Current Lewis Hamilton

A place to put all the posts from all the other threads primarily but love him or hate him, and even for the indifferent amongst us this is the place to discuss the marmite that is Lewis Hamilton, to learn a thing or two about his rise, talk about those controversial, genius or mad moments and something that i am bemused by, the recent articles that suggest something quite different to my perception of what's going on. Any experiences of meeting LH?

Brundle had to write a Lewis Hamilton article recently and in my tweets (which were probably ignored) I asked him to talk about LH the driver not LH the personality. It seems that you can't have one without the other.

So as a starter for ten, here is a fairly recent LH article. Posts should not be limited to this link but it can get some discussion going. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula_one/13755883.stm

The only banned topic as it is clearly ridiculous involves these four things "Glock" "2008" "Brazil" "conspiracy"

 

[cider_and_toast]

I think one thing that can't be argued with is that Lewis' post race comments after finishing second at Monaco in 2007, which prompted an FIA investigation into Team Orders, were the first public sight of trouble behind the scenes at Mclaren between the drivers and the maanagement. To me it was Hamilton who fired the first public shot in what grew to be a bitter fight with his team mate.

I also struggle to believe that the Ferrari gleaaned information on strategy and pit stops were not being used for both sides of the garage. I find it almost impossible to believe that that kind of information would not have been discussedat driver briefings over the course of a race weekend. Its exactly the same as why I find it hard to believe tha Alonso didn't think to ask why he was being so obviously and on the face of it, needlessly short fuelled in Singapore 2008.

 

[Josh]

Alonso was guilty of using stolen Ferrari data

I'm pretty sure the entire team was guilty of this.

 

[Brogan]

I will rephrase it then.

Alonso was aware of and actively involved with the use of the stolen Ferrari data.

Hamilton was not, despite what "some people may cynically claim".

To state he was is libellous and contradicts the testimonies of those involved and the findings of the FIA's investigation.

 

[Josh]

Right. I find it very hard to say whether Hamilton was aware of and actively involved with the use of the data and I don't believe anyone can say for sure whether he was or was not and I don't think we'll ever find out the entire truth of what went on within Mclaren that year.

 

[Jen]

I have actively, unilaterally and selfishly decided to no longer give a stuff about what happened in and around the McLaren garage in 2007 - in the same way that the teams, drivers and FIA have. If it's OK for them to do so then I don't feel so bad.

 

[racecub]

@Rasputini Im not doing Anthony down. Im saying its because of Anthony that Lewis made it to F1. I thought he did live in a council house or flat at some point(sorry don't have my books to hand) but whether he did or not he was certainly working class. He was also mixed race and from a split family. Not the normal background to find easy passage into F1. You are right Anthony worked damn hard to give his kids the best and Lewis and Nicholas' success is testimony to this. I have nothing but respect for Anthony Hamilton. The school is another example. Anthony researched what he thought was the best school to be at and made sure Lewis went there. Council estate children are not precluded from schools like that,it wasnt a fee paying school, it requires research and determination by the parent. Not all can be bothered, Anthony could.

 

[Jen]

Doh!!!

 

[Lewywo4]

Sorry to bring this up, but £100M fine and exclusion from the championship in his first year. Not sure how much that vindicates him?

He is a very quick driver, but it surely would have been much cheaper for McLaren to get someone who wasn't going to rock that particular boat quite so much.

The boat was rocked, when Fernando couldn't deal with a rookie teammate who rivaled his speed. If Lewis found a pace that he was comfortable with, which may have been on a par with Alonso, what was Hamilton supposed to do .....slow down?

 

[The Artist.....]

lewymp4

It has been done before.... May I cite the precedent of Williams in 1993. Alain Prost was brought in as a world champion, and was fully expected to waltz to his fourth world championship... The only problem was that in races at least, his rookie team-mate (Damon Hill) actually proved to be faster than him! (Certainly for the second half of the season anyway)...

There were several occasions that season where Hill had to play second fiddle to Prost, most notably in France...

