SUTTON

Hamilton’s response is emphatic as he closes

on more F1 records

For those who thought the tyre troubles Mercedes experienced at Silverstone hinted at a serious chink in the pacesetting team’s armour, Lewis Hamilton’s performance in the Spanish Grand Prix last weekend was a pretty emphatic response.

Even Mercedes wasn’t confident it would be able to make the most of its incredible W11 in the heat of Barcelona, but Hamilton was in the zone, or “daze” as he initially described it. Max Verstappen was again brilliant for Red Bull, taking advantage of a poor start for Valtteri Bottas to split the Black Arrows. The 22-year-old has been truly outstanding this season and somehow has a six-point advantage over Bottas in the drivers’ standings. But Hamilton is too good not to make use of a car advantage and, with a 37-point lead and 88 F1 wins, it seems increasingly likely that Michael Schumacher’s most impressive records will be broken.

Last weekend was a good one for British drivers. As well as Hamilton’s fourth win of the campaign, 2011 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner Oliver Rowland scored his first Formula E victory in Berlin (see page 34), and Mike Conway was part of the winning Toyota line-up as the World Endurance Championship finally got back under way at Spa (p40). Jake Hughes also took his maiden Formula 3 win of the season at Barcelona (p50).

This weekend’s big event will be the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500, albeit with no fans. Fernando Alonso will start down in 26th and has a lot of work to do, but at least he’s in the race this year. And, as David Malsher-Lopez shows in our preview supplement, there are plenty of potential frontrunners starting further back than expected. The race is unlikely to be dull…

Kevin Turner Editor kevin.turner@autosport.com

NEXT WEEK 27 AUGUST We speak to F1 rising star

George Russell and report on the 104th

Indy 500

COVER IMAGE Charles Coates/Motorsport Images

PIT & PADDOCK 4 Andretti pips Dixon to Indy 500 pole 6 Istanbul and Jerez set for F1 returns 8 Ferrari eyes Le Mans hypercar 10 Dovizioso walks from Ducati 13 Opinion: Alex Kalinauckas 15 Opinion: Lewis Duncan 17 Feedback: your letters

RACE CENTRE 18 Spanish GP report and analysis 34 Rowland takes first Formula E win 40 How ‘slow’ Toyota won Spa WEC 48 World of Sport: Formula 2; Formula 3; Porsche Supercup; NASCAR Cup; DTM; Australian Supercars; MotoGP

CLUB AUTOSPORT 66 Blow for Welsh motorsport 68 Special Saloons make debuts 71 Iconic Le Mans design to race again 73 Opinion: Graham Johnson 74 National reports: Donington Park; Thruxton; Snetterton; Silverstone; Brands Hatch

FINISHING STRAIGHT 86 What’s on this week 88 From the archive: 1971 Le Mans 90 Autosport 70: Menu gets his just deserts

SUBSCRIPTION OFFER 44 Special deals for Autosport

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INDY 500 PREVIEW

Fernando Alonso’s 2020 chances, a team guide and interview with Felix Rosenqvist feature in our supplement.

20 AUGUST 2020 AUTOSPORT.COM 3