LEWIS HAMILTON arrived for the Bahrain GP rocking an all-brown outfit with fears already emerging about the season ahead.
He is known for his love of stylish clobber, previously revealing that fashion “helps take the weight” off the pressures of competing.
Sunday’s arrival came after Max Verstappen stormed to pole in qualifying for the Bahrain GP.
Meanwhile F1 legend Hamilton could be in for another nightmare season, with Toto Wolff admitting Mercedes may be forced to SCRAP their new car if they want to win titles again.
The seven-time world champion will start Sunday’s race way down in seventh on the grid.
And ahead of the race, Hamilton, 37, arrived at the Bahrain International Circuit dressed all in brown.
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Hamilton completed his stylish look with boots and a pair of reflective sunglasses.
But Hamilton is facing a difficult afternoon when he changes into his racing gear and gets behind the wheel of his new Mercedes.
Starting from a lowly seventh on the grid leaves the Brit with an uphill battle to finish on the podium.
Especially after Merc chief Wolff confessed: “I don’t think this package is going to be competitive.
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“We gave it our best over the winter and now we need to regroup, sit down with the engineers — there are no holy cows — and decide what development direction we want to pursue in order to win races.
“The moment comes when the stopwatch showed we are not good enough.”
Hamilton himself also admitted on Friday that his Merc car is lagging even further behind Verstappen’s Red Bull than it was last year.
While he has faith in Mercedes being able to close the gap at some point, the season opener in Bahrain might come too soon.
Hamilton conceded: “The gap wasn’t as big last season as it is now.
“We found out we’re a long way off. We knew that a little bit in the test but it’s a big gap.
“Do I believe we can close the gap at some stage? Yes. But it’s quite hard with the concept we have.
“It’s going to be milliseconds, not closing the gap of a second.”
Nevertheless, Hamilton posted an uplifting message to his Instagram story ahead of Sunday’s race.
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He wrote to his 31.7million followers: “You can do anything you put your mind to, remember that!
“Start your day today telling yourself todays going to be an amazing day! Happy Sunday world.”
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
