Lewis Hamilton heads to Valencia for this weekend’s European Grand Prix riding the crest of a wave. Back-to-back wins in Turkey and Canada have catapulted him into the lead of the World Championship and another victory on Sunday would give him his first hat trick of wins in Formula One.
“I’ve finished second in Valencia for the last two years,” says Lewis, “so it’s time I stood on the top step of the podium. I like the track and it should suit our car, so I’m going into the weekend believing I can win. The team is performing really well; I feel like I’ve got the wind behind me.”
It’s not a coincidence that Lewis should use a nautical term to describe his fortunes because he has revealed that his new passion is sailing. And where better for a fan of the high seas to spend the weekend than in Valencia, home of the America’s Cup for the past four years?
“Sailing is really cool,” says Lewis. “Whenever I go on a beach holiday, I rent a small catamaran just for a bit of fun. I was introduced to sailing a couple of years ago in the Solent and it was unbelievable. I saw so many parallels between sailing and F1.”
Lewis’s induction to sailing came aboard Hugo Boss, the round the world racer skippered by Alex Thomson. The 2008 World Champion took to it like the proverbial duck to water, even if it took him a while to find his sea legs.
“I was on the boat for about four hours,” says Lewis, “and was on the verge of being sick the whole time! Luckily, Alex kept me busy and I didn’t have time to appreciate how bad I felt.
“The most enjoyable bit was when I took the helm. Alex explained what I was looking for and I got a feeling for the boat like I have a feel for my car. I could feel when it was at its perfect angle to the wind and by the end I was looking out for the wind coming across the water and I was working out ways in which to reduce the boat’s drag through the water. I loved it!”
Lewis undoubtedly feels more at home in the cockpit of his McLaren race car, but he has a tough weekend ahead because the Valencia Street Track has more twists and turns than any other circuit on the F1 calendar. Its 25-corner layout snakes around the city’s America’s Cup marina and Lewis will need to remember every metre if he’s to maximise his chances of victory.
“The worst thing about having so many corners,” says Lewis, “is that the debriefs take so much longer! I like to tell the engineers what the car is doing through every turn and that takes a while at this race. You have to remember a lot, but that’s what it takes to get the most out of the package and that’s what you need to do if you want to win in F1.”
The Valencia Street Track might be a unique challenge for the drivers when they’re in the engineers’ office, but it offers nothing like the driving challenge of Monaco – Lewis’s favourite track. “There is much more run-off in Valencia than at somewhere like Monaco,” says Lewis. “You can brake too late and cut across the apex of corners and get away with it because the walls have been pushed back at every corner. You’d be in the wall if you drove like that at Monaco, so you have to give that place more respect than Valencia.”
Lewis has already won at Monaco, so he’ll be hoping this one will be plain sailing.