In the words of Lew-Ham, "Quote"

And as I've said many times before it is damn easy when you are driving the best car on the grid ... you are either going to win or come 2nd.

F1 was very easy for LH when he started ... now it's more normal.
Pete

 

And still the same old BS is written about him, man its boring.

 

being a well educated chap, he'd probably want to say "Jenson and me......" in this context...that's if he ever wanted to put Jenson's name first.

 

That is the curse he bought on himself accepting the McLaren drive as he started F1. Senna didn't accept a top team drive because he wanted to prove himself, and in doing so allowed us all to judge him as a driver separate from the car.

Not my fault. I would never have allowed a rookie in a top team, and also never accepted that drive. Fact is, LH is good, but fact also is that it was far easier for him to be competitive in his first year than it was for say Adrian Sutil.

Anyway my father will continue to cheer for LH as he is driving a McLaren .
Pete

 

Mark Webber, Rubens Barrichello, Felipe Massa, Giancarlo Fisichella, and Kimi Raikkonen all say you're mistaken.

Actually, you have to go back 7 years to find the last time the #2 driver in the fastest car came 2nd.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/formulaone/article-2010627/Should-Lewis-Hamilton-suffer-Silverstone-ready-use-escape-route-McLaren.html

 

Excellent point - lots of people who haven't come close to achieving anywhere close to Lewis' level in their respective fields but who feel their judgement on him should somehow carry some weight.


I went to see the Senna movie on Thursday in Boston. One thing that stuck out the whole time is how similar Senna and Hamilton are in their driving style.

There was a part in the movie where Jackie Stewart is interviewing Senna and Jackie is saying that a lot of people are saying that Senna is too aggressive, that he "goes for it" too often and ends up in crashes. Jackie asked what Senna had to say about that. And Ayrton slapped Jackie down hard by saying that he was a racing driver too and he should understand... and that any racing driver who didn't show up to win should just go home and not even bother.

They also talked about when Senna crashed out at Monaco... he was so far ahead that the team were telling him to back off and cruise home. But the kind of guy he was, this was not in his nature. He wanted to totally dominate Prost so he kept on it, and ended up crashing out.

There was a further part where he was having issues with the FIA, and Prost had run to the officials after they crashed but Aryton was able to be pushed back on track and restart. Balestre came up with an insane ruling that he had cut the chicane and was DQ'ed - handing the WDC to Prost. Very reminiscent of the whole Kimi pass where he "didn't give the position back... enough", or other drivers being penalized when Massa crashes into them, etc.

Senna's mantra was that if you see a gap and you don't go for it, then you are not a racing driver. And he is right.

People can be pissed at Hamilton for doing something they think he shouldn't have done in retrospect - and you can find identical cases with all of the greats - it is the nature of a great driver. But those who are suggesting his overall attitude or driving style is remiss are full of crap. Those folks haven't achieved close to what LH has and have no basis on which to comment, and furthermore they do not understand the nature of a racing car driver or the nature of winners. You don't get to the top by being Felipe Massa. You fade into the history books as a has-been/never-was.

 

But #2 or #3 is better than #4 or #5, and the question comes back to: is it the car or is it the driver? We saw what happened when Team Brawn went to Team Mercedes.

Well-said.

Hmm, IIRC what I read is he actually did back off a teeny bit, and that screwed up his rythym, which caused his crash.

 

So since you frequently belittle drivers like Webber, Massa and Kimi (a WDC), I look forward to hearing what epic achievements you have bagged that makes you think your judgments carry any weight.

Smart racing right there!

 

I'm sorry, but this argument is so ridiculous it's laughable. Obviously, we're all armchair quarterbacks here, unless we have former F1 drivers in our midst. It's an internet forum to discuss the F1 world and people are allowed to have opinions. If you don't like them, too bad. Just don't bother responding to them, simple as that.

 

I meant in a race obviously ... not in the WDC. Sigh ...

Pete

 

I am more than happy to let the opinions of the history books and current results tell the story. It is some of you guys who are trying to argue that a guy who is considered by pretty much everyone to be one of the best - if not the best - in F1 is really a hump who got lucky and doesn't know anything because he had the best car handed to him on a platter. You wanna make that case, it has to be backed up by something or it's just backed up by jealousy or angst that he smacked down your favorite driver, etc, etc.

Sheep never understand why wolves can't just be nice and friendly the way they are

 

In that case it makes even less sense. How many #2's has Webber scored this year? How many did Barrichello score in 09?

 

Well it sure has to be easier getting 2nd in the best car on the grid than the worst. And I have no excuses for Webber or Barrichello ...

We have all already agreed the car is 95% of the equation so logic supports me.
Pete

 

I'm not one of those people. I have frequently said that Hamilton is in the top echelon of drivers and have complimented his skills. This does not mean I have to like him.

That was cute, but there's also nothing wrong with being a wolf in sheep's clothing, as Alain Prost might tell you.

 

Fair enough, but we need to wait for the evidence to be created. Currently he is on the same level as Damon Hill and Jensen Button, only time will tell if he really is better than them. I personally think he is a better driver ... but the history books don't say so yet.

Pete

 

Wait for it !!!!

G

 

Who said Lewis had the best car? Mclaren worked very hard to steal the designs for that car and build a copy of a car with Ferrari designs. Cheaters never prosper and Lewis / Mclaren are liars and cheaters!

 

Agree.

Also worth saying in response to:

The "everyone" Mike is referring to happen to be English/British past drivers or press ...

Pete