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"

 

[Brogan]

I would agree that 2008 was far from his best season, in terms of driving.
The fact that Massa was so close to winning the title is testament to that; sorry Massa fans but he's really not that good.

With regards to Brazil though, the team have to take the hit on that for going ultra conservative, resulting in him qualifying in 5th and almost not winning the championship.

 

[Hamberg]

You're probably right, I guess the reason 2011 sticks out is
A. He fell out of contention for the WDC before the end of the season
B. His off track demeanour
C. His team mate for the first time beat him

2008 from memory was largely on track warfare

 

[Slyboogy]

In 2008 Ferrari, McLaren and their drivers made several mistakes Massa himself, not as if Massa was in contention because of Hamiltons faults, a lot of things went wrong for all the top 3 drivers (4 if you add in Kubica and the BMW farce) anything could have happened, plus several wet races.

A bit like the 1999 season bar the wet races,

 

[Viscount]

Brazil '08 may have been ultra conservative, but he did enough to win the championship, so the right decision in my eyes.

 

[Brogan]

It was the rain on the last lap which enabled Hamilton to pass Glock and win.

Without that Massa would have been WDC.

 

[F1Yorkshire]

Without that Massa would have been WDC.

And F1 forums would be a quieter place. If Hamilton had not won that year would we have gained the new generation of F1 fans? The Hamilton effect has certainly increased interest in the sport but would it be the same if Hamilton was just another "nearly man"

 

[Quintessentially]

"You know that consistency I was talking about wanting to get? Well, he just toppled mine and kept going and going and going.
"He got taken out in Belgium, but the team have just not messed up. As a team they are the most deserving and Fernando has done a great job."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/20192741

 

[EvilWhippet]

He won the championship in a car that was rarely the best and always appeared to be getting maximum pace from the car, so I'd say '08 was better than '11. Kovy's no cheap shot and the difference in points was something massive. Also, he really won 6 races. When was the last time someone became champ in something other than the best car aside from (in my opinion) '08? Well, rather anticlimactically, the answer may well be '07, but that was as much Mclaren losing it as Kimi winning it.

Massa was on very good form at the time too.

 

[Lewywo4]

Interesting onboard of Lewis at Abu Dhabi in 2009/2010.

 

[Brogan]

You have to feel for Hamilton.
I've lost count of the number of times he has retired from the front due to mechanical failures, punctures, etc.

 

[F1ang-o]

It's a bloody disgrace...& a waste of IMO...the best driver in F1.....

 

[Jen]

It's the same luck/mis-luck that gave Seb p3 today, I think.

 

[Johnny Carwash]

Think Lewis needs to avoid walking under ladders, as at the moment the only luck he is getting is bad luck.

 

[F1ang-o]

I don't think it's down to bad luck...
Bloody sour grapes...IMO

 

[Josh]

Yeah I think they pressed the "mechanical failure" button on the pitwall again.

 

[F1ang-o]

Yeah.... right on......

 

[Jen]

Smilies aren't reasons.

 

[Galahad]

There's about a $10m difference between second and third in the constructors' championship. They didn't press a button - they're just crap at the moment.

I know it's no consolation, but he was in the lead and most likely going to win. So they got one thing right.

 

[Brogan]

Indeed G.
Those who claim that McLaren are deliberately sabotaging Hamilton are conveniently overlooking that fact that it's going to cost McLaren a considerable amount of money.

They are currently in third place in the WCC and may even lose that to Renault at the rate they are going.

 

[sushifiesta]

For those of you that aren't depressed enough about Hamilton's fortunes this year:

Australia - Lost 2nd place due to Safety Car.
Malaysia - Slow pit stops.
China - Gearbox change.
Bahrain - 2 slow pit stops.
Spain - Low fuelled in qualifying.
Valencia - Maldonado crash
Germany - Puncture
Belgium - Grosjean crash
Singapore - Gearbox failure
Japan - Suspension issues
Korea - Suspension issues
Abu Dhabi - Engine/fuel failure

Problems in 12/18 races, 5 mechanical, 3 team errors, 4 due to other drivers' mistakes/issues.

Of course you can make similar lists for the other drivers, but Hamilton's is spectacular to say the least, and most importantly none of them are things he could have done anything about. Big hits obviously came in Spain, Singapore and Abu Dhabi where he was strong favourite to win.