(This is not to say that this should have been done, but merely to say that it has happened before - and will happen again....Remember , "Fernando is Faster than You")

 

[teabagyokel]

Prost qualified on pole for the first 7 races of 1993, I don't think the two situations are quite comparable.

 

[Lewywo4]

You cant really say that Jen, because without his father's encouragement (pushing if you like) he wouldn't have had the McLaren support.Its a highly competitive sport, especially for a child from a working class council estate.

racecub......I believe that Lewis under his own initiative, took it upon himself to walk up and introduce himself to Ron Dennis, and not from any prodding from his father Anthony, which I have no problem with if that was the case.

 

[teabagyokel]

None of us know the father-son dynamic between the Hamiltons.

 

[The Artist.....]

teabagyokel - Please note the qualification of "On race pace"...

We also don't know all the ins and outs of the shenanigans that have gone on in Ferrari in the past... All I'm saying is that drivers have been slowed down by instruction or by other actions in the past... Again, I'm not saying that it should have been!

 

[Jen]

Basically, we don't know about anything much; whether it be father/son dynamics, team orders, who knew what about 'stolen' IP - we can't even agree on whether Lewis is a working class kid from a council estate or someone a bit more upmarket.

Can anyone actually tell me what this has to do with Hamilton's ability as a racing driver? Should we not just be grateful that he is currently racing and entertaining us?

 

[cider_and_toast]

Anyhow, in other Hamilton related news, anyone else wondering why there has been no news on the contract front? Reading Martin Whitmarsh's words in Autosport tonight it would seem that neither party has sat down at the table for formal talks yet. There is lots of talk about Whitmarsh and Hamilton being closer than ever before on the racing side but as far as contracts go there is nothing to go on. Whitmarsh says if Hamilton wants to and he says he does and if Mclaren still want him which he also says they do, then he is sure a deal can be done. Hamilton, as far as I can tell only has three options for a top class ride 1) resign to Woking 2) hold out and see what Schumacher will do or 3) go for the (as yet still unconfirmed) vacant seat at Ferrari.

In all honesty, the low risk option is to sign now. He may wait for Schumacher to go and find out too late he's staying which would leave Mclaren in the box seat when it comes to doing a deal and I think it's highly unlikely that Ferrari would want him and neither would Alonso.

 

[Brogan]

This is the latest on it... http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/news/12433/7988612/Neale-Hamilton-deal-close

"We are closer and of course we are in dialogue," Neale told Sky Sports.

"For obvious reasons I can't speculate more at the moment. We are working very hard to find a common ground."

When asked if a new deal was what both Hamilton and McLaren wanted Neale added: "Very much so."

 

[teabagyokel]

Could do with a less of a smear campaign in this thread, really.

 

[cider_and_toast]

Reading Neales words they do sound more positive than Whitmarsh's in Autosport. It's clear from that, that both parties are at the table. I like the "looking for common ground" which made me smile. I wonder how many years will be on the paper? I'd go for two plus an option for 1 more.

 

[gethinceri]

Well it's not titled Lewis Hamilton Is Brilliant Thread.

 

[Lewywo4]

I think one thing that can't be argued with is that Lewis' post race comments after finishing second at Monaco in 2007, which prompted an FIA investigation into Team Orders, were the first public sight of trouble behind the scenes at Mclaren between the drivers and the maanagement. To me it was Hamilton who fired the first public shot in what grew to be a bitter fight with his team mate.

Lewis may have fired the first public shots at Monaco covered by the British press, but it seems that Fernando was making un-complementary public comments regarding Hamilton to the Spanish press long before the season started, during testing at Valencia. According to Mark Hughes, Fernando told local reporters, " he couldn't see why Mclaren hired this guy as he wasn't especially fast. " It looks as if Alonso was stirring the pot of discontent in the Spanish press, even before the season opener at Australia.

Let's not forget that the storm clouds were now starting to gather, when Fernando had Hamilton excluded from scheduled test sessions for the upcoming Spanish GP, after his poor showing at Bahrain.