being competitive, or whether he might just as well be sitting on the grid in the Top Gear Suzuki.

Ever since Hamilton decided to turn his back on McLaren and sign up for Mercedes, I've felt he must have known something about the car that we didn't. I haven't been alone - plenty of experts including Derek Warwick and David Coulthard have expressed the same theory.

Of course all the evidence until now has pointed the other way, which is why Hamilton's odds for the Drivers' championship have drifted now to 17.5. Meanwhile Mercedes, matched as low as 14.0 at one time for the Constructors' title, are available at anything up to a lay of 40.0.

The first two days of testing at Barcelona, however, have brought fresh backing for the theory. His Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg topped the timesheets on day one, then yesterday Hamilton was fourth quickest. Just as important he clocked up 121 laps to suggest that some early reliability issues are getting sorted out. That's the equivalent of driving the Spanish Grand Prix twice.

Of course testing results come with a giant health warning. Nobody knows how much fuel is in each car, everybody is trying out different settings and tyre choices, and the temperature even in sunny Spain this time of year is a good ten to 15 degrees lower than it will be in Melbourne.

Rosberg still got out of his seat full of optimism. "Compared to last year the car has a much better base, it rides lower, the aerodynamics are better, the platform is better. It feels a lot stronger." And, unquestionably the most important verdict of all: "It's faster."

Bearing in mind last year's machine was highly competitive early in the season, and good enough for the German to win a race in China, there's a glint of hope that Hamilton might yet be a contender. The Hamilton race wins in Betfair's specials market is set at whether Lewis will win two races or more, and as the season draws nearer that's worth keeping an eye on. Somebody has already tried to back 'yes' at a price of 100.0. I wonder if it was Jeremy Clarkson?