Hill: Hamilton could be impossible to beat

By May 16, 2014, 1:00 PM EDT
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1996 Formula 1 world champion Damon Hill believes that Lewis Hamilton might already be on track to win his second championship after making a scintillating start to the 2014 season.

Hamilton took the lead of the drivers’ championship following last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, where he claimed his fourth straight win. The Briton appears to be in a good place both on and off track, and Hill believes that he might already be unbeatable.

“Up until this season, it always looked like Lewis’s focus could go at any time,” he told journalists at Silverstone yesterday. “He now seems to have the demeanour of someone who is totally content.

“He is so focused on the job, I think he will be almost impossible to beat.”

Hill was at Silverstone yesterday at the first in a series of events celebrating the 50th British Grand Prix to be held at the circuit in Northamptonshire, where was reunited with his title-winning Williams FW18 car. He went on to speak about the history and heritage of the race, which has been held every year since the beginning of the world championship in 1950.

“It’s great to be back here and reunited with the car that I won the World Championship in in 1996,” Hill said. “I’d like to think that winning the British Grand Prix is great for any driver, but particularly if you’re a British driver, there’s nothing like it.

“It is one of the biggest events of all the grands prix we go to. There’s such a massive crowd, and to get all that satisfaction and give people satisfaction with a victory at your home grand prix, you just can’t beat it.”

When Hamilton won the world championship in 2008, he became the first British driver since Hill to do so. Now, if Hill’s judgement that he is unbeatable turns out to be true, the Mercedes driver could be set to join the likes of Fernando Alonso, Jim Clark and Graham Hill – Damon’s father – on two world titles.

This year also marks 50 years since the first British Grand Prix was held at Brands Hatch. The Kent circuit shared the hosting rights with Silverstone between 1964 and 1986, but has not hosted a grand prix since.

Will Power shows Flavor Flav what time it is in IndyCar: ‘This is the highlight of the weekend’

By Jun 4, 2023, 11:00 PM EDT
Will Power Flavor Flav
Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment
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DETROIT – When Flavor Flav unexpectedly showed up in Team Penske’s pits for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix weekend, Will Power knew what time it was.

So the defending NTT IndyCar Series champion dropped it on the man who made oversized clocks as fashion accessories famous.

And he used the kind of wordplay that was the pride of Public Enemy (the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame rap group led by Chuck D with Flavor Flav as loyal sidekick).

“I said to Flavor Flav, ‘You know, people today are going to have to ‘Fight the Power,’ ” Power said with a broad smirk, referencing one of Public Enemy’s most memorable and strident anthems. “And it was true! They had to ‘Fight the Power.’ ”

With a second place in Detroit, the No. 12 Dallara-Chevy driver earned his best finish since last September and impressed a musical hero who apparently attended his first IndyCar race this weekend and promptly fell in love with the sport.

After being interviewed by NBC Sports’ Kevin Lee during the Peacock qualifying broadcast Saturday, Flavor Flav made the rounds.

He met with Roger Penske in Team Penske’s at-track headquarters, freestyled in an on-stage cameo during Steve Aoki’s Saturday night concert in Hart Plaza and then rode with Power in a pickup truck around the 1.645-mile street course during driver introductions Sunday morning.

Flav was wearing a red No. 12 shirt that Power believes was purchased at a track merchandise trailer.

“That is the highlight of the weekend,” he said. “Flavor Flav was wearing my shirt, man.”

It was a dream come true for the two-time IndyCar champion and 2018 Indy 500 winner. Power, 42, grew up listening to Public Enemy with his buddies in Toowoomba, Australia, and they went nuts when he posted photos with Flavor Flav to his personal Facebook page.

“My friends are like, ‘Dude, you should just quit racing now. You have made it to the top,’ ” Power said. “We all listened to Public Enemy, and they would never believe that I actually would be hanging out with Flavor Flav. That is nuts. I’ll have to go Vegas to hang out with him. Maybe we’ll do a rap together.”

“Yeeaaah, boy!” third-place finisher Felix Rosenqvist, who apparently might have given “It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back” a few spins while growing up in Sweden, chimed in during the postrace news conference.

The only disappointment for Power was coming up 1.1843 seconds short of beating Alex Palou.

Flav had promised to celebrate on the podium if Power had won the race.

“He is the most positive dude you will ever meet,” Power said. “Pretty cool experience. Pretty cool to put it on your personal Facebook.

“All your friends that you went to school with, they’re like, ‘Man this dude is big-time, he’s hanging out with Flavor Flav. ‘I sat next to Ice-T at dinner. I have also had dinner with Slash from Guns N’ Roses. I wish I got videos of those ones as well so I could put it on the personal Facebook

“No one cares about race cars or that I won the Indy 500. It’s like, ‘You had dinner with Slash? You know Flavor Flav?’ Yeah!”

Power already has in mind some future musical guests he’d like to meet, starting with another of Detroit’s own.

“I’m more of a ’90s rap guy, but if I met Eminem, that would also be epic,” Power said. “Ice Cube’s the one, man. If I could meet Ice Cube or Snoop Dogg in Long Beach. Why doesn’t someone bring them to Long Beach? Maybe they should have an Ice Cube day. That would be dope.”