McLaren's Lewis Hamilton will be in the spotlight more than ever when Formula One's championship-leading rookie makes his British Grand Prix debut on Sunday.
Yet fellow Britons David Coulthard and Jenson Button suspect that the 22-year-old, 14 points clear of team mate Fernando Alonso after an astonishing eight podiums in a row, will feel no more pressure at Silverstone than anywhere else.

There is a rare burden of expectation on Hamilton, the youngest Briton and first black driver to win a grand prix, but he has demonstrated repeatedly this season that he can cope.

"I've been gaining podiums all my life so it's not a case of getting used to it," Hamilton told reporters in France last weekend. "It's something I enjoy doing and I hope I can continue."

Honda's Button said Hamilton, who was given a foretaste of what he can expect when 65,000 people turned up to see him drive last year's McLaren at a wet and muddy Goodwood in June, would be fine.

"He won't feel any more pressure. He's leading the championship," he said.

"He's going to have a lot of support so it's not going to be a tough grand prix for him or any more difficult than any others."

Red Bull's Coulthard, the last British driver to win at Silverstone in 2000 with McLaren, agreed: "The reality is it will be just another grand prix for him that he will want to win," he said.

FERRARI THREAT

Hamilton can expect Alonso, the double world champion who won at Silverstone last year with Renault, to be just as much as of a handful as Ferrari drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa.

Alonso had hoped to fight back at Magny-Cours last weekend but finished seventh after a gearbox problem wrecked his best efforts in qualifying. The Spaniard now has an even greater sense of urgency at the halfway point to the season.

Alonso, whose rivalry with Hamilton has lent a compelling psychological twist to a four-way title battle, told Spain's Cadena Ser on Monday that he felt McLaren would be happier if his team mate won at Silverstone.

"This shouldn't generate any particular controversy," he added. "We will be in England, a Spaniard and an Englishman and the Briton is leading the championship. If he wins there, they will be happier."

While the Spaniard will do his utmost to win, he recognised that Ferrari might well be even more competitive after their one-two in France.

It remains to be seen also how much the championship leaders are unsettled by Tuesday's revelations that a senior McLaren technical employee allegedly received a wealth of leaked information from Ferrari.

The Italian team were very quick in recent tests at Silverstone and are confident they can continue their resurgence.

"If we get all the parts we tested there to the car, Ferrari will be even more competitive next weekend," Raikkonen said on his Web site. The Finn is 22 points behind Hamilton and five adrift of Massa.

(China Daily via Reuters July 5, 2007)