Lewis Hamilton

Oh sorry.. I took it as you agreed with the whole post, silly me!!

 

+1000 great post

 

+1001

 

Damon Hill was also world champion, in a far superior chasis to what Schumi was driving at the time, does that mean Damon Hill was one of the best ever, or Jaque Villeneauve for that matter? If Lewis Hamilton was so good he wouldn't have thrown his championship away in a gravel trap last year. 3 drivers off the top of my head that are far better?? Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettle, and Jarno Trulli, look what these three do with those pieces of crap they are driving week after week. Trulli has been qualifying that thing in the top ten for 3 seasons now, where was Ralph Schummacher ?? Sebastian Vettle, is out qualifying his whole team most of the time, besides Mark Weber (Also a good driver). And Fernando Alonso is so far out driving Piquet, it's not even funny. Put Alonso in this years McLearen, and he would pound Hamilton into the ground. To be a truely great driver you need to be great in a Beneton, as well as a Ferrari. Please don't ever put Lou Hamilton in the same sentence as Michael Schummacher again !!

 

Schumi 'threw' a championship away too but in his case in a very unsportsmanlike fashion (could have easily been twice). So applying your logic to him he is not a great driver either then?

 

He seems to be the best-positioned at the moment, but with so much racing left I have a feeling one of the others will snatch it away.

No. I don't think anyone in F1 is the best driver in the world. I don't have someone else in mind, I just don't see any of them as being so supremely good. And the fact that 4 drivers in 3 different chassis' are bunched so closely tells me that none really stands out from the others.

I like him where he is. Not sure who I'd like to see at Ferrari, but possibly Kubica, Sutil and/or Alonso.

 

Please, stop making assumptions about what I think or not, just to make your point. You have no idea what I was thinking about those other incidents, and you are of course wrong again. Right now, the discussion is about Lewis Hamilton. After years of following this sport, except for a break during the early 1990's, I have seen many young drivers come on the scene, make a big splash, and then fade from glory. Hamilton may or may not be one of those drivers. I have no idea, and neither do you and all of the legions of support you apparently know first hand, like "those that are unbiased", and "those involved". Who are they anyway?

Only time will tell. At this point, I won't be hasty to assume anything. He is drivng the best car on the grid for most of the last 18 months, a car that suits his driving style. That does not make him the best in my book, yet. I come from an old school of racing, a driver can do wonders in the perfect car and look like the next Fangio, but when it came to one that was ill-handling, his true ability would come to the surface. There is a driver named Curtiss Turner that set that standard. He would take a piece of crap and take it to the front. I would still like to see Hamilton in a second rate car, for me, that would speak volumes.

I have never doubted Hamilton's early success. I only pointed out the facts. Say what makes you feel better about your opinion, but fact remains Hamilton threw away the 2007 WDC. He has made two serious mistakes this year, the worst, running into the back of a stopped car in pit lane. That actual error to me was a racing mistake. It was Hamilton's inability to accept his own responsibility afterwards that I preceived as a negative, which even the British press pointed out also. He always seemed like a personable individual, so that response by him threw many people off. Possibly that is his true personality, who knows? You don't, I don't, only those close to him know and they are not on this forum.

So please go back and read my words carefully as you seem to miss not only my points but their meaning. I am not suggesting that Hamilton is not good, quite the opposite, he shows excellent ability. He has also shown a lot of immaturity.

I am saying he is not the perfect driver, or the best driver on the grid at this point in time, too early to say. I think that is a very simple sentence to understand.

 

Glad I could bring you a smile. I stick to what I said, at least my sun glasses are not opaque. :O

 

Thanks for this thread Tony, Tis one I will have the pleasure of saving and revisiting...

 

Sorry Ron, it's not a very simple sentence to understand. In fact it doesn't actually make sense!

 

Not only a dumb statement but also very sad......

 

It's only because I'am biting my tongue...

 

It's a opinion, like many others

 

It is not just an opinion. It is an absolutely irrelevant comparison. One was trying to bring the title back to the scuderia after 20 years dry spell and was willing to win at all cost in the last race. It was an "all-or-nothing" moment in the heat of the moment (not that it excuses him). The other was a stupid move in pitlane before midseason. Senna has become a champion by taking someone intentionally out too, but you can not compare those situations with what LH did to Kimi.

 

You talk as if Lewis did it intentionally, I'm not getting into a battle of wits with you, Rob can explain his point, I just pointed out it was his opinion, so why dont you post your opinion on where you rate Lewis as in the title thread.

 

I don't believe anyone here rates Hamilton as highly as he rates himself.

That said, his car control skills are among the best I have ever seen. Racecraft will come after the ego barrier is lowered a bit.

