Quote from Rdcranno :

Hamilton is on a heavy load. I think we will see Massa is a couple of laps heavier though.

Hamilton pulled off a near perfect lap, hes beginning to show the composure of a champion.

IMO, if hamilton wins this WDC, he is with no shadow of a doubt up there with the legends of F1, this is his era.

Well said. I bet your post starts off a flaming war with people saying he will never be a legand, but he will be. I also believe this is his era.

Quote from sam93 :

I thought his driving style was said to be like Senna's and Shumacher's driving style, as of the way he lets the back end slide about a little through corners.
I may of missed the part when they said he is like Senna and Shumacher as I went back to bed at the end of Q3.

He didn't but tristan is twisting the words as usual.

Quote from sam93 :

I bet your post starts off a flaming war with people saying he will never be a legand, but he will be.

Not saying he will never be but isn't it a bit too soon to say that he is one after winning one championship and losing another one in a quite embarassing way?

Quote from zeugnimod :

The race is at 6:30 am here.

Here too.
I was up 6:00 today, i allmost fell too sleep when watching Quali

if hamilton wins it is just everyone else keep ****ing up their own game.

if he'd won last year than it's a proper quality win, but not this year. basically he has to fight half a kimi and then massa, now beating massa isn't exactly an "legendary" achievement....

Quote from aroX123 :

Here too.
I was up 6:00 today, i allmost fell too sleep when watching Quali

2pm here.

almost fail to wake up in time tho.

LoL okay, let's forget coke, coffee, teethpaste, sleep etc

Honestly, I have a feeling Raikonnen is gunna do something very cheap on Hamilton.

Should be worth staying up though. Having Massa behind Alonso specially should be VERY intrusting. Alonso has some of the best defensive driving I've seen in my life and I'm sure he wont let Massa through easily.

well the last person on earth who will do anything intentionally is kimi.....i mean he couldn't even push himself to drive fast, or slow, he just IS.

Lol. Honestly, I don't know Kimi enough but I'm sure that for a couple of millions he'd pwn Hamilton and blame cold tires

Quote from zeugnimod :

Not saying he will never be but isn't it a bit too soon to say that he is one after winning one championship and losing another one in a quite embarassing way?

if coming close to winning a championship in your first season, and then taking it in the 2nd is not an attribute of a legend then i dont know what is? or does he need to become Sir Lewis Hamilton before his talent gets recognised?

anyways, he may screw up, if so bash me i dont really give a damn. End of the day hamilton has set f1 on fire. Alot more exciting than the Schui era.

Quote from Rdcranno :

if coming close to winning a championship in your first season, and then taking it in the 2nd is not an attribute of a legend then i dont know what is?

then jacques villeneuve would be considered a legend as well.

Jacques was a legend until he screwed his career up.

Well, it's all locking up now.

It would take some serious divine intervention for Hamilton to lose it this close to the end.

so he isn't.

I mean...many drivers can win championships in a good car, heck even eddie irvine came close to Hakinnen, to be a legend you need to be much more then that.

Fangio was a legend because he dominated, and he never make mistakes, in a time where the slightess error could kill you.

Senna was a legend because before he won champsionships, he already shine in much lesser cars like ] Toleman and lotus, he has also taken a step forward in defining what is a professional racing driver.

Schumacher was a legend because he is immersely talented, and he is the first who exhibits an allround leadership quality to create a winning package.

so far hamilton has only proven that he 1. he has a lot of raw speed. 2. he is good in rain.

hardly enough for legend status, case by case Alonso is much closer to being a legend that Lewis at this point. If hamilton in the future would have the chance of driving for a lesser team, have a tough season then win by sheer brilliance against the best drivers in their top form, then it would be appropriate to start comparing him with other legends.

Quote from tristancliffe :

when we don't even know his fuel loads. It may have been a stunning lap, but nobody outside of McLaren will know until the race.

Quote from Ron Dennis :

It's a critical time and we've made no sacrifices of our race strategy, so it was a tremendous effort.

http://www.itv-f1.com/news_article.aspx?id=44219

To be honest, if it doesn't rain the Bathurst 1000 seem much more interesting to watch than the GP...

Quote from JJ72 :

so he isn't.

