As if Formula One races have the need for any more excitement, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel are facing off in a rivalry that switched into a higher gear, pardon the pun, after last year’s battle for the title of Formula One Champion. The rivalry is set about due to the fact that if Hamilton or Vettel manages to win the Championship this year, they’ll become the third ever person to win the F1 Championship title for the fifth time.
Say, ‘Wipe the smile off your face!’ (Formula One ©)
Pole Position
As it currently stands, after qualifying at the Australian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton is in pole position and Sebastian Vettel has been pushed down to third and with almost a full half a second split in their qualifying times, the Mercedes driver does seem to have the upper hand.
Things rose to a crescendo last night during a press conference with Lewis Hamilton sandwiched between the two Ferrari drivers and quizzed as to whether his performance in his new Mercedes was down to the activation of a, ‘Party Mode,’ however Lewis Hamilton was quite firm in his denial that he had decided to use it, even going so far as to deny the existence of a, ‘Party Mode.’
Vettel, obviously curious as to how Lewis Hamilton was able to outperform him in the Q3, then asked Hamilton, ‘What were you doing before, then?’
Hamilton took it in his stride and replied, laughing, ‘I was waiting to put a good lap in, wipe the smile off your face.’
It looks like there will be plenty of, ‘friendly,’ banter between the two rivals across the season.
Party Mode Reveal
However, it wasn’t until a few hours later when Toto Wolff, Mercedes Boss, revealed to reporters that, ‘There is a party mode in the car but we switched the party mode on in Q3. There was no difference to the first run in Q3 to the second run in Q3. He just said he had a great lap and put it all together, carrying more speed through the apexes.’
We can’t blame Lewis Hamilton for trying to downplay the existence of the, ‘Party Mode,’ on the new Mercedes car as some would claim it was the only reason for his current Pole Position.
Lewis Hamilton The Lone Wolf
The performance of Lewis Hamilton’s teammate, Valtteri Bottas, however, has landed Bottas in 15th position with an incredibly unfortunate DNF due to a crash during the qualifying lap. This leaves Hamilton quite open and vulnerable at the front of the pack with none other than the two Ferrari drivers Kimi Räikkönen and rival Sebastian Vettel in second and third positions, respectively. We can’t wait to see whether this rivalry flourishes throughout this 2018 Grand Prix and how the pair performs at today’s Australian Grand Prix event.
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