How curious LH and FA having totally different driving styles and still from Autosport Hamilton reckons his errors(at least the guy is honest) .
Hamilton's nervous response regarding the Pit Stop was a rookie mistake and worse on my opinion. Thank God for Dennis (and the mechanics) that Albers wasn’t driving the car.
lol yes Schumacher wasn't a great sportsman but his brilliance still managed to outweigh his dirty moments, the thing is I've yet to see a race with Hamilton where he's done anything special that has out weighed something dodgy he's done.
@Senna - it doesn't matter whether there is actually a danger of contact weaving is an absolute no no as it ruins the racing, that's the kind of thing I don't expect to see in LFS let alone by supposedly the top racing formula.
Sorry but I really cannot understand how you don't see 9 podiums in a rookie season as not special. Not only that but the fact he is leading the double world champion who is driving the exact same car. I'm wondering what Hamilton has to do to prove himself to some people. Even if he wins the title this year you will still be hearing 'oh but FA is still adapting to the team and the tyres' well Lewis is adapting to all those things, plus F1. GP2 isnt that similar to F1.
I am in favour of a crack down on the dangerous weaving at the start of a race, and also make the rules on defending your position similar to Champ Car. Not only would it promote more overtaking, it would also be safer.
There was actually a whole article about how much damage Senna and Schumacher have done to motorsport with their dangerous moves. Young racers see them get away with it and copy them, then everyone else is forced to do the same just to compete. Damon Hill still complains about that sort of thing, I would like to see him have a word with Lewis to stop him doing the Schumacher starts, it sets a bad example to young racers.
EDIT: Oh and the reason I defend Lewis is that I like him as a person and as a racer, he is down to earth and his driving style is entertaining to watch, his race craft is also very good. I don't defend him 'just because he is British', otherwise I would be defending Button who consistently makes bad career choices and keeps being out performed by his team mate.
I thought it funny on the last lap when James Allen starts going on about how sportsmanlike the British crowd were for cheering Kimi over the line even though the local boy Hamilton didn't win. Then the camera pans out and you all you see is Ferrari flags and Finnish flags waving. I think Allen overlooked the fact that there are fans of different drivers and that not every person at the track feels the need to ejaculate at the sight of Hamilton. Allen's constant drooling over Hamilton completely ruined the coverage for me. I started to silently hope that Hamilton's car would fail so that James Allen would have his little cry then shut up about it.
I think that people dislike Lewis mainly because he's started in an A class car. I know that's primarily the reason I dislike him.
I also dislike him because of all the media attention he's receiving, and while I do realize he can't really control them, he could be a bit more humble about it i'd say. They portray him as the second coming of Senna, and he really seems to just soak it all up and play the part.
He's a great sportsman when it comes to the tarmac, but he needs to lose this mental media stigma he's been carrying.
perhaps im being a tad cynical here, but if scott speed had been doing what lewis has been doing, on, and off track, i wonder if you would have posted that?
There's something about Lewis I don't like tbh. Can't put my finger on it, but he does come across as a bit of a twat in interviews.
For the time being I'm putting it down to him being young and inexperienced and a bit shy, but in the back of my mind I think he's probably a bit of a twat. Hanging out with Pharrell Williams in the paddock at Indy didn't make him look too clever.
How many podiums has he actually had to work for, he's in the fastest car on the grid and he may well be one of the best if not the best driver on the grid but it still doesn't make him special, he's done nothing but drive round for 90 minutes 9 times from what I've seen.
surely the best car b4 the season was Renault, then ferrari was 2nd and Mclaren was 3rd (i think) you can't blame LH for having a good car, blame Mclaren for making some really good improvements.
Unless the TV director boosted the crowd noise the sheer volume coming out of the stands was a heck of a lot of cheering.
I've been to the British Grand Prix during Mansell mania and there wasn't a driver in the field that wasn't well received. Unfortunately I dont think i've been to the British Grand Prix when 'our guy' didnt win, but with the British tendancy to be fair and support whoever they feel like (see thread above) supporting drivers based on the merit they perceive rather than flag, just who is 'our guy' anyway?
If Kubica was this years golden boy we'd be having this exact same conversation, and trust me when I say you wouldn't find many Brits going, "Button is better".
Actually I think he is trying to be humble, but i'm sure he's also aware that if he over does it everything will throw up from how sickening it would be. Let's not forget that Schumacher had training in how to handle the media and conduct interviews before he even entered F1 - and he made my skin crawl - I think he's doing an OK job with his image given the media frenzy around him, a frenzy which has come about because of his driving, not his gob.
Maybe for you Schumacher's talent absolved him, but i've still not forgiven him for Adelaide let alone the litany of transgressions he continually made. As for Lewis, maybe i've not been paying as close attention - but that weaving was the first thing i've seen him do that I thought, "Hang on, that just wasnt cricket". I can forgive him for it though for a simple reason, his pit stop. I dont see it so much as a rookie error, I think he just wanted to win his home Grand Prix a little too much, he tried too hard, he drove beyond his limit. I'm not surprised McLaren turned the wick down on him, he may be dead by now if they didn't!
As far as I can recall McLaren and Ferrari were the two teams setting the pace in winter testing. Renault were quite far off the mark and admitted themselves they had to push the development of the R26 further into the season than they wanted to win the championships.
