Many of us gained a “social and environmental conscience” in the 00’s, if not much earlier. I don’t see Lewis’ fame necessarily affecting his moral compass, more that his his position (fame, money, power) just amplifies his public comments to a level few ever achieve.
I don't consider myself a Hamilton "fan". I think he's a great driver and has been for a long time nor do I get into GOAT discussions because they are just pointless. The ONLY reason I've dipped my toe in this ongoing silliness is it gets on my last nerve that some people have to continually bash people that are really GOOD at their chosen sport. Or in the case here often times, just literally make stuff up to try (and fail) to make their point. I don't know if it's jealousy or what, but to suggest that Hamilton has been "lucky" and THAT'S why he a 7 time WDC is just stupid. Did he have one of the best cars (and sometimes the best) to drive? No doubt. But he still had to drive it, keep his nose clean and not crash it or abuse it, which he did with amazing consistency. And he did THAT well enough to win 7 WDC's. THAT'S not luck. It's fine to disagree with him on politics/fashion/whatever but to continually attack the guy, and try (unsuccessfully) to undermine his record just makes one look like a pitiful little man.
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I don’t think it’s that serious other than ball breaking. Everyone at the top of their sport experiences this. IMO It’s just part of elite sports. Lol, just look at Tom Brady. Hamilton isn’t the first. People did the same with Schumacher and Senna. It just feels like more now due to how many outlets people have to talk/criticize. Imagine if we had social media when Senna took Prost out! I’m sure they’ll do the same with the next guy when he rises.
I recall some people used to never call him anything else but a bunch of puerile nicknames. At least Sir Lewis Hamilton has the virtue of being his legal name - writing it out in full is still kinda pedantic, but hardly unearned. Usually it would be "Sir Lewis" (spoken or informal writing) rather than "Sir Lewis Hamilton, MBE" (formal writing such as a written invitation). So not wrong, but weirdly pedantic to use full formality in a casual conversation. All the best, Andrew.
Hamilton has my utmost respect - as a driver. However, off the track, and anything that comes out of his mouth, ZERO respect. Kinda like LeBron....
Very true! Which makes me wonder, at what point did the rule changes make it more about the car than the driver? More importantly what can the FIA do to fix it? At the end of the day I like to think we all watch to see what the driver can do. At what point do we lose interest if it just is about a car? Maybe most don’t care? Personally I hate seeing the drivers held back by all these rules. I’d love to see changes so that we somehow could get to 50% car, 50% driver. At the very least do away with the tire regs. Maybe cost cap as well? I guess all points for a different thread.
So, "shut up and dribble"... I guess you can never win if you're a professional athlete. Michael Jordan was criticized often for NOT taking a stance, LeBron/Lewis/etc take heat for taking a stance. Which proves that, no matter what, the public always gets their feelings hurt and find something to be upset about. "Take a stance...as long as I agree with it"
All forms of racing have this notion that the playing field should be level... It's not. It never was. The more regulation the governing bodies throw at this, the more lopsided the results are. This year (2024) "looks" to be different but reality is Max has 7 wins (out of 14 races) and Lewis is the only other person with more than 1 win.
Michael Jordan is a perfect example to other athletes IMO. He was only really criticized by a small minority and he quickly shut them down. Then the "controversy" went away. Class act compared to LeBron. In fairness though nobody wanted to hear it anyway in those days. Nowadays everyone has a chip on their shoulder and wants to be "heard". It's nauseating. I realize there is no such thing as a level field, even in spec Miata, but we've gotten to the point where the F1 regs are ruining the racing too much IMO. Tire strategy for example ensures that the entire middle portion of the race is a snooze fest. They need to reevaluate.
??? I'm not 'hurt' or 'upset' by anyones' 'stance', but thanks for putting words in my mouth. When I open the Politics page, I want to read about Politics. When I open up the Money page, I want to read about the Economy. When I open up the Want Ads, I want to read about things for sale, job openings. So when I open the Sports page, take a wild as guess as to what I want to read about? (hint: it's not politics)
Correct. That's why the NBA during the COVID-19 years lost ALOT of viewership because of politics or social justice or injustice within the United States. Some of these F1 guys take it on a global scale depending on the country they are visiting.
Well I don't know for how long you've been into F1, but I clearly recall an article in an edition of "Autocourse" forty years ago - it has to be be the one about the 1983 championship (I could just get out of my chair and check, and will do if some one is interested) which title was: "Does the driver still matters?" so the question has been raised for already quite a number of years... Rgds
Unless I'm seriously mistaken, and speaking only for myself, I have not used any nickname for any driver, and will not do it. Sometimes the first name, that's all I can acknowledge your point about the "Sir, etc...", Andrew, no problem, but pedantic it is indeed: among racing enthusiast, Lewis Hamilton, or Hamilton or perhaps Lewis is good enough. The formal title doesn't add anything; Jack Brabham or Jackie Stewart or Stirling Moss were just that, no need to use their title. And, after all, as far as I remember, Jim Clark never was knighted: he had other things to his name... Rgds
I tend to just use drivers' surnames. Hamilton, Verstappen, etc. because that's the convention in F1. Might have used first names here or there on FChat, but I can't really remember off the top of my head. Either way, not important. All the best, Andrew.
I started watching right about that time. That would be an interesting story to see. It would be fascinating if they would do a modern day comparison between now and the 80’s as well.
So, just to be sure, I have just pulled myself out of my chair and went to the archives: my memory is not what it used to be, that article is in the 1980-81 "Autocourse", about the 1980 Championship, and was written by the late Alan Henry. Among the quotes (remember: it is 1980, 44 years ago): Gordon Murray, at the time chief designer of Brabham: "the car factor is today much more important than the driver's; look at Jan Lammers, for instance: he put the ATS on the second row at Long Beach, and next he couldn't qualify the Ensign. Today, results depend at 90% from the car; the proportion might vary a little from team to team, but not much more than a little; in the middle of the seventies, in the couple "car and man", there was egality: 50% for each; I would like that we come back to that situation". Rgds
Things were quite a bit tighter between Perez and Verstappen at Monza during the course of the weekend. And in terms of Max’s Monza performance in a car that wasn’t so hot, that but further buttresses the argument about THE CAR ITSELF being such an all-important and often decisive component in race-day (and qualifying) success/competitiveness, etc.
Hand out the money based on the driver not the builder--hand the money to the builder based on the drivers positions.
No driver is a god and very select few can get a touch more out of a car than it should be possible. FA is the best at that to me and his AstonDog isn’t worth a walk on a leash it is soo bad lol. Max has this and at times LH has a touch as well. The last years it’s been 90% car as most F1 engineers specify. Nothing new at all!
