Hamilton's secret weapon

Lewis Hamilton has revealed the secret weapon that he hopes will clinch him the F1 drivers’ championship in Interlagos next weekend.

The plucky British racer, worried that his McLaren MP4-23 will prove vulnerable to an early bump during the Brazilian GP, has decided instead to take to the track in a Mercedes GL 320D.

Though the GL has shown a lack of straight-line pace in testing, it is expected to prove more robust than the MP4-23 in the expected wheel-to-wheel racing environment at Interlagos. Furthermore, the four-wheel drive should come in handy in the event of heavy rain… or Lewis ditching it in the gravel.

We’re lying. You might have guessed.

This is a cheesy promotional shot of Mr Hamilton’s new weekday runabout – provided by Mercedes, naturally – accompanied by an equally cheesy tome of promotional spiel including such memorable soundbites as: “It’s got awesome 21-inch AMG wheels.  But with standard air suspension, it still rides beautifully...”

And so on for several hundred words. No matter how much Lewis loves his new GL, we can’t help thinking it’s a bit unfair: Mr Alonso managed to blag himself a McMerc SLR 722 (not a racing one mind) during his time at McLaren. And he was rubbish.

Then again, don’t forget that, should he win the title in Brazil, Lewis will finally get his hands on Ron Dennis’s shiny McLaren F1 LM. Motivation enough, we reckon...