Is Lewis Hamilton the next Micheal Schumacher ?

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But so far it's looking pretty good. Then again so did Rubens, and Irvine when they were at Ferrari. If your a good driver with a great car it's easier to look better than you are.

 

Rubens retired in his 2nd Ferrari race and Irvine never got better than 3rd in his first Ferrari season. And they both were already seasoned F1 drivers at that time.

To all the Hamilton doubters on here: When have you ever seen such a performance by a rookie driver? Granted it is rare that a rookie starts his career in one of the best seats on the grid, but still. About the only comparison that comes to my mind was Jacques Villeneuve in his first year at Williams. And he did very well, but not as well as Hamilton so far.

 

I'm curious to find out whether or not he can beat Alonso on track. As for now, Alonso is easily quicker than Lewis. Of course, no shame in that since we are talking about the twotime and reigning worldchampion against a promissing rookie, but than again Schumacher made a certain three time worldchampion realize he was getting too old for this ****

Having said that, Lewis looks right at home in the top regions of F1. He is doing McLaren a mighty favour with scoring two second places in his first and second race. He obviously is the right man for the job and I would be surprised if it turns out he isn't in line for multiple championships.

 

Why does that surprise you? They were teammates at Carlin Motorsport in British F3 back in 2001. At that time, Sato also beat Davidson.

 

That is a perfect comparison. And what has JV done since?

How about ummm..................................NOTHING!!!! Take the perfect car away, and you'll see just how great he is or isn't.

Schumi went to a team that had not won a drivers championship in over two decades, and turned their entire program around, to be come the winningest (is that even a word?) team in F1. Does Hamilton have that kind of tallen?

I'm not knocking this Lewis kid, because he does seem very tallented, I just think it's too early to tell just how "great" he is, or isn't.

Time will tell. For the record I hope he does turn out to be a great tallent, and not just another flash in the pan.

 

While I do think Lewis walks on water, his record is 3rd and 2nd.

 

+1

 

right

so that will be a win in Bahrain...

 

lewis for a rook is a smart driver ill give him that but i think his car helped out alot. and i dont think he will be like ms

 

Well hold on here, let's admit that the Williams car that Damon and Jacques had were by far the best on the grid. Let's also admit that Eddie probably pulled over for Michael more than Rubens did. Considering these things, it's not hard to undrstand why Eddie couldn't get better than 3rd his first year, when he had barely any pre season testing.

 

i agree

 

Kubica last year. Made a good car a podium finisher on certain occasions.

 

First off you probably don't know this, but you're talking to one of Eddie's biggest fans. So it ain't easy for me to "down" my idol. But he really never was in the league Lewis is in.

And regarding 96: The 3rd place in the first race was actually Eddie's best all year long. It was downhill from there, no more podiums (podia) but 10 DNFs thereafter.

I didn't know who Hamilton was before Melbourne, but what I saw in these first two races and qualifying sessions was beyond brilliant.

For comparison:
MS put the Jordan on 7th of the grid at Spa and that was really all it took to get everybody's attention. Despite the fact that he then went on to fry the clutch at the start and roll out in turn 1. Everybody up and down the pitlane was talking about the next Senna and the team managers were quick to get him out of Jordan's team into a real car.
The way Hamilton hangs on to Alonso (no slouch either) and puts the car right up on front, brilliantly maneuvres through the first turn mess in Melbourne and dupes a veteran like Massa at Sepang into a foolish mistake shows me that he is not only superfast, but has what PSK calls "race craft". Honed in the lower leagues for just the right amount of time.

 

Good point. Which is why he too is hailed as the next wunderkind. His foolish mistake in Turkey (changing tires against the team's recommendation) and his accident at Sepang (hitting his team mate) make me doubt that though.

 

Right on!

 

Excellent Post, and Pete is 100% right about Racecraft.

 

You're right, Hamilton has performed brilliantly. I too have said that this kid is amazing and a future WDC. Now that I sit here and think about it, I realize that the cars haven't had TC in the last few years. I'm wondering if the cars are too easy to drive nowadays. Look at the other drivers being pinned as future stars: Kubica, Vettel, Rosberg, people are even talking up Sutil. I guess my point is that if you're talented and in one of the best cars on the grid, it's hard not to look good.

Villenuve for example, given that cars were harder to drive during that time, people were saying it's the second comming of Gilles, but after his stint at Williams, people say how overhyped he is. Will people say the same thing when/if Mclaren hits a dry spell? This has been said before, and I think it has merit. Would people be saying these things if he was driving for Spyker or Williams? Nowadays, you can't put a Spyker or STR on the front row of the grid. Wouldn't Kubica, Rosberg or Vetell do well also? Or is it simply that he has been brought up by Mclaren that gives him the edge over the others mentioned? Maybe i'm thinking too much, but I just hope he does well.

 

I still put Kubica as a top 4 driver right now with Kimi, Lewis, and Alonso, but only when the conditions are right. He already smoked an F1 Champ out of a race seat and by the end of this season should be regular on the podium.

 

It does surprise me a bit mainly because Davidson is so highly regarded and very quick on the friday sessions, Sato is shall we say less so highly regarded. Sato is only in still F1 because of Honda and Aguri Suzuki throwing him a bone.

 

All good points and I was thinking again about SRTMike's comment that Alonso was a "midpack" driver before his first win. I was adamantly against it in that thread, but now I'm not so sure about it anymore: Alonso was a midpack driver for a couple of years before his first win at Hungary. A similar thing can be said about Schumacher before his first title and even to some degree in his first years at Ferrari.

So no doubt the McLaren is flattering Lewis. However he is putting it to good use, which is radically different from what Massa did with the Ferrari at Sepang. And therein lies the difference between an eternal midpack driver and a champion in the making: The midpack driver can shine in a top car, but shows his mediocrity when he fumbles. The champion consistently puts a top car on the podium.

Another thought about this thread here: I think the folks who wonder whether Lewis will trump the 7 MS titles or build up a midpack team to a top team like MS did are taking the question too verbatim: I don't think that is what we mean when use such a term. What the question really means is, whether Lewis has the talent to make it to a multiple WDC. Of course he is not a DNA MS clone or a Frankenstein Senna. Of course he is his own man. But can he make it to a multiple WDC, that's the real question.

 

Kubicka is having trouble outperforming his own teammate. Until he does so on a consistent basis, I would hesitate to lump him in with the top drivers.

 

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Excellent point.

 

He has been having car troubles lately.

 

Maybe he will not turn out to be a big CHEAT like Schumacher...

 

I dont understand how MS can be considered a cheat. He did indeed do things that were against the rules on about 3 occasions, 1)"Parking it" at Monaco 2)Swiping Jacques Villenueve, 3)Bumping Damon Hill. No one is positive about 3 whether or not he did it on purpose, and 1 is very suspicious.
IMO Hamilton is driving with the biggest CHEAT, Alonso also gets pissy when he doesnt win and always complains to the FIA. I can think of 2 things last year alone where he cheated, brake testing Doornbos and blocking Massa in qualifying.