Rivals revving up to overtake Hamilton

Reinventing the wheel

Preseason testing saw Mercedes, the six-time champion of the current turbo era, introduce an adventurous dual-axis steering system (DAS) to an inevitable uproar from its rivals.

F1 head of motorsport Ross Brawn, a famed poacher-turned-gamekeeper, laughed at the furor, describing it as "classic F1".

Brawn, once of Benetton and Ferrari, won the title with his eponymous Brawn team in 2009.

He said a protest at the opening race is likely－and that the innovation will be banned next year.

"I've been involved in a lot of those arguments myself, in my time," he conceded. "So, I watch now with amusement."

Like all observers, he believes Hamilton remains the man to beat, a view shared by former champion Damon Hill who has compared his compatriot's stature in F1 to that of Roger Federer in tennis.

"He keeps coming back to the front," he said. "It takes enormous talent, but that's not good on its own. He has nurtured it, applied it, not spent it unwisely. He is a phenomenon."

Another title this year would invite Hamilton to go on to seek an eighth and move into uncharted territory, just as F1 readies itself for a leap into the unknown. In many ways, 2020 could be a defining end-of-era season.

Agence France-Presse