With pre-season testing now over and the opening race of the new season in Australia a fortnight away, Williams feels Ferrari will be the team to beat, but that Hamilton is arguably the best driver on the grid - better than world champion Kimi Raikkonen.
Hamilton set Formula One alight last season, smashing all sorts of rookie records and winning four grands prix, only to finish a single point behind Raikkonen following a thrilling conclusion to an astonishing year.
The 22-year-old, in a bid to atone for so narrowly missing out on glory, has pushed himself to the limit during the winter to ensure he is more physically and mentally prepared than at any stage last season.
But Williams feels if Hamilton were Raikkonen's team-mate at Ferrari then there would more than likely be only one outcome due to the former's work ethic and fastidious attitude.
"I would say he (Hamilton) will do better this year," said Williams, speaking at the Royal Automobile Club on Pall Mall in London.
"Saying that, Ferrari look quicker for most of the time on long runs - unless McLaren are sandbagging - so he is going to have his work cut out.
"But if the Ferrari is the better car this year, McLaren should be saying to themselves 'thank God he is not in a Ferrari, otherwise there would be no point going racing'."
Asked whether he felt Hamilton was a better driver than Raikkonen, the boss of Williams replied: "I don't know Kimi well.
"He is a gifted driver, as good as anybody, but Kimi's weakness is that he is not that interested.
"So if a man of equal skill, let's say, turns up in an identical car, with one working harder than the other, it is more likely that that man would have the upper hand.
"But it isn't going to happen is it? It's all hypothetical."
Certainly it is hard for Williams to compare Hamilton alongside many of motor racing's greats of the past at this same stage of their careers, but he insists the 22-year-old "is very special".
"It's all subjective. Every decade, or maybe longer than that, nature throws up someone who is supremely gifted," added Williams.
"To put a razor blade between him and Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart or Jochen Rindt. How do you do that? You can't. They're not here any more.
"But what I see from a distance is that he is very well advised, I presume by his family, and for such a young person he has a wise head on his shoulders.
No comments:
Post a Comment