Lewis Hamilton feels he is a more complete driver since he shed some of the emotional baggage that he has carried with him throughout an often turbulent career.
Jenson Button this week described Hamilton as the best of the teammates he has worked with during his long years in motorsport, which sees him start his 250th grand prix tomorrow in Bahrain.
Button, 34, offered a revealing insight into Hamilton and the three years they spent together at McLaren from 2010-2012, by claiming Hamilton was “very up and down emotionally”.
Hamilton could not disagree with Button’s appraisal but said that he believes he has moved on from those turbulent times, and more so this season with a winning car beneath him again.
“I would say what he said is quite accurate,” said Hamilton. “I always wear my heart on my sleeve, which gets me into trouble now and then, but you go through different experiences.”
The 2008 world champion credited his move from McLaren to Mercedes-GP at the end of 2012 as the key to his transformation.
“I’ve always talked to you about trying to put the right pieces in place, whether that’s experience or whatever, to get through my year in a positive way without having those spikes, and I feel like I might have found it,” he said.
“Being in this team is a lot different. It’s an absolute pleasure coming to the track, especially now even more so, knowing we’ve got a really competitive car.
“With the people I’m working with I couldn’t imagine a better place, I really couldn’t.”
Hamilton said the differences between now and his troubled times at McLaren had more to do with personal matters rather than team.
“The difference is in myself, in me and my life, where I’m happier being,” he said.
As in Malaysia last weekend, Hamilton has so far been error free in Bahrain. He was quickest in both free practice sessions and comfortably so as he looks for a second successive victory, while Mercedes look for a third on the trot.
Only Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, the championship leader, was remotely within touching distance of Hamilton and even then the German was 0.365 seconds adrift.
As for the rest, they were all at least a second off Hamilton’s pace, highly unusual for a second practice session and underlying the advantage Mercedes have over their rivals at present.
Fernando Alonso was the quickest of the chasing pack in his Ferrari in the second session, albeit 1.035 secs down, with four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel down in seventh spot in his Red Bull Racing car.
Hamilton was naturally quite guarded with regard to his performance, not wanting to get too carried away despite his obvious level of dominance.
“It’s been a pretty decent day,” he said. “I’ve loved driving and the car feels better here now than it did when we were here in pre-season testing (in February and early March).
“I’ve a much better feel of where I need to put the car, so I’m very happy with the practice sessions.
“Of course, it’s definitely good to come here off a positive weekend, with that momentum, but we still have a lot of work to do to really dial in the car, both in qualifying and the race.
“It’s still going to be tough, a real challenge, particularly with the temperatures dropping all the time, so the balance is shifting throughout the run.”
Hamilton took pole position in both Australia and Malaysia and he is favourite to complete the hat-trick today when qualifying takes place at 7pm.
Tomorrow’s 57-lap race starts at 7pm.
Fanney Khan
Producer: T-Series, Anil Kapoor Productions, ROMP, Prerna Arora
Director: Atul Manjrekar
Cast: Anil Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai, Rajkummar Rao, Pihu Sand
Rating: 2/5
TALE OF THE TAPE
Manny Pacquiao
Record: 59-6-2 (38 KOs)
Age: 38
Weight: 146lbs
Height: 166cm
Reach: 170cm
Jeff Horn
Record: 16-0-1 (11 KOs)
Age: 29
Weight: 146.2lbs
Height: 175cm
Reach: 173cm
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Results
2pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m; Winner: AF Al Baher, Bernardo Pinheiro (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer).
2.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 1,600m; Winner: Talento Puma, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.
3pm: Handicap (TB) Dh90,000 1,950m; Winner: Tailor’s Row, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.
3.30pm: Jebel Ali Stakes Listed (TB) Dh500,000 1,950m; Winner: Mark Of Approval, Patrick Cosgrave, Mahmood Hussain.
4pm: Conditions (TB) Dh125,000 1,400m; Winner: Dead-heat Raakez, Jim Crowley, Nicholas Bachalard/Attribution, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.
4.30pm: Jebel Ali Sprint (TB) Dh500,000 1,000m; Winner: AlKaraama, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi.
5pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 1,200m; Winner: Wafy, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
5.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh90,000 1,400m; Winner: Cachao, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar.
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Frankenstein in Baghdad
Ahmed Saadawi
Penguin Press
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