I mean...many drivers can win championships in a good car, heck even eddie irvine came close to Hakinnen, to be a legend you need to be much more then that.

Fangio was a legend because he dominated, and he never make mistakes, in a time where the slightess error could kill you.

Senna was a legend because before he won champsionships, he already shine in much lesser cars like ] Toleman and lotus, he has also taken a step forward in defining what is a professional racing driver.

Schumacher was a legend because he is immersely talented, and he is the first who exhibits an allround leadership quality to create a winning package.

so far hamilton has only proven that he 1. he has a lot of raw speed. 2. he is good in rain.

hardly enough for legend status, case by case Alonso is much closer to being a legend that Lewis at this point. If hamilton in the future would have the chance of driving for a lesser team, have a tough season then win by sheer brilliance against the best drivers in their top form, then it would be appropriate to start comparing him with other legends.

No, Hamilton hasn't been around long enough to be considered a legend, and I would never purport him to be.

However, what Hamilton has done is to reinvigorate F1 in the eyes of the general public and the media, especially in Britain. He has brought a whole new audience to the sport, and got 'normal' people talking about it again. In my view this is exactly what F1 needed after the Schumacher years. I think that whatever your views on Hamilton as a driver, his skill beind the wheel, or lack of, he has made F1 much more interesting for everybody, and I for one hope he wins the championship.

that's just hype in the UK though? for the rest of the world there's no such impact.

Quote from Rdcranno :

if coming close to winning a championship in your first season, and then taking it in the 2nd is not an attribute of a legend then i dont know what is? or does he need to become Sir Lewis Hamilton before his talent gets recognised?

There are more drivers who could have done that if they started their F1 career in a top car. And who doesn't recognize his talent? Saying that he isn't a legend after not even 2 years in F1 doesn't equal saying that he is talentless.

Quote from sam93 :

I thought his driving style was said to be like Senna's and Shumacher's driving style, as of the way he lets the back end slide about a little through corners.
I may of missed the part when they said he is like Senna and Shumacher as I went back to bed at the end of Q3.

Quote from evilpimp :

Like Sam said they compared is driving style to Schumy and Senna's not because he got pole. Once again your just trying to find reason to hate hm.

I think it was an interusting qual and should give way to some good racing watching Massa try and get through Alonso and Kovy.

Not what I heard. They said that the 'greats' were able to pull out a special couple of tenths when it mattered. And then Hamilton sticks it on pole by a couple of tenths and instantly James Allen commented that that must make him one of the greats - yet we don't know what fuel load he had relative to the competition.

This isn't about Hamilton (for once) but the sickly "I love Lewis" attitude of Allen.

@Mr B - they might not have compromised his strategy. It might have been 2 laps lighter all the long. They (McLaren) aren't going to tell people they're light (if they are, which they might not be) the night before a race are they!

Quote from evilpimp :

Lol. Honestly, I don't know Kimi enough but I'm sure that for a couple of millions he'd pwn Hamilton and blame cold tires

Kimi will go for a pass, and just push Hamilton wide, deliberate enough for everyone to know, but legal enough to get away with it .

p.s. for the debate. Lewis will never be like Senna, just like Schumacher is not like Senna. They are different drivers in a different era with different cars. Lewis will be Lewis, no one else. He will however never be the one I cheer on, nothing against him, I just like Kubica as a driver (and in interviews) more.

Must have missed that part. The only time I heard them talk about Senna and Schumy it was to compare their driving style with Hamilton's.

Quote from evilpimp :

Must have missed that part. The only time I heard them talk about Senna and Schumy it was to compare their driving style with Hamilton's.

James said "...He just found the speed, Martin was talking about the drivers that can go out and find it and Hamilton has proved that he is one of them".

Its not directly comparing him to a driving great imo, just saying he found speed when it mattered like other drivers have been able to, and there have been quite a few .

I think the start tomorrow will be pretty key to the outcome, if Kimi can get ahead of Lewis Ferrari may be able to gain an advantage, but if Heikki gets past Kimi, it'll be straight forward for Lewis.

If Kimi passes Lewis at the beginign I think Lewis should just focus on staying close to him because looking at the trend I predict that Kimi will crash that ferrari in the closing laps of the race.