David Coulthard has reminded us all of when Lewis Hamilton lost the World Championship to Nico Rosberg after he failed to win any of the five opening races. Hamilton needs to find performance quickly or he could face a big points margin that he will struggle to keep up with. With the added point for the fastest lap, it is possible that an even bigger margin could be created.
Coulthard has warned Hamilton and reminded him of 2016.
"You clearly don’t want to be giving points away - as we saw against Rosberg, he lost the championship by five points," Coulthard said to the Mirror Sport.
“Had he not blown up in Malaysia and various other things along the way, then he would have been world champion again.
“We’re all curious to see whether Bottas is performing at a new-found level or a combination of the car not quite talking to Lewis, a bad start and generally ending up out of sequence with that early pit stop.”
“I wouldn’t read too much into it right now - I don’t think Bottas has reinvented himself and Hamilton has lost it.
"I think it’s a combination of marginal gains for Bottas and, let’s not say a bad weekend because he qualified on pole and finished second, but it was an average weekend by Lewis’ standards.
"Let’s judge them when we’ve had a few races."
This weekend it looks like Hamilton not only needs to worry about his team-mate but also the pace of the Ferrari. It looks like it will be a close and exciting season ahead.
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