Track Torque: Hamilton has ‘diamonds in his ears’

LEWIS Hamilton, who loves to wear two big sparkling diamond earrings, is the darling of Monte Carlo and the favourite to win the Monaco Grand Prix.

The principality is known as the jewel in the grand prix crown and Lewis, who loves the buzz and ceremony of the place, certainly starts as favourite.

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He has won there twice, in 2008 and 2016, last year also taking pole and cracking the fastest lap. He is going to be very hard to beat but Sebastian Vettel, among others, will have none of that.

The famous track has 19 corners, including its two world-famous hairpins packed into 3,3 kilometres. That means there is a corner, on average, every 170 metres… real high-speed, rocket go-kart stuff.

It really is a fantastic driver’s track but, because it is narrow, with buildings all around it, it is very hard to overtake.

The drivers and cars this year, after all the regulation changes to encourage overtaking, do have a better chance but it takes a lot of dash and guts to get by.

Because it is a tight driver’s circuit, out-and-out power is less important with low-down torque and power being the name of the game.

The Renault engines are good in this department and should therefore fare a bit better. Besides that, we can expect a huge battle between Mercedes and Ferrari.

But I won’t be at all surprised to see Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo in the hunt, along with the Works Renault of Nico Hulkenberg.

Valtteri Bottas, the tough Finn, won’t be pushed around and is very likely to latch on to Hamilton’s tail upfront.

Am I being presumptuous? Ferrari, with its two top-flight men, Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, could change all of this and make the Silver Arrows follow in line astern.

Mixing it with them or close behind will be the Renault-engined boys to keep the pressure pot boiling.

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It really should be a hell of a race, in the confines of Monte Carlo, with each part of the circuit, tunnel, hairpins, harbour and casino all playing their part.

Wish I were there. I have only walked around the circuit.

Qualifying will be at 2pm on Saturday with the race at 2pm on Sunday, but, as you will by now know, there is a big lead up to the event and post mortem afterwards on TV. 

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