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Can Hamilton keep pace?

FEATURE BY GUEST AUTHORS
25/05/2016

At what point do extracurricular excursions start to inhibit one's performance at work?

Toto Wolff may have the answer.

For nearly two years, it seemed that Formula One came pretty easy to Wolff's star driver, Lewis Hamilton.

Over a span of 35 Grand Prix races - from the 2014 season-opening race in Albert Park, until he clinched his second successive title at the Circuit of the Americas in 2015 - Hamilton recorded 21 victories. During this impressive span, he outscored teammate Nico Rosberg by 147 points and finished ahead of the German 70 per cent of the time.

But following his triumph in Texas, Hamilton's fortunes changed. He failed to win any of the following eight F1 races, while Rosberg achieved seven wins and tallied 64 more points.

Ask the obsessive Hamilton fans "lying in their beds with their laptops on their chests" to explain this turn of fortune, and they'll spout off about conspiracy theories and sabotage, and then return their focus to Instagram to gawk over the latest images posted by the World Champion.

Maybe if they studied those pictures a little closer, they'd come to a more rational conclusion as to the foundation of Hamilton's recent troubles.

Where in the world is the World Champion?

It's easy to spend an evening (or three) perusing the extensive travel log that is the official @lewishamilton Instagram account. It's hard to remain unenvious of the journeys he's taken, the sights he's seen and the celebrities he's rubbed shoulders with.

Since his last win, Lewis Hamilton has visited 18 countries. He's crossed the Atlantic Ocean 19 times and has flown approximately 250,000 km - enough to circle the Earth six times.

Over the winter break, he made trips to Kuala Lumpur, Paris, London, Toronto, Los Angeles, Colorado, Miami, Mexico, Geneva, San Francisco, New York and Auckland. In addition to testing and sponsorship commitments, his itinerary included fundraisers, awards galas, talk shows and fashion events. He's witnessed a NASCAR race, NBA games and the Super Bowl.

And who wouldn't adore his video with little Ayrton, a friendly lion cub at a Mexican animal sanctuary?

Maybe Toto Wolff.

The conspi... desynchronosis theory

Lewis Hamilton still performs at a high level on track. Many of his recent difficulties can be put down to simple bad luck. But F1 results are measured to the thousandth of a second - and sometimes every thousandth is needed to determine what driver secures pole and exits turn one in the lead. With margins this small, any lapse in focus or preparation opens the door for rivals to pounce.

With his current travel schedule, how can Hamilton fight through the constant jet lag and maintain the consistency that became a staple of his two title wins with Mercedes?

He'd have to be superhuman to do it. Jet lag, medically called "Desynchronosis," can occur when a person crosses just two time zones. Since his last victory, Hamilton has crossed 190.

Consider his travels in a two-week period between the Mexican and Brazilian races near the end of the 2015 season. From Mexico City he ventured to New York to attend a fundraiser; then traveled to London for his mother's birthday party; then returned home to Monaco where he crashed his road car; and then flew to Sao Paulo - crossing 11 time zones in total. In Brazil, Hamilton lost pole to Rosberg and finished the race 7.7 seconds behind.

The fortnight that separated the 2016 Russian and Spanish races saw Hamilton negotiate 14 time zones. From Sochi he headed to New York for the Met Gala; then journeyed south to Barbados for a speed festival. He eventually trekked back across the Atlantic to Barcelona, where an overly aggressive passing attempt resulted in a clumsy first-lap collision with his teammate.

I've been everywhere, man

All F1 drivers have busy travel commitments. But most restrict their trans-ocean journeys and lavish vacations to the summer break in August or after the season has concluded. Hamilton does all that and more.

It's entirely possible that the globetrotting lifestyle caught up with the triple World Champion, and then passed him on the inside. Rosberg followed through and hasn't looked back.

If Lewis Hamilton retains any ambition of capturing his third successive driver's championship, he may wish to consider parking his Challenger 605 in a Heathrow hanger, return to Monaco for some serious downtime and leave the sightseeing to his fans - should they manage to eventually turn off their laptops and crawl out of bed.

