Ron : Hamilton the best in F1

People were saying this about Jacques Villeneuve his first year in F1. It is easy to be successful when you have a winning car and a winning team.

 

Its easier to hate than to like....human nature.


Someone mentioned racism....this is what I have to say. Racism manifests itself in ways unimaginable to both the victim and the purveyor. But I don't think that is fully the reason people don't like LH. I think its because he makes it look so easy, people want him to really suck before succeeding, and for him to excel as he has makes people think that he has an unfair break. I just think we are lucky to have him in our sport.

 

Isn't that obvious? Especially in F1? If I say the opposite (It is hard to be successful when you have a losing car and a losing team), considering the type of sport F1 is....thats not really a strong statement. I think the measure should be a drivers ability to keep a competetive seat in a good team, and not get thrown out for some fresh talent. Time will tell.

 

Yesterday

Today

If you can't find any facts to support your argument just make it up!

 

It's the f-chat way

 

No way, Steve, he's good for the sport. I'm glad he's there so we have something to talk about. I tried to like him, I really did. Like i said i find him arrogant. And you may be misunderstanding what i mean by not paying his dues. Most people struggle to make it into F1. He seems to have had everything handed to him.

 

You have your opinion, which you are entitled to, and I have mine. You can love everying LH does, but there is nothing you can say or do to make me change my opinion. Maybe he didn't say it outright but I felt he was comparing himself to some extent. That's how I feel about it, end of story.

 

By handed do you mean winning the championship in every series you've ever raced in??? Because I'm having a hard time understanding you since of entitlement

 

That's fine, but you did get caught making things about him.

 

You just can't break down everyone's argument rationally. Sometimes people will pull anything they can out of their ass, to try to legitimize their standpoint. People often use this tactic to cover up a knee jerk statement, or a blind discrimination. He has a right to dislike Hamilton, even if his reasons (or only the ones he's saying) make no sense.

 

I beg to differ, I took his comments the way I took them......

 

No, I mean having the best equipment possible in every series he was in. What did he prove in the lower formula? That he can win in the best car?

 

Thats the idea isn't it Luis, the best tend to get the best......

 

Show me the driver on today's F1 grid that didn't have Family Money, and I mean BIG money, or connections to support their little one in his ( their ) racing aspirations.

The days of someone dragging themselves up through the feeder series without serious backing are long gone.

I often miss the days of I HAVE to win . Not want to. But HAVE to or else the prize money to fund the next race wont be there.
Endanger one's life in every race to separate himself from the rest of the competitors. The Hemingway days.
Gilles Villenueve will always be be special to me as he was the last.

Like I said Lewis fortunately is not one of them. But he comes from a middle class background and was fortunate enough to have the talent, desire, and Father that propelled him to this point. A for the time being that will have to be good enough for me.

 

He is from what we in the UK call a working class background = very little money! At one time his father (a single parent) was holding down three jobs to help Lewis go racing. Lewis most certainly wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Granted he was fortunate to be spotted by RD and get help, but a good deal of hardship was experienced before that happened.

 

I'm not sure that LH and his father endured crazy hardship... LH was signed by MCLaren-Mercedes team by the age of 13 (according to Wikipedia)...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Hamilton

Some drivers families like Jim Clark, Alain Prost and even Schumi had it much worse...

 

I don't know about Prost or Schumacher but Clark certainly didn't have a hard upbringing. His parents were farmers and had the resources to send JC to a public (in the USA a private) school. Paying the fees for an education like that is only possible for those with quite a bit of money.

 

IIRC, did MS have a go-kart track in his back garden..?

Michael Schumacher, whose parents owned a small karting track near their home in Kerpen, acknowledged how much it had taught him about racing, and how to win.

Not bad for working class.

 

Ok here's one

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Alonso

 

Not always my friend. Senna quit once because of lack of money. He worked for his dad for a while hated it, and talked him into giving him more money to continue racing.

 

Thanks for the link. Interesting read.
Still, like most, his dad or a significant other, supported him along the way.
Kinda like Hammi ?

 

I think your argument that BIG money was behind all of today's F1 drivers on their way up has been blown out of the water. Of course they were all supported by their parents, that's what parents are for, but many of those parents didn't have a lot of money.

Nigel Mansell (although not on today's grid) is another who had a really tough time on his way to F1.

 

Anthony Hamilton worked very hard to provide Lewis with all that he needed to compete in his formative years. Lewis did not have to re-mortgage his house ala Mansell. So, did Lewis have it easier than Mansell ? Yes. Did Lewis work as hard at honing his skills as Mansell ? Yes. Is Lewis as good as Mansell ? Difficult to judge because he's only competed thus far in a top car. Stick him in a Renault and we could find out.

 

Lewis undoubtedly had it easier than Nigel Mansell did, but that was because he was a kid while Mansell achieved what he did much later in life and did it on his own. I think Lewis's family were the ones who had the struggle a la Mansell. The Hamiltons didn't re-mortgage their house possibly because they didn't own one, they lived in a council house. In any event the story of Lewis's early years certainly isn't one that features a silver spoon.

Is Lewis as good as Mansell? The received wisdom is that NM wasn't endowed with great natural ability but achieved a lot through very hard work, persistence and sheer guts. I think LH has the natural ability, time will tell where it will take him.

As ever I don't buy this "we can't judge how good he is until he's been in a lesser car" argument. Virtually everyone here considers Alonso to be one of the very best drivers on the grid, last year LH showed he was as good as Alonso, therefore LH is also one of the very best drivers on the grid. QED.