Hamilton may need refuge from media, says Dennis
LONDON: Formula One championship leader Lewis Hamilton may have to move away from surging media attention in Britain in order to protect his private life, McLaren team boss Ron Dennis has said.
"If there is a continuous invasion of privacy, then he will have to find somewhere to live to avoid that," British newspapers quoted Dennis as saying on Tuesday.
Dennis did not say outright that the rookie, who is 10 points clear of double world champion team mate Fernando Alonso, should move abroad.
However, many highly-paid grand prix drivers, including compatriots Jenson Button and David Coulthard, live in Monaco while others prefer Switzerland.
"The invasion of his privacy will become a big issue. It is something we will avoid at all costs," Dennis said of the 22-year-old Briton.
Triple world champion Jackie Stewart, a fellow Briton, has said moving abroad for a friendlier tax regime would be a good way for Hamilton to protect his fast-growing earnings but Dennis said this would not motivate any such move.
"If it happens, it will not be driven by something fiscal," he said.
Hamilton grew up in Stevenage, north of London. He lives close to the McLaren factory in Woking, southwest of London, during the week but returns home at weekends when not travelling the world.
He recognised after finishing on the podium in all his first three races that his life was changing, with photographers parked outside his house all day and people recognising him whenever he went out.
Since then, with the youngster notching up his seventh successive podium last weekend at Indianapolis, the media attention has grown significantly.
Celebrated in the United States as the first black driver to win a grand prix, he is now the best British title prospect since the country's last champion Damon Hill in 1996.
Fittipaldi backing
Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi, once Formula One's youngest champion, is backing Hamilton to win the title and take the record from Fernando Alonso.
McLaren's first world champion, who took his second crown with the team in 1974 after a first with Lotus as a 25-year-old in 1972, said on Tuesday that his money was on the team's 22-year-old British rookie.
"For the championship, I would go for Lewis now. For sure," said Fittipaldi, the first Brazilian world champion and the youngest until Spaniard Alonso won with Renault in 2005 at the age of 24.
"When you are so young and suddenly you are leading and winning, it is a tremendous pressure and he (Hamilton) is taking the pressure in a positive way," he said.
He is already the youngest championship leader, the youngest Briton to win a grand prix and the only driver since the series started in 1950 to finish all his first seven races on the podium.
Likening the rookie to Tiger Woods in golf or Pele in soccer for his ability to take the sport to a broader public, Fittipaldi saw Hamilton opening up an exciting new era.
"I see we are going to reach beyond the borders of motor racing with Lewis Hamilton like we never have before," he declared.
"If you look at all the world champions before, even the best that we had never reached the public that Lewis can reach."
Relaxed approach
Fittipaldi was in Montreal for Hamilton's first grand prix victory and was struck by how relaxed the youngster appeared off the track and how in control he was behind the wheel.
He watched the race from the outside of the first chicane and observed how Hamilton caressed the car through while Alonso fought it.
"Lewis talks to the car and the car talks to him. They understand each other very well and Fernando I think was screaming to the car. He was not having a conversation," said the Brazilian.
"But Alonso can be very strong, I still believe he is going to be tough competition and Ferrari can come back strongly again. It's not going to be easy for Lewis."
Fittipaldi, who runs the Brazilian team in the A1 Grand Prix series, will join Hamilton at Goodwood in southern England this weekend for the annual Festival of Speed.
Fittipaldi will drive the Lotus type 49, with which he made his debut at Brands Hatch in 1970, up the Goodwood hill while Hamilton will be in a McLaren. The Brazilian said he would love to swap cars.
"I'd pay anything to try the McLaren," he said.
Agencies
(China Daily 06/21/2007 page19)
