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"

 

[The Artist.....]

Hamilton's best season, to me, was undoubtedly 2007.

His worst season? 2008.... (I know, this is controversial, but.....)

 

[F1ang-o]

He has the talent to have been a quadruple WDC by now if lady luck had not been a bitch here and there and yet I expect him to be a MULTI champion

My edit...

 

[KekeTheKing]

His worst season? 2008.... (I know, this is controversial, but.....)

People seem to think the MP4-23 was better than it actually was. They were behind BMW (and Ferrari of course) for a bit in the beginning of the season. While it was clearly a Top 2 car for most of the campaign, it was rarely the outright fastest. Kovalainen finished 7th in the standings.

 

[The Artist.....]

KekeTheKing

We are all free to make our own judgements - and much of this is judged by opinions...

Certainly, I believe that Kovi underperformed in 2007, which had less to do with the car, and more to do with the driver! A lot of the judgement of 2008 comes from the races in Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy and Japan....

 

[KekeTheKing]

Never said you weren't allowed to have an opinion.

Just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents as well. And Fuji 08 was a shamockery only topped by Spa.

 

[Brogan]

I expect Hamilton would be happy to have a few more seasons as bad as 2008.

 

[The Artist.....]

Brogan - I suspect you're right... 2008 reminded me a lot of 1999 - it seemed as though no-one actually wanted to win the championship! Massa made a fool of himself in various races (Singapore, GB, Australia, Malaysia, Japan), as did Hamilton ( Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy and Japan), Kubica had a real chance, but his team didn't really back him, Raikonnen was off form and unmotivated...All of this culminated in overall poor performances from everyone!

 

[KekeTheKing]

Thinking about this further, I'm not sure you could pay someone a bigger compliment than to say their worst season was the one in which they won the championship.

 

[Lewywo4]

2007 - Possibly his best season. He was incredibly consistent, beat Alonso and I wouldn't count the China incident as a mistake of his, that fault lies with the team..

Hamilton's loss of the 2007 Chinese GP, could be placed right on the doorsteps of the pitwall and those strategy engineers in the operation room based back at Woking, who make critical decisions concerning race strategy and pit stops. If that pitwall and those engineers at Woking had just listened to Hirohide Hamashima who happened to be Bridgestone's director of motorsport tire development, and advised them to bring Lewis in 5 laps earlier, IMO Hamilton would have won the 2007 WDC in his rookie year...

 

[Slyboogy]

Brogan - Massa made a fool of himself in various races (Singapore, GB, Australia, Malaysia, Japan)!

Hm, not sure you can blame Massa for Singapore, not his fault that someone pressed the release button for the traffic light system and tried stopping the car with their foot .

Raikonnen was off form and unmotivated...

This is what kind of gets to me. I wouldn't say he was unmotivated, yes he might have been 'off form' in a few races, but so where the other contenders. He won 2 of the first four races. Then after that, his luck just wasn't there, I might come across as a fanboy as I say this, but for some reason, for other drivers bad seasons, excuses are made, and they are reasonble, but people tend to forget Raikkonen's in 2008.

Australia - Started 16th due to a problem with the car, then an engine failure in the race.

Monaco - Was already on the backfoot as he had a drive through penalty due to the team not fitting the tyres on the car in time before the race start. Then the team ruined his and Massa's strategy

Canada - Punted out by Hamilton.

France - Broken exhaust, handing Massa the win.

Britain - The team leaving him and Massa out on track with Intermediates while everyone else, bar Coulthard and Alonso where on full wets, where losing 2-4s per lap for 10+ laps, people remember Massa spinning 5 times in that race, Raikkonen also spun 3-4 times, Red Bulll and Renault had the sense to bring their drivers in, while Ferrari didn't.

Valencia - Engine failure.

Spa - Crashed out, but had a slow puncture, as Hamilton took chunks out of the gap.

The majority of his incidents, if not all, where not his own doing, unlike the other competitors at this point. He started to get to grips after Spa, but by then, he was backing Massa.

As for Hamilton's best season, I used to think 2010, but 2012 was better, the gap towards Button was bigger on many occasions.

 

[Lewywo4]

Brogan - I suspect you're right... 2008 reminded me a lot of 1999 - it seemed as though no-one actually wanted to win the championship! Massa made a fool of himself in various races (Singapore, GB, Australia, Malaysia, Japan), as did Hamilton ( Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy and Japan),

The only race in 2008, whereas I felt that Lewis made a complete ass of himself, was Canada by foolishly running into the back of Raikkonen at the pit exit. The other races that you have mention in my view were just mistakes, and hardly could be considered to be making a fool oneself. Lewis was comfortably leading at Canada in 2008, but a yellow flag enabled the field to closeup, which later led to that ill fated pit stop. Kubica probably wouldn't have won the 2008 Canadian GP, if Lewis hadn't taken himself and Raikkonen out of that race, which he probably would have won....... It's kind of funny that, Rosberg is hardly ever mentioned or, has been criticized for running into the back of Hamilton during that same stop.

 

[Lewywo4]

but people tend to forget Raikkonen's in 2008.

Spa - Crashed out, but had a slow puncture, as Hamilton took chunks out of the gap.

Forget Raikkonen in 2008?........I really can't see how, after this fight with Hamilton.

 

[Lewywo4]

^
Slyboogy........how can any body forget this.

 

[Slyboogy]

That onboard footage was great, not seen it from that angle before, shows how much they struggled in those conditions.

It's a shame Raikkonen crashed out, both guys did an amazing job, that was so close between all thre cars at 1:50

 

[teabagyokel]

2008 was a very interesting year; I'm with The Artist..... about 1999, the WDC was won by H******n for McLaren with Ferrari taking the WCC, after their number 2 driver got very close to the title, getting "reverse team orders" from the senior man in the penultimate race in Asia...!

But, from Hamilton's perspective, he did make as many mistakes in 2008 as he did in 2011, frankly, but all while fighting and beating a better car who had the full backing of the law. I suppose the fact he was able to do such a thing without even approaching perfection is a testament to his speed.

 

[Fenderman]

... prowess and tenacity ...

 

[no-FIAt-please]

One of Hamilton's worst races in a long time.

Is it just me or are his starts particularly weak? He never seems to gain any places, the last good start of his I remember is China 2011!

 

[Hamberg]

One of Hamilton's worst races in a long time.

Is it just me or are his starts particularly weak? He never seems to gain any places, the last good start of his I remember is China 2011!

I agree. Ever since that season where he had a lot of collisions he seems much more cautious at the starts. That said I'm not massively sure the result for him would have been that different today. Shocking.

 

[Jen]

Dogs have a very calming influence!

 

[F1ang-o]

I remember...Coulthard or some equally TV presenter saying....'you can't win the race in the first lap...but you can lose it'........I may not have got that verbatim...but DC really helped his mate by saying LH should back off & take it easy ....CRAP
IMO...LH was at his best in 2007 when he went for it..
I hope he gets back to his BEST...forget the opposition telling you to be cautious...intuition, self belief & awareness of your wily opposition will win the day...
& I'm suprised at Ross...who appeared to get it wrong today..... not like him...