Why is he the hot driver in F1? Or should I say why should he be? IMO the answer to the first question is because pretty much the entire F1 world media,magazines, websites ,commentators etc. are British and Hami is a Brit in a British car. The answer to the second question is that Hami should not be the one. It should be Kubica who did the same as Hamilton did last year but with inferior car and without preferential treatment. And stop please (not you Mike) with the whole "he's being hated on here because he does not drive for Ferrari" BS. No one hates him. In fact pretty much the only thing that absolutely everyone on F-chat agrees on, is that Hamilton is extremely talented and has a very bright future. FUTURE as not now, but some day. The whole glorifying hoopla is getting extremely annoying. Just like Hamilton's arrogance. MS arrogant sometimes, sure but he is 7 time WDC with more wins than Senna and Prost (3rd and 2nd respectively) put together. All 3 of them have proven they know how to win championship after championship, while Hamilton only proves how to lose them. He has not earned the right to be THAT arrogant.
Hamilton has some years ahead of him to come around Senna had reached that maturity point where he knew how the game was played... Hamilton isn't there just yet, IMO
I don't think you can dismiss the Hamilton hype solely on him being British... after all, when Kimi first came into F1, he was mega-hyped too. Alonso was fawned over, so was Schumacher. And if being British was the metric, then surely Button and Coulthard would be having praise heaped on them too no? I think Hamilton is something special. I really dislike Alonso but the fact of the matter is that Hamilton beat him handily in terms of on-track performance. That says a lot to me and I think the press just goes with whatever is the hot story, just like any press. They just give the people what they want. As for Schumi, I think he actually calmed down and reeled in his arrogance later in his career. He will always be a hero of mine no matter how arrogant he is and I will always think he is the best driver ever in F1, but I still do think he was amazingly arrogant (and quite frankly I like that about him). I also like Lewis' arrogance. I don't think he has nearly as much as people ascribe to him, and also don't forget that this isn't Lewis' first trip around the track as a race car driver. He was an amazingly successful driver in lesser series' also, so he's not exactly someone that was sitting at home dreaming of racing 2 years ago, he's had years and many hundreds or thousands of races to build up his skill and confidence level. I think it's great that he is so determined. And don't also forget that a BIG part of his schtick is probably winning the mental war over other drivers. By saying it's easy and he's not shaken at all and such, he's most definitely laying out bait for the other drivers... just like Mike Tyson's rep was so fierce that people practically fell without even being hit, if Hamilton can psych the other drivers out, maybe they will extract themselves from competing with him through mistakes
Good points. No argument here. My problem is that the hype from last year is being carried over to this season and in '08 the really bright shining star is Kubica. Just like last year Kimi was the champion and Lewis was on the cover of the F1 magazine regardless, for which there were thousands of angry letters and discussions. And when discussed here people said, well yeah but we put kimi on the cover when he did not win the championship in '05. Yeah, and who he was driving for back then? And it is one thing being "yeah we are the best and crushing everyone" arrogant and totally different thing, calling the rules stupid because you broke them and blaming pretty much everything and anything around you for you f-ups, instead of admitting guilt.
so he's NOT a novice now ?? so why are his supporters saying it was a novice mistake ?? if someone runs into the back of my car at stoplights you know what , the police book him Danno as it is probably one of the only rules that when you don't follow it accidents happen .... avoidable accidents yellow or red card ?? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwFw6fWoEnw
What I meant was that anyone who dared criticize Hamilton, were he driving for Ferrari, would be slammed. The excuses for Hamilton's bone-headed maneuver would by flying on these boards. There aren't too many folks who think about issues objectively around here, too many Rossa-colored glasses. Whenever someone dares say even the remotest criticism of anything even tangentially related to Ferrari, out come the "closet McLaren fan" accusations.
and expressed great remorse at doing so as well. He later reconciled with Prost and established enough of a friendship that Prost served as a pallbearer for him. Some here like to forget that bit of information.
Hamilton beat his teammate last year, the reigning 2X WDC. Kubicka was beaten by Heidfeld. Kubicka is starting to come into his own this season but he did not immediately jump into F1 and be competitive, it took him a while to find his feet. I don't mean to take anything away from Kubicka as I think he is an excellent driver and will have a good career but comparing his rookie year to Hamilton's doesn't hold water. The good car/bad car issue is irrelevant. Your first yardstick is your teammate. Hamilton beat his, Kubicka didn't.
