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"

 

[Hamberg]

Maybe, maybe not but neither are spring chickens and I think the best opportunity is if you've got the upper hand during the first season of a major reg change.

I don't disagree that in four years time both will be fighting against the youngsters.

 

[Mephistopheles]

The fact you've brought up an annoyance about JB and made a snippy comment on the LH thread suggests otherwise. But hey ho.

How so? to suggest that one driver can go on longer than another on one drivers thread and say the opposite on another drivers thread is not only stupid it is comical, and smacks of double standards or at the very least blinkeredness due to fandom and it would be remiss of me not to point that simplest of facts out to those with a singular point of view regarding their own personal favourite driver, and yes I realise that some of those people were not Lewis fans it is even worse that that they are Alonso fans and Alonso is of a similar age to that second rate driver Button..

 

[Hamberg]

Difference being Hamilton is what 4/5 years Buttons junior therefore if people are saying he has years ahead of him in F1 terms 4/5 years is quite a bit, hence 'years left.'

Alonso vs Button vs Raikkonen ages are nothing to do with Hamilton who for the time being is a fair bit younger in sporting terms. I'm assuming as you'll claim this isn't JB vs LH (cos you hate that right?) you've also taken this issue to those drivers threads?

 

[Mephistopheles]

I just find it odd that people have been attacking that second rate driver Button throughout his career for no other reason than they don't like him and now they are calling for him to give up because of his age, what does it matter to them what he does?

Maybe they just don't like him being in F1 because on occasion he shows other drivers up as being average..

Edit.

I do so enjoy our little tête-à-tête's Hamberg. xx

 

[Hamberg]

Apart from maybe one poster (utilise 'ignore', I even have a certain Hamilton fan so maybe not seen other posts) I don't think that's the case. Hoping I'm quoting right now but I believe TBY said those who don't acknowledged Buttons achievements and skill should complain they 'have no grip'. Loved that line - you should remember it!

 

[The Artist.....]

Given the hype that Lewis Hamilton came in to F1 with, his career to date has been somewhat disappointing...

In 2007, he probably had his best overall and consistent season. He didn't have a single retirement until the famous race in China, and was leading the championship throughout. Yet he failed to win the championship...

In 2008, he had many errors, yet managed to win the championship- personally, I've always felt that this was his worst season...

2009, there was an awful car (and some awful drives, such as silverstone), but also some brilliant drives (nurburgring).

What about since 2010; 2011 was not a bad year, but he was well beaten by Button, 2012 was a good year, but all of 2010-2013, everyone has been second to the all-conquering red bulls.

Will Hamilton win another championship? Who knows. This year may be his best chance!

 

[Bill Boddy]

It's all about the car.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Who can tell, my hope for F1 is that every season is different and not dominated by a singe driver or team..

How mental would it be to see Max Chilton win the WDC now that would be a story to tell.

 

[Plutus]

What about since 2010; 2011 was not a bad year, but he was well beaten by Button, 2012 was a good year, but all of 2010-2013, everyone has been second to the all-conquering red bulls.

That is not the disappointing part, well not for me isn't. The disappointing part is the way he has conducted himself since 2010 and his performances, as I said he has struggled to stay on form for the larger part of a season since 2007 and you should think that with experience he should be able to stay on top form more often but it just does not seem to be the case.
I am fine with the all-conquering red bulls from 2010- 2013, you could still say he was the second best driver in the field and drove outstandingly and I'd be happy to agree if it were the case but it is not.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Sadly that is true I would love for Hamilton to succeed but for some reason he just keeps dropping the ball instead of running with it..

 

[Lewywo4]

In 2009 Lewis hardly dropped the ball, because the car was terrible, but at least he still managed 2 wins and 3 other podium finishes in a car that was basically a piece of shit.

2010 - Lewis stood a reasonable chance of securing the WDC, and here he made 2 big mistakes, by attempting an impossible pass on Massa at Monza, and as a result then crashing out very early in the race. He should have been more careful in any passing attempt to be made on Webber at Singapore, who can be very aggressive with his defensive moves, as a result of misjudging Webber, literally crashing out of the race, and with that his championship attempt.

2011 - Too much drama all around him, whether it be personal or on the track, but still managed 3 wins and 2 podiums finishes. IMO Hamilton's worst year, and that year really dropped the ball.

2012 - Outstanding performance's on Lewis's part, could have resulted in a championship for him, but for incidents that was beyond his control.

2013 - Decent performance by Hamilton in a brand new team, but for an exploding tire, he may have won his home race at Silverstone, which would have made his year. Lewis in the last nine races of the season, like the rest of the field, weren't able to deal with Vettel, in that rocket from the drink company.

Keeps dropping the ball.......

 

[Mephistopheles]

Lewywo4 The 2009 car was well sorted by the time Lewis started winning with it, in fact it was one of the best on the grid by then not a piece of shit as you say, if you want to make a point you don't have to big it up, and when I said he drops the ball I meant he starts losing points when the pressure is on as he did in 07 he had a commanding lead and still managed to throw away a championship and he made hard work of it in 08 and there have been other times when he loses focus and loses points as well you know....

My point is a valid one, I know that it is hard to accept that your favourite driver has weaknesses but the fact is he does as do we all...

