Lewis Hamilton is preparing to take the fight to current world championship leader Mark Webber in todays Turkish Grand Prix, as 1992 world champ Nigel Mansell calls the nu-British hero "manufactured."
McLaren's Hamilton put in his strongest qualifying performance of the year at the Istanbul circuit, and will start alongside the Aussie having done a stonking lap less than two tenths from pole. The two front row starters issued some 'fighting' words in the post-wally press conference. Webber started with a somewhat smuggish opening shot; "We had an interesting feel with the gap to Lewis in Barcelona" before implying that he wasn't really trying when he dominated the Spanish race "They are a bit more competitive here but we certainly still had something in our sleeve there, so we will see how it goes."
Hamilton, probably after rolling his eyes and doodling a new front wing design for his design department, responded by bleating "We’re in the best spot I’ve ever been in to start the race. If I can get close enough to Mark then without a doubt I will be taking the opportunity."
Lewis has yet to feel the full brunt of the all powerful controversial Webbo-chop however, and will need to be prepared for any zig zagging antics from the feisty RBR driver. He also has another couple of things going against him, he's starting on the dirty side of grid which may allow RBR #2 ace Sebastian Vettel to fly past off the line. The Red Bull pair showed in Spain that they're not against a bit of formation flying to keep any unwelcome guests out of their inhouse battle.
And while the McLaren has a 6km/h straight line speed advtantage over the RB6 the main straight follows on from T8, T9 and T10. This complex has seen amazing speed from the Red Bulls, upwards of half a second quicker than the rest of the pack. If Hamilton can't stay close then his F-Duct advantage may not even come into play.
In other news, former mo champion of the world Nigel Mansell has come out and had a bit of go at Hamiltons silver spoon, the '92 champion said the '08 title winner was "manufactured." Nige heaped praise on the young drivers on track abilities, but was a bit distressed about how easy he'd had it all in the lower categories.
“How many people from seven years of age have been given £2.5million to go karting? I know drivers now are being signed up at seven, eight, nine years of age" Mansell mused before pondering "They’re all being picked now, and this is the incredible thing that is so disappointing for me, to be grand prix drivers in five and seven and ten years’ time. That negates everybody out there now doing the job, and that is frightening."
This should hopefully add another dimension to todays Hamilton vs Webber battle, as one can consider Hamilton's well funded grooming the very antithesis of the Australian's hike up the ladder. A broke Webber famously had to wait outside an airport to beg for a loan from Aussie Rugby Union hero David Campese to allow him to complete his 1997 F3 season.
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