Guys u are forgetting the early years at Ferrari. MS admitted it was his fault when he crashed on the first lap at Monaco, etc. There were many times, and he never ever and I mean never ever blamed his team. LH has done that many times and has only been in F1 for a year and a half. Agree, but maybe not all respect ... and I understand the person behind the mic is not the real person but LH played the dirty games at McLaren and has done nothing as yet to make me warm to him as a person. Pete
Warm up to him as a person? You just admitted that you don't really know the man being portrayed in the media, so why does that even matter? I respect a driver for how they drive, how they race, and the excitement they give me while doing what they do best in the car. I don't understand how some of you get caught up in all this dramatic media BS, sounds like a bunch of women yacking about Brad and Angelina...
Yes good points, but what LH did mid-season at McLaren shows "how he races" ... and unfortunately it appears to not be "I let my driving on the track do the talking" This is possibly the effect MS had on the next generation, like Senna had on MS's generation, etc. Pete
The only thing that can stop Lewis is the back of a Ferrari. It seems like whenever he seems to be doing well, along come these idiotic mistakes.
when i first read the first post, i thought it was someone taking the piss out of LH and writting that. but if it's for real then that's pretty sad. i'm not a LH fan (untill he joins the scuderia) but remember he is only 23. when i was 23, i was pretty wet behind the ears and putting my foot in it a lot, (still do just not as much )so he still has to learn how to behave and talk in public.( moretti this isn't an open invitation to comment) he is a world champ in the making no doubt, but with a lot of attention on him is going to leave him vunerable. maybe his oldman needs to pull his head in for him?
I was at the race on Sunday and a Hamilton win was far from certain as the PlanetF1 site was quick to point out; Kimi was the fastest car on the track before the SC came out and the fact that Hammy got out of the pits after both KR and RK tells me he took on more fuel than both of them which probably means he was running light and on the soft tires. Last time he opened his mouth like this was after Australia when he said the McL was only going to get faster when in fact all they did was look at Ferrari's exhaust pipes on courses with long high speed corners; Hammy really needed this win as I see Ferrari domination in France and England. He needs to open his eyes and shut his mouth. I don't recall great F1 champs talking trash like this...
No they dont talk like that but maybe we should lay off a little and see what he does in the next couple of races.
In my opinion, he is not a novice, but he is also not a mature driver. I know I changed a LOT from 20 to 30 years old, and I suspect Lewis will too. Schumacher changed a LOT. He didn't slow down, but his approach changed big time. Lewis is young and aggressive and I think he sees every turn and every race start as the only important thing at that time. Schumacher (at least in his later years) recognized that sometimes its better to take 6 points today and 8 next week rather than going for 10 both times and crashing. Lewis hasn't tempered his skill with maturity. If he was more mature, he would have been more relaxed leaving the pits and been paying attention. IMO, any racer at any level ought to know better. I have 1/100th the experience Lewis has and even I know you don't leave the pits on red. He knew it too but he had brain fade at that moment - he had tunnel vision and was focused like a laser beam on catching Kimi and passing him and by the time he realized Kimi was actually braking, he had passed the point at which Kimi hit the brakes, and then Lewis was just along for the ride - he was going to cause a crash no matter what. He'll either grow out of it or he'll keep making these mistakes and screw himself out of a 2nd WDC!
Again why McLaren should have made him number 2 last year. Thus this year he would be in a far better position and have actually learnt something. Unfortunately he learnt little last year because nobody made him, they all just knelt down in front of him and acted like he was God. We already know he is very fast, but being very fast is not all it takes to be a champion. There is a possibility that he will be another Coulthard. Coulthard's best chance was too early and he made massive embarrassing mistakes after embarrassing mistake and eventually lost the Williams drive. Remember him crashing into the Adelaide pits for example ... Bernie could very possibly have ruined the best driver ever to come out of England's chances by forcing him into McLaren in a panicked move because MS retired. LH in a Williams even would have been able to learn and grow, and then progress to a top team when well and truly ready. He simply is not ready. And yes he managed to beat Alonso last year ... but he did not win the championship, he lost it. Alonso won it when he was given his best chance ... last year he was simply not allowed to win by his own team. Yes I truly believe that. Similar to Prost at his last year at McLaren. Thankfully in this case Prost was able to sneak the WDC away ... pissing Senna and McLaren off completely . That is why Prost is/was the master!!, and also why childish Senna took him out next year . Pete
His team told him the light was red before he got there. Huh? He knew he'd have to stop and should've been prepared to. He knew how significant not stopping was for Massa the previous year. All I'm left with is 'no thinking' or a 'conscious act'.
Now we all know who and what Fernando Alonso had to put up with during the last dismal season. Great post.