 

[The Artist.....]

Lewywo4

Examples of Hamilton dropping the ball in 2009.

Silverstone; failing to get out of q1
Germany; after first lap puncture, essentially giving up, and finishing near last
Italy; binning the car on the last lap, when he was guaranteed a 3rd place.


Need I go on?

That's not to say that he didn't have good races- in fact the turnaround from silverstone (q19) to Germany (q5) was remarkable!!!

 

[teabagyokel]

I think Lewywo4 was unduly harsh when discussing 2007 (McLaren's fault) and Singapore 2010 (Webber's fault). The pudding was overegged on the merits of the 2009 car by Hungary but the actual performance in Australia prior to the witch-hunt was fantastic.
(If drivers are disqualified for lying, you can annul every result since Nelson Piquet's debut at least.)

He's been far too inconsistent at times though - Bahrain 2008, Monza 2009, Mangy-Cours 2008, Spa 2012, Monaco 2013 and half of 2011 are driver induced mistakes or performance slips I can't imagine Vettel or Alonso allowing to happen.

He's quick and that carries him some of the way; it could get him a title again, but don't expect him to string together win sequences as Alonso, Button and Vettel have done.

 

[Mephistopheles]

teabagyokel it wasn't so much that he lied it was more that he got another driver disqualified due to his and his race engineers lie, and I found that unacceptable the mistake by the stewards was rectified when the truth came out and Lewis got disqualified and quite rightly so in my opinion, sometimes it is okay to lie in certain situations but when that lie harms others to protect yourself then it is just wrong...

 

[Hamberg]

Trulli wasn't disqualified,he was penalised. If a driver lies to gain position he's by default taken someone else's rightful spot, albeit by nine is on the severe side.

TBYs got a good point. They all do it (except Rosberg, I think he's a good boy.) McLaren were just excessively stupid about it.

 

[RasputinLives]

Hamberg. Nico Rosberg once said in an interview that his team mate Kazuki Nakajima was obviously going to push him during the season. Fricking liar.

As for Hamilton I'd like to throw in the smash up with Massa at Monza in 2010 as a reaction to pressure too. It was a case of a driver trying to win a Grand Prix at the first corner and getting it very wrong. To be fair to Lewis he has learnt from it. I do hold with the view he tends to get himself in a really good position in the championship and then suddenly have a run of bad results (I said results not performances) which does seem to show the pressure gets to him. To be fair again though coping with pressure is something you again have to learn as its all about experience and I'm pretty sure Lewis has taken something from it everytime its happened. Certainly the drop off the pace last year was not his fault and he appeared to be consistent with his form all last year.

My only concern for this year and Lewis is the 100k fuel limit and the fact he might, like all the drivers, have to turn the wick down in order to meet the limit during a racing situation. His head tends to go down when he is told to hold back the pace (note his reaction to it on the tyre front last year) and I can see it happening if he has to back off and lose a place or two to get the car home. I'm hoping he continues to tell himself its better for the championship to score a lesser result and fight another day than not get a result at all.

Lewis isn't the only driver I'm concerned about on the fuel limit front by the way. Certainly Kimi 'I'm rude to my race engineer on the radio and everyone thinks its funny' Raikkonen would be where my money went if I had to bet on the first driver to fall foul of the new rule because they didn't slow down.

 

[The Artist.....]

RasputinLives

I know that the cars are deliberately being limited to mean they can't run full beans the whole time during the race, but I still don't know what effect this will genuinely have. The fastest way to run a race would be with a consistent pace that will burn exactly 100kg during a race. After all, if a rival turns their engine up, then they will inevitably have to turn it down at some point, and run slower! However, turning the engines up also means that you might be able to get a burst of overtaking speed!

I still think it's a shame that the teams get all the fuel consumption data... I'd much rather see a fuel gauge on the car with the drivers having to make decisions!!!

Fuel saving has been in f1 since 2010 (and somewhat before)... Drivers who were bad at it before will still be bad at it... Similarly those who were good at it!

 

[RasputinLives]

Ultimately the driver does have control. The team can tell him to turn it down but he doesn't have to do it! Which is why I'm worried for certain drivers as they tend to end up learning things the hard way especially as going over the 100k doesn't mean they'll stop out on track. The teams will have to put more fuel in to make sure they get the grid and back to the pits before and after the race. So as I've said on the regs thread we may end up with a situation where a driver wins a race but is DQ'd because they've used 101k to get to the finish.

The teams have the data live on the pit wall and I'm hoping is made public access so we can see it on the TV footage. Certainly being able to view if someone is coming up on the 100K fuel line will make it far easier for the viewers to understand if a driver has to either slow down or goes over the limit and is DQ'd. It makes far more sense than viewers seeing a race and then finding out 4 hours later the result has changed. At least if a driver finishes a race over the 100k mark and the whole world can see he's gone over his fuel allowance then people will understand when he is DQ'd.

 

[The Artist.....]

RasputinLives

That could make some great tv graphics... We're on board with 'Henry Heavyfoot', and he's got 3 laps to go... The fuel gauge is red, there's only 1.5kg allowed to be used!!!....

Oh yes, what counts as the race- does the parade lap count in the 100kg?