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"

 

[Kewee]

So you can miss the apex of a corner and be on the racing line. I'll be waiting at the following corner to pluck you out of the scenery.

 

[The Pits]

You can hit the apex and NOT be on the racing line.

And the racing line for some corners does mean missing an apex for a better entry in to the following corner.

I'm sorry.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Sometimes the fastest way round is to be as far away from the apex as possible. Especially on long fast turns where you want to carry as much speed and not just widen the angle but take the smoothest trajectory.

 

[Brogan]

So you can miss the apex of a corner and be on the racing line.

Correct.

The fact that you are unaware of this renders your comments on the Hamilton incidents null and void.

 

[Incubus]

Maybe this forum should change its name to "cliptheapexordontcliptheapex.com?

 

[Kewee]

I can't comment any further, I'm null and void.......

 

[Incubus]

I did think of singing a verse of "baa baa black sheep" but I thought better of it considering the bad jokes that exist about New Zealanders and sheep you might be offended, and I'm too much of a gentleman to stoop to that kind of toilet humour.

 

[KekeTheKing]

Seeing as these events occurred over 4 years ago, I think we could all use a bit of a refresher.

In Singapore when Webber took Hamilton out he would have flown right through the corner just as he did in Australia earlier that season.

And then on the penultimate lap Mark completed the job after Lewis had a look at Fernando and fell back into line.

Here is the much ballyhooed Marina Bay incident. It was a typically Webber move. Extraordinary ambition and determination combined with mediocre skills.

 

[Kewee]

I did think of singing a verse of "baa baa black sheep" but I thought better of it considering the bad jokes that exist about New Zealanders and sheep you might be offended, and I'm too much of a gentleman to stoop to that kind of toilet humour.

Over here Kiwi's know lots of sheep jokes too, we just apply them to Aussie's.

 

[Kewee]

My final comment considering the different incidents are being mentioned.
To state the obvious all corners are different but the all have an apex. The Pits mentioned the apex is not always on the racing line. This can be true sometimes when affected by a poor track surface or other physical elements that would slow a cars exit, but ExtremeNinja stated sometimes the fastest way round is to be as far away from the apex as possible. That's taking things to the extreme Ninja. Every corner has an apex and at every circuit with a good surface drivers will try to make the apex of each corner during qualifying. The only time a driver will miss an apex is if he needs to set up for the next corner in a complex. In-car at Hungary and Monaco are great places to watch a driver reaching for the apex of each corner.
Back to Singapore, which was the basis for my posting, the corner of the Webber/Hamilton incident very definitely has an apex and Webber touched it. His entry speed was to high to hold a tight line and Hamilton didn't clear him before turning back in. There was fault on both sides which is why the stewards considered it a racing incident, and the drivers agreed.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

The first thing I learned in racing was the "looking ahead technique". This means training yourself to be thinking about the next corner and using instinct to work your way through the current corner. Apexes become secondary once this information sinks in and lap times go down rapidly.

 

[Kewee]

ExtremeNinja ..... Absolutely Ninja, the same applied for me when I was road racing Class 4 Karts. The difference for the F1 drivers we're talking about of course, is they already know he tracks intimately. In most cases they race the same circuits year after year. Even when a new track is introduced they pick up the correct lines within a few laps.

 

[Brogan]

Except for Webber it seems.

 

[KekeTheKing]

I've been working on a little picture project. Had a really good time strolling through memory lane.

I give you a pictorial slideshow spanning all of Hamilton's 33 GP Victories. I hope some of you enjoy watching it as I certainly enjoyed making it.

 

[F1ang-o]

Hey Keke...thanks for posting that vid of Lewis' wins....loved it!
A lot of the shots of him getting the chequered flag....no other car in near proximity....Silverstone 2008 especially brilliant....
IMO Spa 2008 was another win...& one of his best

 

[downforce]

Very good Mr King.

Hard to choose a favorite but Canada 2010 was a great weekend.

 

[downforce]

I hadn't realised how close Hamilton had closed up on Vettel this year (WDC's aside)

Vettel has only 6 more wins, 7 more poles and 4 fastest laps more than Hamilton.

Hamilton has 4 more podiums than Vettel which even after the car he had this year is incredible when you think how good the Red-Bull has been since 2009.

They both trail Raikkonen on podiums and fastest laps as he has 77 podiums and an amazing 40 fastest laps. I hope he makes a comeback next year.

And Alonso has a staggering 97 podiums!

 

[Splash]

Congratulations to Lewis for winning BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2014.

 

[The Artist.....]

There were some very dismissive comments on BBC breakfast this morning; they had been preparing a narrative for Rory McIllroy winning, but then said "clearly motor racing fans are more likely to come out and vote". Personally, I found this offensive. After all, Hamilton has been the first British driver in over 40 years to win more than one F1 WDC! McIllroy just won a game a golf!

 

[cider_and_toast]

The trouble is that you can't compare like for like. Motorsport fans will be shouting for their corner and golfing fans likewise. I'd have been more happy to see Jo Pavey win it but hey ho.

Hamilton has now won it once and finished runner up twice. Not a bad record.