I feel F1 fanboyism in general is getting out of hand. I'm a Hamilton fan but there is no way that the Alonso incident even looked anything close to brake testing. Just because Martin Brundle got it wrong doesn't mean everybody has to start jumping up and down, depending on which hater bandwagon they're on.
Anyway here's my list of fame for this race.
Great Success:
Fisichella: written off yet destroying Sutil and mixing with the works teams
Massa: nothing spectacular but didn't bow to overrated Raikkonen this time
Kubica: for being the currently closest Ferrari competitor
Epic Fail:
Hamilton: for forgetting to setup his electronics, hitting the back of Alonso and venting his frustration at Sato and Fisichella
Coulthard: for trying to convince himself that Button may have vanished into thin air
Sutil: for completely ruining the reputation he built up last year
I'm actually expecting such a fight since the pre-season ended. It seems like 2009 is going to be a lot more equal though, but 2008 is promising to deliver a good fight. And I agree that it's not actual hate towards LH, just about blind fanboyeurism most of the time, even though the guy is not exactly a saint, and it's going to be shown as his nerves start to boil later this season, if things keep going like this. He's good and fast if he starts on a good position, but else, he's just a pack driver with a good car.
I would rather say I don't like him because he pretends too much to be the 'oh so nice' guy, while he's showing more and more he's not. Nothing wrong with his driving skills, although heavily overrated by LH's fans. Would have been healthier for those to see him racing against MS, the german monopoly guy (not the american software one).
It should be well known that one of the biggest 'problems' with current Renault is the suspension system alltogether, forcing slow corner turn-in speeds and disallowing a full throttle maneuver after the apex. While the infamous 'mass-damper' technology by Renault was banned by the FIA, now most cars use a variation of the very same principle, just not Renault. Thus it is to be expected that FA's turning speeds will be slower. What I don't understand is what was LH doing behind a 'much slower car' for so long, but that's also something I don't mind not finding out about.
I laughed pretty hard when he started giving 'the hand' to other drivers he was fighting against, as if he had any kind of right to be let to top spots. That and the arrogance bit on your post kinda speaks for itself. In one race he made more signs of that than FA in most seasons - do not take that out of context, I mean actions, not words. Well, it's easier to get into a good position than to maintain it through a long time, and he's going to have a hard time this year, but next year is even going to be harder.
Quite true about most points.
On a side note, I would have loved to see LH starting on a minardi-like car his first year on F1, sure thing there would not be that much hype about him this way.
+1
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I would not sign into any Anti-Whoever club by any reason. I think serials like House have shown that bad guys attract media much more than good looking virginal teenagers, and both LH and F1 are much more about having the media to talk about them than actually helping hardcore fans have their thing. They make it easier to talk about it and to make it popular, while lowering the level of the average F1 follower. It has it's good and bad part, just as probably everything.
Even though I didn't have to suffer Mr. James Allen's commentary, things in Spain ain't much different when it comes to who tells what, even though they are far more informative about general interest comments and not that much about driver's personal tastes. They have one hour just before the GP to fill with whatever story they see fit, and since I have 2 TV channels emitting the race (different languages, different areas, both inside Spain), I can pick which dish I wanna eat. Is that the same over UK or do you only have 1 channel?
And yes, the appeal of F1 to me is not the drivers, but rather the cars and the driving. I might prefer Kubica over Massa or Räikkönen over Kovalainen, but on a race I am prone to cheer skillful, graceful driving over anything else. I like to see winning who's worked for it real hard, not the one that is more sympathetic or who says the nicest things or who gives me presents (even though if they gave me a car I wouldn't fight against it :tilt, and even luck being part of racing in general, it's what usually comes out happening.
His the overflappythingy had exploded from his stupidity before the contact to alfonso, which you can see from the pic. Oh, and it did explode a lap before the mounting of alfonso, so i doubt it took him by a surprise.
yes Hamilton did give a small nudge at Alonso at the start, ITv showed a replay of it, there was a video on utube alson but they took it off. Anyways really crapy 2 grand prixs for Hamilton
I totally would, if they weren't blackouted for TSN's broadcast, which consists of their own Pre-Race show, then ITV's main broadcast, then their own Post-Race, which is adequate, nothing special, but better than bare minimum.
