Hamilton deserves more respect

I'll see your 2 cents and raise you 2 cents

 

I'll just quickly add that even though Rosberg thumped Schumacher 2010-12, in 2012 Michael greatly improved and you could argue was the better driver. Michael's average qualifying result was 8.75 vs 9.55 and was on average 2 tenths faster. Won the quali battle 11-9. Michael had a stripped pole in Monaco which possibly could have lead to a win. He had 7 retirements, 5 in the first 7 races. A lot were from mechanical failures and he was taken out in a few races as well. Even though he struggled, he still had what it took to improve a lot. Even if the basic stats don't show it.

 

Agree and thanks for the added input.

 

^^^
I agree 100%. NO driver (IMO) is as good at 38 as he was at 28. Even Alonso was special early last year...then A-M lost their way on the car, and boom...he wasn't special anymore.

Time catches all of us.

 

On top of that, you have to remember he was badly injured by a motorbike accident ( his neck).
I absolutely can’t believe the Michael post 2009 was the same compared with the years before.

 

I’m usually not in the prediction business but I think Hamilton has already won his final championship, and perhaps will never win another F1 race. Even if Newey goes to Ferrari LH will have become too old to take advantage. He simply isn't the same type of racer that Alonso is.

 

I predicted that Alonso would never win another GP when he left Ferrari; so far I am right.
The same could probably be said about Hamilton now. He will certainly not win another WDC.
Only time will tell ...

 

If the theory that Hamilton gets some inside info that helps him move to the team with the best chances is correct, then I could see him winning races again. He will always be in a top 3 car and wins aren't uncommon in a top 3 car. I'm supremely curious how he will fair against Leclerc. It sure looks like he will have a tough time against the raw speed of Leclerc in quali, but his race consistency surely is still better.

 

Angela Cullen has made the move to IndyCar. They say she's Marcus Armstrong's trainer.

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Lewis last 2 seasons: Team doesn't listen to me, I know everything what a car needs to be quick.

Mercedes: "Alright then, we'll listen to you this time"

Ferrari: "We'll have us some of that, here's an obscene contract"

Lewis: "Loyalty above everything. Except money"

3 races in: "Man this car is so bad"

Russell ahead of his teammate. Sacked Sainz straight after an operation doing incredible. Opportunity to get Max missed.

What a shambles.

 

The only inside information that I believe would have prompted Hamilton to leave MBz would be something that Newey might have said to him about Ferrari….or that Elkann might have said to him about Newey. Otherwise I think it was just seizing the opportunity to drive for the scuderia as a matter of history….and a big pile of money.

 

They(Naomi Shiff) asked Russell post-qualifying what was the difference between his side of the garage and Lewis's side of the garage and his reply was something along the lines of "I really don't know what's going on in Lewis's side of the garage nor can I contemplate what's going on inside his head but for me I'm focused on getting everything out of the car even though it's not where we want to be as a team."

 

First objective is beat your teammate.

With all the experience Lewis has and the whole team around him, car build to his spec....forget the car not being fast enough to win. He can't even beat his teammate.

Ferrari look like utter, utter clowns...

 

Business as usual then

 

Russell has OUTQUALIFIED Hamilton in the last 5 races.

 

^ THIS!!!!

 

Winning 7 titles isn't easy. But everything you and I agree on has been said a million times before and it always spawns the same unwinnable debate with others, so I'm not going to dive into it...but just saying, every race that passes we are proven right more and more.

As for iracing and current drivers, there are a few that do iRacing, notably Alonso in the off-season and Norris occasionally (the latter admits freely he hasn't a hope in hell beating Max in iRacing). I do very often see F4/F3/F2 drivers in iRacing lobbies. Enzo Fittipaldi, Bearman, Vesti , Hauger and Pepe Marti I've raced against quite often, Fittipaldi, hauger and Pepe being really nice guys.

But Max definitely is the exception on iRacing as you say. He just can't leave it alone. Right now it seems he's a professional sim racer with F1 as his hobby...

 

What has been the general reaction of the tifosi to Hamilton's impending arrival?

 

Lewis has owned a long list of special Ferraris, and now will get paid millions to drive a Ferrari....I suggest Lewis, is a more accomplished Ferrari fan than 99.9 percent of members on Ferrarichat.com. Just something to think about.
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So what?

 

According to this web site Sir Lewis owns only three Ferraris (although there may be others that aren’t reported) , and they’re what one might expect: modern super/hypercars. It proves he has resources but it doesn’t make him “a more accomplished Ferrari fan than 99.9% of members on FerrariChat.com” or even an exceptionally astute collector. In fact I’d say he probably isn’t much of a student of Ferrari history or have much appreciation for the cars that truly established the company’s stature.

http://www.planetf1.com/features/lewis-hamilton-car-collection

By the way, is that him with the Boxer?

 

Exactly this. Quantifying Ferrari-fanness by the amount of Ferrari's someone owns is pretty stupid.

There are some incredible knowledgeable people on this site that live and breath Ferrari but don't own one. Are those automaticlaly less of a fan than say [insert celebrity] because he doesn't own a Ferrari? What a BS meaasurement.

 

^^^
Kinda like dismissing 103 GP wins and 7 WDC’s because you don’t like the guy.
Stupid is as stupid does.

 

I don't think anyone in his right mind would dismiss Hamilton's achievement. But that's in the past.
It's fair to say that for the last 2 years he hasn't cut the mustard, as we say.
Both him and Mercedes aren't major players anymore; any objective F1 follower can see that.
Some see his move to Ferrari as an attempt to be relevant again; we will see how it goes.

 

^^^
Well…there are a few here that dismiss his record all the time.
There is no question that 38 year olds are not as fast as 28 year olds. I don’t see how this is some kind of big shock.