But after a winter spent at his chalet in Colorado, skiing, training,
seemingly patching things up with his girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger,
Hamilton looked a new man.
“I feel fresh,” he said. “The team gave me a good bit of time off after such a
long season. I did a bit of skiing and ate pancakes and all that stuff that
I said I wasn’t going to do, and then got into quite an intense training
regime.
“In between times I sat down and analysed the year and certain things in my
personal life which weren’t as good as they could be and went about
correcting those things.
“Today I just feel very fresh in my mind and free of perhaps any of the
burdens that I had on me last year.”
Asked specifically about his on-off relationship with his popstar girlfriend,
Hamilton refused to be drawn. “I accept that my personal life is in the
public domain but I’d rather just focus on racing,” he said. “But things are
good. So I’m happy.”
Controversy, though, is never far from Hamilton.
It was typical that on the day McLaren
should launch their new car a story should appear in Germany where former
Force India driver Adrian Sutil has just been handed an 18 month suspended
sentence for grievous bodily harm.
Sutil was unimpressed that his friend Hamilton had failed to show up as a
witness to the altercation in a Shanghai nightclub last year, branding him a
“coward”.
Hamilton was saved an awkward moment by a McLaren spokesperson who jumped in
when the topic was raised, saying: “We’ve been told that Lewis shouldn’t
really go there because it [the ruling] might go under appeal.” “I’ll listen
to him,” Hamilton said.
If the racing gods have any sense Hamilton’s renewed positivity will translate
to on-track performance.
There is little more thrilling in motor racing than the sight of Hamilton in
full flow and the prospect of him and Button — who drove quite brilliantly
last year to finish runner-up in the drivers’ championship — duelling for
the title is one to whet the appetite.
Simply challenging Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel would be a start. As Button,
who had a pretty good winter break himself, mostly spent training in Hawaii,
said on Wednesday of Formula One’s current pacesetters: “Red Bull are not
suddenly going to build a bad car.”
Hamilton says he is confident his car will be competitive from the word go
this year. McLaren had better hope so.
Hamilton’s contract is up at the end of 2012 and the 27 year-old admitted he
would be waiting a few races before tying himself to a new one. Races he
expects to win.
“I want to win every race,” he said on Wednesday when asked about his targets
for the year. “I think I can. I think I’ve got the ability to.
“I think if the car is where we hope the car is, I think there’s no
reason why we can’t do that. The only thing that ever gets in your way is
your own mind.
“When you have 100 per cent capacity to focus on the driving then it shows.
And I think this year I am back to 100 per cent.”