Hamilton deserves more respect

@william has been banned for 1 month for unsubstantiated repeated insinuations that others are racist without substantiating the point, being unwilling to debate it, and furthermore denying he ever made the charge.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

As we seek, so shall we find.

 

But Verstappen can insult and curse out reporters, and act disrespectful at a post race conference. Yet nobody talks about it. I'm still waiting for someone to mention his behavior in the post conference a couple races ago. It seems as Lewis actions are always being judged and under a microscope, while other drivers get passes.

 

The other drivers don't demonstrate as much pretense.

As said in another thread recently, the drivers who are more focused on just driving, without trying to spin a narrative or pander to marketable demographics, are the ones who are more naturally likeable - even if they are less successful on track. Hamilton always looks like he's trying to say whatever he thinks will be the most popular thing in the moment, whether he's saying he always used to play as Schumacher in F1 video games, or always used to play as Raikkonen.

When someone is more honest, they're more likeable. See 0:46-1:06:

"Oh, now, be honest, Captain. Warrior to warrior. You do it prefer it this way, don't you?
As it was meant to be. No peace in our time. Once more unto the breach, dear friends."​

There was a time when drivers getting mad about chicanery from their opponents was called passion. If Hamilton would take a leaf out of Verstappen's book and get mad in a press conference instead of trying to bleat on about how he isn't bothered but needs to complain for the health of the sport, he might appear less manipulative, more genuine, and more likeable.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

+1 That's about it.

I didn't like Lewis at the very beginning when I was much younger because he drove for a) the wrong team (Mclaren being the mortal enemy of Ferrari at the time) and b) the British commentators would never, ever shut up about Lewis..Granted, they had good reason to speak about him in such positives ways, but ITV (at the time the broadcaster) may as well have been LHTV. For a guy that was beating Ferrari every other weekend, that was part of my frustration.

After all that died down and they had a more likeable guy to go on about (chap named Button), Lewis & the guy he tries to sell himself as, became more and more public, and like you said, him trying to be on both sides of the coin, just doesn't appeal to me.

I've always been a fan of straight shooters, Hakkinen, Raikkonen, Schumacher, Verstappen, Vettel...later on Alonso, and nice guys that perform really well: Kubica, Brundle, Herbert, DC etc.

Occasionally I've agreed with whatever Lewis said, but 9/10 times a day later the PR machine starts doing it work and he's backtracking his comments. Either way I don't think Lewis cares very much if I am a fan of his or not. Lewis, being the 7x world champion and dominating the hybrid era, is naturally talked about a lot more because, well, he's dominating.

 

And not to mention his constant disparaging of anything Ferrari or Italian with total impunity. And while others are not allowed to dislike his hero, he freely dumps on aforementioned Ferrari, Italians, plus Gasly, Vettel, Kimi, and other posters.

As I noted before, he is the text book definition of a troll: comes on to a Ferrari discussion board with the sole intention of dumping on Ferrari and their fans.

 

+1000

Ps : You just forgot his fellow countryman too, the French people

 

Yes, true. It’s almost like he’s denying his own heritage. Must hate himself, LOL.

 

All drivers say things that are not genuine sometimes. The F1 drivers are not priest, they are not all Godlike with a perfect heart. Verstappen and Red Bull change their tune on many things to gain advantage or fit the narrative at the time. If I had a dime for every time Vettel accused someone else for his mistake I'll be rich. Having a bad attitude and behavior in the press conference should not make you likable if it's unappropriate . A murderer should not be liked because he was genuine in what he does. Hamilton is not always genuine, no F1 driver in history is always genuine. But I can tell you I haven't seen any other driver scrutinized under a microscope as much ad Hamilton. I haven't seen Hamilton even use profanity on live TV, I may have overlooked it. If Hamilton acted like Verstappen fighting and all, we would hear about it every minute, every day. But other drivers get passes... or are "being genuine"

 

Schumacher was scrutinized moreso than his rivals in his era because he was the most successful driver of all time. Now Hamilton is scrutinized moreso than his rivals because he is now the most successful driver of all time - and he's still extending his lead in the record books. This isn't difficult.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

My favorite part today was how max grabbed his national flag and ran into the stands and made a big scene.


Oh wait, he just raced hard and proved his point.

 

Bravo!!

 

"He is getting so lucky with traffic"
LOL

 

At risk of repeating myself . . .

 

I’ll venture to guess that it was whoever had the faster car in a particular season of the game (Kimi 2005-2006 McLaren would have been a great choice, Schumacher from 1999-2004)

 

Lewis was in the Mclaren system from an early age, it's natural that he would support the home team.

 

I never said other champions weren't scrutinized. I haven't seen any as scrutinized as Hamilton. This isn't difficult.

 

Good race from Hamilton today, the team today were definitely the weakest link.

They are light years behind RB operationally.

 

I don't think the team could have done much more really...Lewis did very well to stay within striking distance, but Max was just too fast and made no mistakes.

 

This I agree with.

Lewis is held to a higher standard than other drivers.

If he got angry or assertive during interviews, people wouldn't generally start liking him. Judging from the general F1 populace from the last 3 years, it would be a net negative for him, with some aspects becoming downright vicious.

That brings me on to another point.

I came across a good Russell brand video that struck a chord with me. :



"If the price of entry to public debate is personal perfection, then we’re ****ed"

He's right. I love cars. I love engines. I also think we should cut down on carbon emissions. Does that now make me a flaming hypocrite? In broad terms, yes. Just like all the environmental scientists and engineers burning fossil fuels to do their work. We don't call them hypocrites because they are working to find ways to cut down our reliance on fossil fuels.

Hamilton sold his private jet in 2019 to cut down on his carbon footprint.

And, as a result has to deal with stuff like this:



So he inconvenienced himself for what he believed in, but yet I'm supposed to be dismissive of what he says.

Hey, he still drives a car, massive hypocrite right?

Come off it.

Here's a good article about Vettels growing environmental activism that resonated with me as well

https://www.planetf1.com/news/sebastian-vettel-environment-hypocrite/

Sebs right.

He has a platform that he can use to spread awareness. Sure that platform burns fossil fuels. So what. 99.99% of the world does. The point is we are trying to do better. Reality is shades of grey, not black and white.

 

Schumacher caught more heat than previous champions due to his success and profile. Same thing here. However, aside from being the new most successful F1 driver of all time, Hamilton is also the current champion scrutinized in a more digital age where he has a much more visible online presence than all past champions combined.

The way you describe the scrutiny is as if it's somehow abnormal or inexplicable except if it is defined as inappropriate, and largely I don't think that's an accurate representation of what's happening. Hamilton has undeniably been the target of racist abuse, but I think that abhorrent element is a very small proportion of the criticism he gets. I think legitimately critiquing his words and actions as the highest profile F1 champion there has ever been (and he puts himself out there as that with his brand) is perfectly fine.

Otherwise, what's your point? What's an acceptable amount of critique to offer?

All the best,
Andrew.

 

All good points, thanks for posting this.

 

So Hamilton sold his private jet. Does that mean he flies commercial now, or is he simply replacing his so-called “carbon footprint” with somebody else’s?

 

NetJets

 

Preach