Elton sucks....
See the footage from today: Needs a lot of motivational therapy over the radio: "still everything to play for..." Skipped parc ferme interviews. Bit of a cheat for the fans who want to hear from their drivers as they step out of the car. Avoidant body language in driver's room, nose in the corner. The tap from Räikkönen was called an interesting tactic by Hamilton and Mercedes, despite Räikkönen already admitting fault during the parc ferme interviews and stating that the penalty was deserved. Despondent on the podium, instead of trying to sound upbeat about a great fightback drive, he sounds depressed saying to his fans "couldn't have done it without you..." - yeah, right, that sounded sincere. I mean, really, it was a strong performance from a top driver in a top car at his home GP - it's just that **** happens on lap 1 sometimes. Look at Grosjean launching over Alonso on lap 1 at Spa in 2012. It could have been a lot worse today than a simple spin with negligible (if any) damage to the car. "It all looks fine on the data, Lewis." Despite a poor attempt at fighting talk on the podium about taking it on the chin and never giving up, it looks to me like he never developed a British stiff upper lip. As an aside, did anyone else notice he took the towel with him to do the post-race weigh-in? I wonder if any FIA officials caught it and will deduct the mass of a towel from his recorded weight. Hmm. Great driver in a great car, but more than a bit of a sulky diva when he doesn't have a perfect weekend. All the best, Andrew.
All the above is well and good...however...'still not a reference to personal interaction; just more one sided mud slinging with no chance of response from the recipient.
Personality is one thing, but you cannot take away his records. He is the 2nd most successful driver in F1 history, and he can still improve on that. F1 is becoming too much of a popularity contest, IMO.
I don't denigrate his records at all. They're impressive. Fans picking their favorite drivers has always been a personality/character contest, unless they're just fairweather fans who cheer for whoever has the best stats in the moment. All the best, Andrew.
[ For me, Hamilton lost a good chance of winning the GP through no fault of his own. He isn't the first one to display some frustration after the race. I see no more than that. As for popularity, I believe that Hamilton has more followers on social media than any other F1 driver, but I am not one of them. His type is just attracting the new audience Liberty is craving for. Ecclestone once said he was an excellent ambassador to the sport.
My post was a reply to one of yours, clarifying recently expressed thoughts about him. You can debate the points if you want to, but declaring them invalid unless the driver is here to respond himself is not reasonable. By such a measure, most forums would be prohibited any debate. I take it you aren't interested in any meaningful discussion and I'll leave it there. All the best, Andrew.
I merely expressed the opinion that he has a tendency to be a sulky diva on a less than perfect weekend. That observation is not isolated to only this weekend, but plenty where he's had difficulty. Lots of drivers have had weekends where through no fault of their own they've not had everything go perfectly. Typically, they'd reward their team and fans with a bit more grit and cheer for what was still a great save and respectable result. I didn't say he was unpopular, clearly he's got plenty of social media fans. Maybe some like his personality, character, style, or stats, and that's ok. I prefer to root for other drivers because their personalities, characters, or styles won me over instead, which is also ok. All the best, Andrew.
Popularity is not measured by social media...they sent an engineer (again) to push the pacifier button after all the whining of having a broken car...he needs to grow a pair...he sucks!! Forza Ferrari!! Even my daughters 6 and 7 mentioned during the race...he is a cry baby and a sissy...
'Seem a little hot under the collar. For no reason, no less. I agreed with your points, thus the "all well and good". Many drivers have acted the same whilst under the gun. Important to let the adrenaline dissipate , no? I have nothing against meaningful discussion. This is not meaningful discussion to me... I don't care for incessant, uncalled for, accusations and name calling when the "defendant" is not present to do so. I'll leave it here as well.
I personally feel Lewis' dig at Ferrari and accusing them of unsavory tactics / intentional shunting is extremely poor sportsmanship. Whatever the statistics might be, I will never remember him as one of the greats. A sulking diva is probably what he'll be remembered as...maybe not so much amongst the Brits but to the rest of the world surely...
