Hamilton hopes he and Ferrari can ‘ride rollercoaster’ to success
Weathering the choppy waves of his new career with Ferrari it is still clear that every time Lewis Hamilton climbs into the car the seven-time Formula One champion believes he is taking a step forward, regardless of how it seems to others.He remains unfazed by the process of adapting, having long considered it would be an evolution, even given the weight of all the expectation and scrutiny.This weekend at the fifth round of the season in Saudi Arabia, Ferrari and Hamilton are optimistic they will be making another stride in bridging the gap to the dominant McLaren.It was always going to be impossible for Hamilton and Ferrari to manage expectations around his debut season.The greatest driver of the modern era finally donning the rosso corsa to likely see out his career with the sport’s most famous and most successful marque, and potentially ending a Ferrari drivers’ title drought that stretches back to 2007.
Yet before the season had even begun Hamilton was advocating caution, aware how complex it would be to adapt to a new car, new personnel and new methodologies after so much success at Mercedes over 12 years,So it proved in the opening four rounds where Hamilton’s relationship with his new family has been under intense examination, a process not helped by the Ferrari playing catch-up at the same time Hamilton is learning his way around the new machinery,However, the British driver is no stranger to the spotlight and at the Jeddah Corniche circuit was handling it with equanimity,“It’s to be expected, Ferrari is the greatest team in Formula One history, it’s that special,” he said,“Of course more stories are written about it and people have opinions and it’s not always been smooth sailing.
So, from my perspective, you can’t work with a team and change things overnight.”This considered approach has been the ballast around which Hamilton and Fred Vasseur have held their ship steady, as the Ferrari team principal noted after the last round in Bahrain: “You won’t replace 12 years of collaboration in two weeks or two races.” He also noted in Saudi Arabia that it was a two-way street.“Lewis is coming with his own experience with 20 years of F1 with different teams,” he said.“It’s always good to have someone join the team with this kind of experience and vision, to help us to improve.
”For Hamilton it is also more than just a matter of adjusting to the team.He is in a new car with distinct characteristics and adapting a driving style that was for so long attuned to the Mercedes.He felt he had advanced again in Bahrain, returning his best finish this season of fifth and where, during the second stint, he believes he may be finding a groove.Still, the caution remains.“It’s like we’re riding a rollercoaster together, up and down and I have no doubts we will get to where we plan to be, it’s just going to take time,” he said.
“There are changes that are short term that we’ll do together, keep all the greatness and keep building all the areas that we could be stronger in.Some of those are short term and some of them are longer term.”A tilt at the title already looks to be wishful thinking, however, with McLaren’s Lando Norris leading the championship by three points from his teammate Oscar Piastri and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in third, eight points back.Hamilton is seventh, 52 points adrift, yet the atmosphere at Ferrari remains upbeat.Sign up to The RecapThe best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend’s actionafter newsletter promotionVasseur is convinced they can close the gap to McLaren and challenge for wins, given how strongly they successfully developed their car over the past two seasons and even a single victory would doubtless be enormously meaningful for Hamilton.
Ferrari hope to demonstrate they are on course to do so in Saudi Arabia.The team brought a new floor upgrade to Bahrain to address the issues with a narrow operating window and its weakness through high-speed corners, where running a low ride-height is key for aerodynamic efficiency.In Bahrain it was felt the floor had delivered but the real test will be in Jeddah, a high-speed, low-drag track of very fast corners joined by two hairpins at either end.If they have made another really positive step forward, Hamilton and Ferrari might well consider they are genuinely on the move.In first practice, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly topped the timesheets, albeit in the unrepresentative daytime running for what is a night race, just in front of Norris and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, with Hamilton in eighth and Verstappen, once more struggling with the balance of his Red Bull, ninth.
In the night running of the second session, Norris was on top, one-tenth clear of Piastri, the McLarens looking strong again, with Verstappen improving in third and Leclerc fourth.
