So Ron could see a future F1 world beater in a 12 yr old kid in karts? I think that like Bobby Rahal recognized the marketing potential in Danica Patrick, Ron saw the possibilities with Lewis. Yes, he had potential but Ron was looking for a driver to groom and a lot of racing series were / still are exploring ways to expand their fan base and bottom line. Promoting a driver based on nationality, sex or even race is nothing new and just a part of the business of professional racing. Yes, Lewis has talent but he had the backing of Ron Dennis from an early age. Yes he had to perform, but he was always in good if not the best equipment even coming up the ladder. Tracks the world over are littered with the broken dreams of deserving talent, who just couldn't afford the right equipment to truly show their abilities or progress to the next level. Lewis has a superb race record but he has continually displayed contempt and immaturity when things don't go his way. To get respect, you must also give it. This year, he has been quite outspoken about welcoming a battle and competition with Vettel and Ferrari. His mood is calm, confident and quite mature. It's early days however and it will be interesting to see how the season unfolds.
LOL! McLaren and Mercedes have been PROTECTING Hamilton from his teammate opponents since day one (except for last year). And you still forget Hamilton lost to his "number 2" last year.
Okay then. You doubt hamiltons talent that's clear but just answer this one question, do you doubt vettels talent too?
Are you saying Lewis got his drive because he's black lol? Time for education, name one driver with a more impressive junior record than Hamilton? Certainly not Schumacher or Vettel...
In other words, Hamilton is undeniably talented as a driver, but his grooming made him the precocious brat he is. I believe that kids that are pushed into a sport too young often develop character flaws. I can see some resemblances with Max Verstappen, Stroll, etc... but these two haven't reached the summit like Hamilton has.
I have suspected for a long time that Lewis Hamilton got Ron Dennis' attention from very early because of his origins, yes. It was Ron Dennis way of bringing "affirmative action" into McLaren. The sponsors also endorsed that, IMO, because it allowed them to reach a new audience. The irony is that once he had reached his goal, Hamilton turned against his mentor. "You don't bite the hand that feeds you". Dennis became unable to control Hamilton within a few months in F1, and the relation between the 2 soured very quickly. I think Ron Dennis felt betrayed by his protégé.
So Lewis tied Alonso (who is great) and they lost the WDC to Kimi who was in an inferior car, had a hard time with Button who outperformed him and out scored him often and Rosberg who until he beat Lewis you as Toil always told us was not any good. I am confused by this line of reasoning. The only teammate Lewis beat handily was Heikki. It is not his fault that he was in the most dominant Formula 1 car ever for the the last 3 years (which is where he really ran up his statistics), but it is fair to say that it does warrant an asterisk next to the stats. Is he a really great driver, yes. Is he in the league of Senna, Schumacher, Prost, Fangio or Clark? Not in my opinion. Also the following world champion drivers had great tough teammates: Fangio: Moss Clark: Hill Fittipaldi: Peterson Lauda: Prost, Reuteman Andretti: Peterson Jones: Reuteman Piquet: Mansell Hill: Villenueve
The toil in his previous form might have done that. The new toil does not have a single post outside F1 section...
Thanks for noticing, he didn't beat alonso, he didn't beat button, and he certainly didn't beat Nico either. Each of them hit him as hard as he tried to hit them. He even lost a world championship to Nico, and should have lost a second one had the team not undermined Nico to prevent him beating elton Schumi, on the other hand, beat his teammates almost every single race, whoever they may have been. He took on all comers in his career and won 7, that's right SEVEN, world championships, and his car wasn't the class of the field for most of them. He won races with rubbish cars too (Spain, 1996 for a start) Elton only wins if his car is the best, and when things go his way. If they don't, he's too busy moaning and trying to find excuses that don't involve him being at fault as to why he fails. Fast yes, the best, no chance, nowhere near
Why do you always seem to try to play a race card toil? I don't see anywhere in this thread or this sub forum where people have ever mentioned race? Typical of you to start deflecting when the argument is lost
In my last column post-Bahrain, I said that, despite taking a hiding in the race, Valtteri Bottas had broken through a couple of glass ceilings by taking pole position and leading the first 14 laps, and that overall it was a good event for him. Well, he's clearly a fast learner. From previous races we know that Bottas is a Sochi track specialist and he had the legs on his illustrious team-mate Lewis Hamilton all through the event. One of the most resonating comments after the race was Hamilton saying "at least I got some good points for the team". It's not often he's reduced to that kind of passive mentality. LOL!!!!!!!!!^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Lewser sucks...i can't remenber a driver with so many victories being beaten by so many team mates..heck, i can't remenber anyone being beaten by so many team mates!!! Without a dominant car he looks more vulgar by the weekend...
Here we go again...trying to turn the conversation towards Vettel again...and you call others haters...
I don't understand why the mods don't ban toil as he is actually still banned. It's a pity Neuro knows how to cut a brain but not how to conclude a profiling exercise. I think there is more than enough proof at hand that toil is in fact toil.
We're still waiting. Why would Red Bull give Vettel #1 contract? He came to Webbers team. Why would Schumacher demand #1 status? He was clearly number 1 against anyone in his prime. Did his teammates move over? Yes they did, and when it wasn't necessary (Austria 2002 springs to mind) he was so displeased and embarrassed by it. Elton has #1 status, that was already apparent on the 2nd race he did with Mercedes, when a MUCH faster Rosberg was told to hold station, he cruised up to Lewis so incredibly quick. It was ridiculous. Typical of you. When someone doesn't declare Hamilton GOAT, he's a talent doubter. Sigh. +1 Well it's clear that Toil2.0 is using a different IP (the one from Hola presumably, or if he's spending $ on it he's using tunnelbear), it's undetectable for mods. He even posts at the same times that Toil used to, lol. Because mods can't prove he's the real Toil (yet), he knows he can play the same game all over again, getting people banned from getting worked up by his posts. Mods can't ban him again just because he has a different opinion from us. What they can ban him for is creating a 2nd account despite being banned before. If Neuro or another mod can see the IP's he's been logging in from in the past few weeks, with a bit of luck he's been selecting different countries in his Hola app. That would prove beyond reasonable doubt that we're dealing with Toil2.0. IMO his writing style and agitating others with the same MO is enough, but hey ho. Toil2.0, you've already admitted you think the people of reddit are more knowledgeable...so why not join the #44 clan there? See ya.
I am saying he got his path to F1 paved by Ron, which in part was due to his ethnic make up. It set him apart and made him more appealing in some important ways. If you don't think these things make a difference, you are being naive in how the world works or what race teams run on. Neither Hamilton or Vettel got to where they are by talent alone. Vettel's path was through the Red Bull drivers program and they both broke away from the support that put them there. Neither is perfect but of the two, I find Vettel more likable and genuine. Lewis comes across to me as spoiled and self centered. Some of that may be how he is portrayed in the media. Still, he does seem to take a certain pleasure in being cast as the villain.
Everyone who calls themselves an F1 driver has talent. The question is level. I do not believe Hamilton is as talented as he thinks he is or his fanboys think he is. I think he has long been propped up by his team and car. I also think that he COULD have been great if he'd continued to listen to his father and not gone off on whatever personal identity crisis he's having. And yes, I question everyone's talent. It needs to exist in great amounts over a long time with a high level of competition in order for me to put them at the top of the list. People like Valentino Rossi and Jeremy McGrath are great. They elevate sports. Hamilton has contributed nothing to the elevation or popularity of F1 with his driving ability.
