18 months ago Hamilton was a shaky call by Michael Masi from winning his 8th WDC...and you think his best days are "far behind him"? Actually, nobody who's serious about racing cares what you think anymore (if they ever did) when you make statements based on dislike of a driver rather than reality.
His best days would have been far behind him long ago if he was not driving a vastly superior car for so long....
The two pivotal figures in Hamilton's career are Ron Dennis and Niki Lauda. Without Dennis he probably wouldn't have made it to F1; without Lauda he wouldn't have gone to Mercedes just at the cusp of the hybrid era.
Seriously? The guy won 7 WDC's. If F1 talent evaluators are that BAD, they need to find other work. "He won because of the car" works for maybe one WDC...but seven? Come on, no one but the haters keep that fantasy alive.
Let me guess ... another infatuated fanboy coming to poor Hamilton's defense? Most of them on "ignore", of course ... a decision i may re-think, for pure entertainment value Personally, I would put Hamilton's best years in the early twenty-teens, maybe circa 2013~2014, back when he needed to battle for wins on-track (even if only against his teammate), understood how to actually drive in traffic, didn't display the incessant whining about the team's errors and turns & wins he felt "entitled to", etc etc. Cruising to wins in superior machinery, while nothing to hold against a driver, does nothing to highlight their skill, either. As I wrote, his best years are FAR behind him. A few weeks ago i wrote that i wouldn't mind seeing Hamilton win one more race. But even that, is looking less and less likely.
Both Ron and Niki helped obtain many drivers. Hamilton is the only one who has broken the records. Also name a driver who wasn't given a oportunity by a team principle?
So they saw the talent where a rookie was more than a match for a WDC his first year and yet we suffer lack of talent ass hats like Stroll and intelligentsia here think LH was only lucky. The one driver who has wins and best days might be gone is Ricci. Yet saying that one must remember it’s 90% car. That applies to all drivers. No good car that can win and you suffer!!
Or Ron Dennis recognized an unbelievable marketing opportunity. A black kid that didn't come from a wealthy family. A kid with motorsport passion at a very young age and a goal to get into F1. A kid that is obviously very fast and talented. Above all... British! What a story to sell down the British-dominated sport of F1 for his British Formula 1 team ran by he who is also British. Too good to be true. Give this kid all the benefits and then some, the British biased media eats it up and British biased Formula 1/FIA have the hero kid they want to be the next face of F1... someone who could potentially be better than the great Schumacher even? The business of F1 would now get to tap into rather untouched market of african americans. That's a good deal. What a dream come true for Ron Dennis, McLaren, Formula 1, the FIA, British media, new fans, minorities, etc etc etc. Does anyone really think it's a coincidence that Lewis Hamilton has been spoon fed the best equipment his entire racing career? He and his fans like to play the struggle card, but the reality is he had the most privileged career in F1 history. What rookie gets equal or #1 status over a 2x defending champion? His F3 Euro ASM team was pretty much unbeatable. Adrian Sutil managed to finish second to Lewis pretty much every race. A story we saw again with the overrated Bottas in the unbeatable Mercedes. In GP2 he again had the best car with ART where he dominated his teammate Premat (who?!). Then after mid season LH couldn't beat the likes of Timo Glock, Piquet Jr, or Giorgio Pantano. I don't think anyone is going to say Lewis is a bad driver. You'd be out of your mind if you think he didn't have natural talent and refined it to be a very fast driver. Worthy to be in F1, and a worthy champion in every series he competed in. But there is loads and loads of evidence to suggest he is nowhere near the top of the list of the all time F1 greats, and a LOT of his success was pushed ahead from the benefits he has received, plenty from the special treatment he gets from F1/FIA.
Oh I dunno. You have tried pretty much everything else ;-) I'm just amazed that Ron didn't make Lewis have a gender change; surely that would have been even better from the marketing PTV?
A great post, brave even ... thank you for the honesty But the "woke police" will soon be down on you like a buzzard on a gut wagon.
LH may have had all the best cars during his career, but he still beat his teammates... most of the time. I wouldn't put it past someone to pull the whole transgender card to gain an advantage because F1/FIA will push that narrative. Perhaps the Bud Light catastrophe prevents that.
I expect an interesting and perhaps entertaining fight back from the usual suspects. I welcome the discussion.
Their brains will be a bit bent out-of-shape, because you recognize what many of us have said over the years ... Hamilton is obviously a VERY talented driver! Good, certainly ... VERY good, undoubtedly ... but one of the all time greats? Not so fast ... As you've pointed out, he's been given "opportunities" (on and off track) that many other drivers have had to fight for. It is indeed not only possible, but simply honest to recognize that he's VERY talented, but has ALSO been given many "gifts" over his career. YES ... BOTH can be true at the same time!! That's a level of intellectual honesty that may be hard to find, in some of the responses you'll get. (i have most of the fanboys on ignore, but i'll be reading your posts as always fwiw)
I always said that; even with the best car, you still have to be competent with it, and beat your team mate. You cannot be average and win.