The interesting thing with Hamilton so far is the last two races he has been on his back foot when it comes to pace. He was slower than Alonso in France and Silverstone. He was also slower in Indy if I recall correctly but McLaren had the car to be in there. Before anyone mentions his qualifying lap, well his lack of fuel was where that came from.
What I'm interested to see is now how he keeps his head in what is looking like a very strong come back from Ferrari, now he doesn't have a car that is the quickest. As things stand just now it's up to the driver to make it quicker.
I couldn't help but laugh every time Steve Ryder said, "But there are another 3 British drivers." I was almost shocked to know there was another 3 drivers, yet alone another 21. They filled the show with so much Hamilton blurb they couldn't even fit in their special feature...
If, say, Heidfeld joined McLaren (in a period like now where it's the fastest or second fastest car) and got 9 podiums in a row would we start thinking "OMG, he's amazing", or would we think "so what, that's what you have to expect with pretty much any F1 driver in the best/second best car?". The latter of course.
Not throwing it at the scenery isn't a sign of greatness or relative skill - it's what is basically expected of him. If he DOESN'T finish on the podium then he's not doing his job properly. If he wins 9 races in a row you might start thinking he's special. If he comes from the back of the grid to 5th you might think he's a bit special (even Massa managed it, and he's clearly not 'special'). If he takes an uncompetative car and wins a wet race by miles you might think he's something special.
As it is, Hamilton proved he struggles when the car isn't perfect. And, contrary to what JA said, we have seen mistakes from him before - running very very wide at Melbourne for example.
Don't bother comparing him with Alonso, because Alonso is struggling for different reasons - Michelin to Bridgestone. Whilst I've never rated Alonso that highly (relative to F1 minimum level of competence - he's clearly vastly better than you or I), I think Hamilton will start to struggle now that Kimi and Alonso appear to have found their feet on the 'new' tyres. With Massa still going quite well, I'm expecting Hamilton to get a few less podiums for the rest of the season.
Noone is blaming McLaren for having the right equipment. It simply seems to dull his incredible success. LH has yet to prove himself against adverse conditions. (as noted Mclaren is a fairly dull(if not uber-sucessful) team in itself) Best car = best finishes for 99% of F1.
Massa making up 17 positions in a race with few DNF's has to be the highlight of recent F1 history for me. Shame the coverage chose not to show him battle with Kubica for the last 2 laps.
dadge, something I learned a while ago, winter testing means very little compared to the start of the season. I judge the winning drivers or teams from the first race and even then, as we saw at Silverstone, Ferrari bounced back after McLaren were pwning their arses in the few races before Magny-Cours. Tbh, with the way things are going, it can be any of the Ferrari or McLaren drivers' championship. We'll have to wait and see I guess but I expect McLaren will be trying quite hard at Nurburgring(1/2 Home GP for Mercedes and wanting to bounce back from Silverstone). It looks like an exciting season.
Thats even more pointless dadge :reallyoh and you weren't clear in your post there whether you were talking winter or last season :shrug. Former seasons don't mean anything compared to the season after it.
True, Ferrari and McLaren always finish well but with that kind of logic, would go against why Ferrari were so good in 06(after being nowhere in 05), no? and the fact that Honda came out of nowhere in 05, no?. Dadge, get your logic straight man, former seasons don't mean anything to the season after. Oh and btw, you could say the same about Mclaren as well for 05 as they were shite for the last 4 or 5 seasons before it.
Ah ok, I had no idea Hamilton was running Bridgestone F1 tyres last season. If you dismiss everything else as the car, the fact that Hamilton has adapted to his new environment faster than Alonso is in itself a huge achievement.
ok lep, that was the last straw. congratulations. your now on my ignore list. onle one day has passed since you last tried to take a swipe at either me or my team mate. don't bother giving me any of your pointless "oh i'm sorry pm's" don't bother talking to me. i am done with your crap.
Thats true Tristan but Alonso does have the experience of how an F1 car in general handles so tis impressive what Hamilton can do. I do think however that the reason why Hamilton is very good is a lot to do with the whole driver support program of the team so compared to a first timer without any support program, it is quite different IMO.
Erm, Hamilton had everything to unlearn from a GP2 car, which is quite significantly different. I really don't understand your hate of both Hamilton AND Alonso.
I don't hate Hamilton - I'm just awake enough to see he's a rookie in the best (ish) car doing exactly what he's employed to do and so far nothing more.
I do hate Alonso though. Grumpy, crap under (political) pressure, whining, silly driving style. I just never 'warmed' to him like I did with Senna, Schumi, Hill, Hakkinen, Villeneuve (during his championship years, he later became a whiner too), Kimi, Irvine, Herbert. Prost I always found dull (though that was part of his magic), and Mansell was great to watch desite the dull whinyness...
I have to admit the logic in the "un-learning" argument escaped me too. Maybe all the GP2 drivers are very careful not to learn anything in case they get called up by an F1 team.
and wanting to bounce back from Silverstone). It looks like an exciting season.
oh and you weren't clear in your post there whether you were talking winter or last season :shrug
. Alonso didn't get to play games much as Hamilton was hogging the simulator