Approx
Date
City
Country
Time
Zones
Distance
Kms
Event
Barcelona Spain 5 6700 Grand Prix
11-May Barbados Barbados 1 3318 Festival of Speed
02-May New York City U.S.A. 8 8641 Met Gala 2016
Sochi Russia 8 8641 Grand Prix
26-Apr New York City U.S.A. 6 6465 Time100 Gala
18-Apr Berlin Germany 6 4767 Laureus World Sport Awards
Shanghai China 0 1001 Grand Prix
11-Apr Beijing China 11 11167 Grand Prix
08-Apr New York City U.S.A. 5 5637
07-Apr London U.K. 3 5072 Hugo Boss photo shoot
Sakhir Bahrain 7 12079 Grand Prix
Melbourne Australia 2 2655 Grand Prix
14-Mar Auckland New Zealand 11 18232 Sightseeing
11-Mar Stuttgart Germany 0 508
07-Mar Paris France 0 778 Paris Fashion Week
01-Mar Barcelona Spain 9 9688 F1 Testing
29-Feb Los Angeles U.S.A. 8 8798 Elton John Foundation Oscar viewing party
27-Feb London U.K. 1 1125
22-Feb Barcelona Spain 0 778 F1 Testing
16-Feb Paris France 6 5919
09-Feb New York City U.S.A. 3 4174 amfAR event; Hugo Boss shoot; Zoolander2 premiere
07-Feb San Francisco U.S.A. 3 3684
27-Feb Toronto Canada 6 6087 Training; Niagara Falls sightseeing
22-Jan Paris France 0 363
19-Jan Geneva Switzerland 7 9617 IWC watches event
08-Jan Mexico City Mexico 1 2061 Vacation; animal santuary
02-Jan Maimi U.S.A. 2 2794 Miami Heat game
25-Dec Colorado U.S.A. 8 8366 Christmas vacation
12-Dec Stuttgart Germany 1 749 Stars and Cars
12-Dec London U.K. 8 8798 Jonathan Ross show
10-Dec Los Angeles U.S.A. 3 3492 Late Late Show;Jimmy Kimmel Live
07-Dec Toronto Canada 0 590 Toronto Raptors game
06-Dec Washington U.S.A. 6 6262 George Lucas award
05-Dec Paris France 1 378
03-Dec London U.K. 8 10568 ITV taping
01-Dec Kuala Lumpur Malaysia 4 5553
25-Nov Abu Dhabi U.A.E. 3 5522 Grand Prix
23-Nov London U.K. 5 7197 British Fashion Awards
21-Nov Miami U.S.A. 6 7960 NASCAR Race
18-Nov Monte Carlo Monaco 4 9185
11-Nov Sao Paulo Brazil 4 9185 Grand Prix
Monte Carlo Monaco 1 1056
08-Nov London U.K. 5 5637 Mom’s birthday party
05-Nov New York U.S.A. 1 3348 KCA Black Ball fundraiser
28-Oct Mexico City Mexico 2 2521 Grand Prix
25-Oct Los Angeles U.S.A. 1 1980
Austin U.S.A. Grand Prix

Brian Richardson
brianrich1@outlook.com

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READERS COMMENTS

 

1. Posted by Spindoctor, 06/06/2016 21:19

"@JackTheCat
Nice analysis. I'd add that even a distracted Hamilton is likely to be faster than a focused Romberg.
I doubt any modern-era driver can ever match what Schumacher did. Where he was constantly testing & developing the car, modern pilots are schmoozing, glad-handing & doing promotional work, and that's before the extra-curricular stuff."

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2. Posted by JackTheCat, 06/06/2016 20:21

"Thing is even as a fan of Hamilton's on track persona I can't help but agree with the basic premise presented in the article. His life outside of F1 has to be taking its toll.

The real question is does it matter? He has his 3 WCs like he wanted, Mercedes have another driver and a car so good that they will still win the CWC and the DWC and they have Hamilton who is a huge marketing asset in the USA. If Lewis is happy driving to the best of his ability under the circumstances rather than the best of his ability full stop then no problem..... however one has to wonder what he would be like with Schumacheresque levels of focus!"

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3. Posted by Spindoctor, 06/06/2016 8:03

"Enough speculation here to fuel "Today" for a month.
I don't subscribe to the assorted tinfoil hat theories about Lewis' bad luck, but I suspect that if Lewis has lost concentration, so has Mercedes. Toto et al seem to have lost the knack of preparing two cars capable of competing for the whole race weekend."

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4. Posted by H44MATIME, 05/06/2016 20:43

"These journalists circle above Hamilton's head like Vultures and only wait to write the most hypothetical reports posing as science or facts.
Insulting Hamilton fans by calling them obsessive is yet another petty act of cheap journalism... not every Hamilton fan is lying about in their beds with a laptop on their stomach- how condescending and bizarre!
Hamilton has secured his life's ambition and that was to tally the same amount of WDCs like his idol which he did in emphatic style last year, he is on record to say that he does not know how to find the motivation to improve on that. Him having some fun and enjoying his young life is a big problem with envious and bitter people posing as journalists and reporters. Hamilton has been in F1 for ten years now and in all those years he has not been caught up in any nightclub fracas, nor is he been seen falling out of the at all hours in the morning but somehow they way he chooses to enjoy his success and wealth that he actually EARNED is a big problem in the petty media.
This is the same media that when he was winning every race they were complaining about lack of competition and how it is bad for the sport-well? The article is also misleading in that it does not address directly the many unexplained failures he has suffered this year so far.
I wish they would just let the man do his racing and just report on the results, isn't it what F1 journalism is about? "

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5. Posted by audifan, 03/06/2016 9:24 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 03/06/2016 9:32)

"This comment was removed by an administrator as it was judged to have broken the site's posting rules and etiquette."

Rating: Neutral (0)

6. Posted by -ape-, 26/05/2016 7:16

"News of the World ?? ZZzzzzz"

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7. Posted by mittagongcalling, 26/05/2016 3:49

"What a load of twaddle"

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8. Posted by Superbird70, 25/05/2016 17:44

"Do you have anything similar for Rosberg to compare with? I am no Hamilton fan but you need to present both sides for any definitive correlation. It could be diet, boxers vs. briefs but you need some data for Rosberg."

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