26/06/2016
NEWS STORY
In a week in which that has seen four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel insist that danger is one of the key elements of the sport, Lewis Hamilton has echoed the German's call, fearing that over-cautious rivals are damaging the sport.
"It's dangerous... living on that edge," he told the Daily Mail{/}. "Of course, I don't want to crash and get seriously injured but that's a part of it.
"In the drivers' briefing, sometimes all these guys are talking about is the track being smooth, smooth as the road. They want it to be smooth. They don't want to feel any bumps. They want the biggest run off areas. They are talking about safety walls.
"I feel I'm a little bit more old-school," the 31-year-old continued. "Safety is something we have to work on and F1 has got to a safe place, but in Baku last week they wanted to open up the pit lane entry and make it easier. They were saying, 'it's so fast and dangerous' and I was thinking, 'it's not really dangerous at all. It was tricky to navigate but that is how racing should be.
"I just miss those old tracks where you couldn't run past the white line and off over the kerb, over the Astroturf, on to the grass and come back on easily," he admitted. "Now you can drive beyond the edge of the track and come back on.
"That's why it's easier for younger drivers to come in. Because that fear factor of going beyond that white line has shifted to the wall in many places. That is why a kid like Max Verstappen can come in and go off and come back on. It's just easier.
"I like facing the danger and respecting it. It's kind of like sitting in front of a cobra maybe and the thing's going to bite you. If you sit really close to it, the danger is it's more likely it's going to bite you in the face. But if you sit over there you can wave at it and do what you want.
"In F1 when I grew up, the cobra was here, right up close and the way they are pushing it, it is going further and further away."