 

Lucky, i was trying to say that just because LH made a mistake it does not mean that he isn’t a good driver as this was the part of the post i didnt agree with. Surely if he wasn’t a good driver he would not even have been in the running in his first year? I am not saying i don’t like Schumacher, because i do. I am also not saying that Lewis is better either but yes he messed up and i was trying to point out that all drivers mess up at times and could end their own chance of winning the WDC, regardless of how good they are.

 

Ok well you completely dodged my point about Schumacher's shenanigans, which isn't surprising. That's because there's a double standard there.

Also, you ask who these people are who praise and recognize hamilton's ability, and those that are unbiased. Seriously I could name several people who have praised him: Sir Jackie Stewart, Nigel mansell, Damon hill, etc. but you can simply do a google search and find out for yourself. You can also take a look at that video in my my post, if you like. you know, the one with Schumacher speaking highly of him? Oh wait, you'll probably call BS on it because it goes against your opinion. The mere fact that you ignored my point about Michael, makes you look biased. You make the point about an inferior car, but how do you know how bad the car really is? Alonso is doing better than Piquet jr. in that Renault, but then again it's Piquet jr...not exactly the Kimster. It's easy to understand that you think Hamilton is good, so don't reiterate those points any further. What I'm saying, is that you hold Hamilton to a different standard than others. look further up this post to see a case in point. Not to mention I don't recall you ever criticizing Massa for completely throwing a 2nd place away at Sepang, and him blaming it on the car, when Ferrari admitted it was simply a driver mistake.

 

Honestly I don't know where to rate anyone anymore. Last year Kimi was better than Massa, who was way inconsistent. This year the tables have turned. Lewis is showing great talent and definitely has a great future ahead of himself. Will he be a WDC? I don't know. I hope so. MOre and more I feel like F1 is becoming this big fARCE and if it keeps going this way I, like many others will lose interest in following it.
I think the biggest enemy of LH is not the tifosi or himself. I think it is the overzealous press which is very obviously biased. Everyone here wants to crucify Ron Dennis. The fact is that he did not want Lewis to race last year, and now we see for good reason. It was BE who forced him in for $$$$$$ reasons. Lewis Hamilton could do sooooo much better if he started with a lesser team, impress everyone and then move to McLaren and win. It is the proven formula that everyone of the greats went through.
Because of all this I don't know where to rate him. I am definitely sure that given the same machinery, Kubica would spank the sense back into him. I don't think that LH would be as high in the standings as Kubica is now if LH was driving the BMW. But we would not know, as he was groomed from long time ago to be strictly a McM wonderboy.

 

Have a look at how Hamilton and Kubica performed in lower formulae and think again!

 

Lewis Hamilton is just another of Ron Dennis' boys. He fits the mold, he is subordonate, he cuts his hair the right way etc etc.... He doesn't blow the whistle on cheating like Alonso did, he's perfect for McLaren. However he is after all just a flash in the pan. He is not, could not, and will not ever be Michael Schummacher, or Senna or anything even close. Remember the F1 press and how giddy they got when ever something happened to Shummi. Hakkinen was the next comming of Christ when he passed Schummi on the Kettle staight at Spa, then there was, and I quote "you are witnessing the passing of the torch in Formula One" when Montoya passed Schummi at Inter Lagos, and when Alonso held off Schummi in ??? they said there is a "new sherrif in town". There have been a whole lot of wonder boys over the last 30 years or so, Michael Andretti, Montoya, Hill, Villeneuve, Hakkinen, Alonso etc...but add up all thier wins, championships, poles, podiums, whatever, they are not even in the same universe as Schummi or Senna. Nigel Mansell in a piece of crap would run Hamilton down all day long. Stop buying into all the hype about this kid, lets let him pass Alonso's marks before we talk about Schummacher, Senna, Prost, Fangio etc...

 

Revist this post in, say, five year's time and eat humble pie!

 

It doesn't matter. I performed a lot better on a lot harder subjects in 7th grade compared than 6th. Some kids had the opposite happen to them. Jack Villeneuve became a WDC and Montoya did not. How are they performing in NASCRAP?
It is irrelevant what they had done until they came in F1. The fact is that Kubica is not far behind Lewis in a MMMUUUUUCH inferior car than the McLaren which apparently is the class of the field right now.
Everyone talks about Alonso in Ferrari, LH in Ferrari blah, blah, blah...... Kubica has no contract tying him to anyone and is brilliant when his equipment lets him. He is the one that everyone needs to be wishing in Ferrari, if there were changes to be made. Lewis Hamilton talks about doing the talking with his driving on track. The only guy I have seen do it this season is Kubica. Quite, polite, humble and.....lightning fast. I wish I see him in a car that gives him the opportunity to really take the fight to Hamilton, so we can finally see a real battle for the championship.

 

Apparently Lauda is a blind as I... http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/69372. Can you name one former WDC that agrees with you...