SPEED isn't blacked out. Except maybe for Montreal, but then you can catch it on the re-run.
The Bahrain race was on 7am EST, just like advertised. I woke up for it, but passed out in from of the TV during the grid-walk and missed the whole race!
There is the answer then, the combination of Alonso's poor line in the turn and Hamilton losing a lot of downforce prior to that caused the closing speed to be much faster than Hamilton had expected. Still Hamilton's fault for messing up the start and getting his wing damaged in the first place, but at least we know there were no sharks involved, although James Allen might disagree.
He definitely lost the wing bridge, you can see it fly off in this vid at 1:20 (or you can see it until Bernie takes it away... as suggested by the name of the guy who posted it)
It won't have made much difference since he was in the slipstream anyway, doesn't make him any less of an idiot for driving into the back of another cat
We have no other choice in Australia , when the feed is sold to other parts of the planet i think its more than reasonable to expect that the commentators leave there bias at home...
I watch F1 to watch F1 not the "God Save Lewis Hamilton Show" featuring James " I want your lovechild Lewis" Allen.
Its not just the commentators that give us the shits , the director needs shooting too.
If the product was sold only to the British then yes we would have no right to complain,
You can still vote with the remote if you don't like it. Find a different feed on the Net or something. While I understand the irritation, I just don't see any point in complaining that bananas taste like bananas. If you don't like the taste of bananas, don't eat the yellow ones. ITV F1 coverage is Brit-oriented. If not Hamilton then Button or Coulthard or Anthony Davidson. That's the remit it has, to appeal to British people, get viewing figures up and hike up their advertising fees. If your TV corp bought into that package rather than pony up to make their own, then bitch at them.
You should here us whinge about having to watch pretty much every GP at ridiculous times in the morning, seriously though even the Brits must cringe at The LH show with supporting cast members, Ferrari, RBR,Honda etc etc etc
Dont even ask about what happens when Channel Ten puts the races on late because Big Brother After Dark runs late
We hate James Allen. He's the most vocal about the British drivers (prolly takes his ITV contract more seriously). I think Brundle gets dragged along with the "Brit" conversations, and doesn't seem to initiate them.
I like Hamilton for what he represents to the sport and the potential positives in British society on many different levels. A friend of mine, who contracts to the team in a menial role, says Hamilton really is a genuinely nice guy. I have more faith in my friend's perception than anyone else's, because he admits to being a bum-end grunt, but Hamilton will seek him out for a chat and a drink. For me, that's a personality hi-score.
I,m not having a go at LH, i think he is a good thing for F1 they just need to get the spotlight off the poor guy and drop a few gears on the hype-o-meter .
Be grateful you haven't got Steve Ryder presenting the show for the hour preceding each race and wrapping up afterwards. It's 99% Lewis Hamilton content. He actually annoys me more than James Allen, he's got a really sycophantic turn of phrase.
A couple of years ago all they talked about was Button. I don't remember it being biased towards DC this much when he was at McLaren, though.
I agree.. spectacular rookie season by anyones' standards. Credit where credit is due, that was a phenomenal season for anyone in their first year coming into F1, in any car. I think the expectations on him are unreasonably high this year, and the hype may backfire on the sport in a big way down the line if he can't live up to it.
Turns out he wants to win, he's as hyper, and as desperate to climb the field as all the other F1 drivers are. Who could have predicted that?
I have great respect for LH, and am not at all surprised by the results so far - remember this is his SECOND year. Schumacher had how many seasons before he managed a decent result?
Brilliant season last time round, now he needs to gain experience and cool head. Hes the kind of driver that is all nice and smiles off the track, but all "hahaha I passed you, heres teh finger, you monkeh!" kinda guy on track.
In a way, reminds me of Senna. (though senna was more the "no way you are passing ME!" kinda guy.)
1st race? 1st [part] season? 2nd Season? 3rd Season? 4th Season... Oh yes, all of them [taking into account the fact he didn't walk into the best team at the time. And he beat a triple World Champion by a bigger margin than LH did over FA.
Don't even TRY to compare LH to Schumi in terms of results.