US chocolate prices surge amid soaring cocoa costs and tariffs
For many Americans celebrating Easter, the holiday is incomplete without chocolate: chocolate bunnies and eggs, bars tucked into Easter baskets, candy hidden in plastic eggs for Easter egg hunts.But rocketing cocoa costs will mean higher prices for chocolate candy this year, and Donald Trump’s tariffs on all imports will likely keep prices high for the foreseeable future.Every year, Americans spend billions of dollars on sweets during what the National Confectioners Association calls “the big four candy seasons”: Valentine’s Day, Easter, Halloween and the holidays. Last year, Americans spent $5.4bn on Easter candy, according to the association
UK banks expected to win shareholder approval for big pay rises for bosses
UK banks are expected to win approval for massive pay increases in the coming weeks after convincing influential shareholder advisers that hiking maximum payouts for chief executives by more than 40% would give them a competitive edge.ISS and Glass Lewis, two prominent proxy advisory services that suggest how shareholders should vote on company policies at annual meeting, have backed NatWest, Barclays and HSBC over plans to substantially increase potential payouts after the removal of the UK banker bonus cap in late 2023.NatWest Group is proposing a 43% increase in the maximum for its chief executive, Paul Thwaite, giving him the chance to earn up to £7.7m for a single year’s work. Meanwhile, his Barclays counterpart, CS Venkatakrishnan, could earn up to £14
From Sidemen to MrBeast: how YouTube and its creator economy took over TV
From MrBeast creating the world’s most expensive reality TV show and Jake Paul’s record-breaking clash with Mike Tyson to the British supergroup Sidemen’s Netflix deal, YouTube’s superstar creators are taking over mainstream television.Last month Netflix launched the second series of Inside, the Sidemen’s reality show that was a hit when the first run of episodes premiered on YouTube.The deep-pocketed streamer has such confidence in the format from the septet – whose members include the content creator, rapper and some-time boxer KSI – that it has already commissioned a US version, which is to be broadcast later this year.The TV breakthrough comes just weeks after the Sidemen, who have more than 150 million YouTube subscribers, sold out the 90,000-seat Wembley stadium for a charity football match against a YouTube Allstars team.Attenders and players at the 18-goal extravaganza included Paul, whose Netflix boxing match against Tyson in November made history as the most-streamed sporting event ever
Microsoft faces growing unrest over role in Israel’s war on Gaza: ‘Close to a tipping point’
Turmoil spreads at company over Israel’s extensive use of its AI and cloud computing services in Gaza warFor the second time in the last month, Microsoft employees disrupted high-level executives speaking at an event celebrating the company’s 50th anniversary on 4 April, in protest against the company’s role in Israel’s ongoing siege on Gaza.The AI executive Mustafa Suleyman was interrupted by the employees Ibtihal Aboussad and Vaniya Agrawal. The two were fired within days. The Microsoft president, Brad Smith, and the former CEO Steve Ballmer were shouted down at Seattle’s Great Hall on 20 March by a current and former employee.The March event was preceded by a rally outside that also included current and former employees of the tech giant
England squad depth is ‘giving me a headache’, says head coach Mitchell
The England head coach, John Mitchell, admitted his team’s squad depth is creating a selection headache after his England side demolished Scotland in the Six Nations.The Red Roses made nine changes from their win in Ireland last Saturday, with one of those the wing Claudia MacDonald. She had a player of the match performance and scored two tries.When asked if MacDonald had given him a selection conundrum on the wing, Mitchell said: “Most players have given me a headache, there is plenty of competition in the side. There’s Jess [Breach], Claudia, Abby [Dow], Mia [Venner] – who hasn’t played since Italy – so it is a good headache to have
‘You’ll never amount to anything’: the boxing world champion you’ve never heard of
Australian Diana Prazak was told she wouldn’t make it as a boxer. She’s just been inducted into the International Women’s Boxing Hall of FameThe soft early evening spring light floods the room behind the world champion you’ve probably never heard of. In front of a big poster of a shirtless Bruce Lee adorning her wall, Diana Prazak smiles and laughs often as she talks about her most unlikely career and her road to the top.The expatriate from Melbourne is arguably the most successful professional boxer that Australia has produced – she attained the ranking of best active professional boxer pound-for-pound in 2014 – but celebration of her world champion status remains disappointingly muted in her home country.“It’s kind of broken my heart really because growing up we were always told what a sports-mad country Australia is and how proud we were of our athletes
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