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"

 

[FB]

It must be really hard as Lewis has grown up in the public eye probably more than any other driver in F1 history. Everything he does is scrutinised to the nth degree and he can't please everyone. Personally, I'm pleased that the stuffy white man's club of F1 has been shaken up. I sincerely hope we get more drivers from all sorts of different backgrounds coming in to F1, it's such a shame that the recent Indian and Indonesian drivers that have found their way in to an F1 car have just been a bit crap.

Pascal Wehrlein has an interesting heritage as he's half German, half Mauritian.

 

[Incubus]

Why has he grown up in the public eye any more than any top driver?...

 

[FB]

Because he was a McLaren junior driver when he was in karts so there was always interest in him and, probably, a greater level of expectation.

 

[Incubus]

Depends what you call "growing up in public" The most devout petrolheads might have heard of him (as might also be the case for the current few kids who have their young careers monitored by some of the top-teams) but he was certainly no household name mong the general public until he reached F1?....

 

[RasputinLives]

"Ain't no doubt it's plain to see. A tiger like you is no good for me"

Growing Up in Public (Jimmy Nail album) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That's what I think when people talk about Growing up in public.

 

[Lewywo4]

I was truly amazed at the dislike expressed towards Lewis by some F1 fans, after only his second race at Bahrain. The reason given by many. They were annoyed, and in some cases hated him, because of the excessive exposure they felt that he was receiving from the media. Hamilton had no say or control over the media, on how he will be portrayed and covered by them. That portion of fans who had tried to use the media, as the excuse and reason for that hatred of Lewis well.....There is something else at work there.

 

[racecub]

He was the first black driver ( perhaps it's politically incorrect to say that? ) but he was the first black driver, he was damn fast, he grew up on a council estate, his dad funded his early racing by mortgaging his flat and having three jobs, he's parents split when he was Young.lots of social interest there. Why it should cause hate I've no idea. People Iheard spouting the hate tended to justify it with comments like, ' he was so lucky', ' he got a top drive straightaway'. ' anyone could have done it in that car'. ' I don't like his dad always in the garage' etc, etc. Still can't understand why those things cause such an adverse reaction to him.

He's a shy person, and that's something he's had to overcome in the public eye. Referred to as sulky if he was silent and arrogant if he spoke out. He was poor in front of the camera when he first started, gauche, not articulate , possibly because of his shyness. This is an area he has improved on as he's matured and gained experience. Maybe that's what is meant by growing up in the public eye? He seems more comfortable in his own skin now, not obliged to please others, which generally ended in him tying himself in knots.

As to when he hit the public gaze, I guess for most it was entry to F1 . I knew of him before that . I watched a programme about him in karting. Then I forgot about him for a while. Then remembered when he was in GP2. Was hooked from then on.

 

[Speshal]

Depends what you call "growing up in public" The most devout petrolheads might have heard of him (as might also be the case for the current few kids who have their young careers monitored by some of the top-teams) but he was certainly no household name mong the general public until he reached F1?....

 

[Incubus]

I was waiting for that one...

Aw come on! Appearing on Blue Peter hardly means anyone ever "grew up in public" does it? Does anyone even remember any of the oher kids appearing on it? Did anyone even remember him the day after it was broadcast?

And for that matter, was anyone on here even aware of him on the day the programme was originally aired?

 

[gethinceri]

He was the first black driver ( perhaps it's politically incorrect to say that? )

Not politically incorrect, in my view, just incorrect on its own.

 

[racecub]

gethinceri Fair comment. I didn't know that guy. Perhaps he didn't do enough racing and growing up in the public eye.

 

[FB]

Is that Willy T Ribs? I think he only tested in F1 didn't he?

 

[Lewywo4]

Yes that's Willy T Ribbs, and here in the states he won a couple of Trans Am championships. Also tested a F1 Brabham I think for Bernie

 

[Incubus]

Wasn't bernie actually trying to bring him into F1 proper at one point sometime in the late eighties/early nineties? I vaguely remember reading something to that effect... and also something along the lines of the reason why it never happened having something to do with a controversy he was involved in with the indy Car authorities at the time, the nature of which I can't remember now...

 

[Speshal]

Willy's Ribs

 

[gethinceri]

He's mentioned throughout this thread.
Unsurprisingly.

 

[teabagyokel]

RasputinLives - She's lying.

I think it's difficult to suggest that Hamilton has not had an enormous amount of publicity. At least until Ecclestone tried to stamp out all publicity in F1.

 

[cider_and_toast]

Hamilton arrived on the scene in the middle of a perfect storm. The leading lights of British motorsport over the previous 10 years were Coulthard and Button. Not exactly a duo to set pulses racing (at the time, Button fans). Hill's career had faded away before the millennium and Herbert not much later.

Hamilton represented the future of British driving and brought a new culture with him. (Music, fashion etc).

This coincided with the rise and rise of social media. In the past, national heroes tended to be celebrated at home GP and little else. With social media, commentary, praise and criticism left the pages of autosport and other motoring publications and went global through the keyboards of fandom.

Add to that the events of 07 where we have a young, precocious, incredibly talented driver pushing a double world champion in a climate of scandal and intrigue and it's no wonder that Hamilton has split opinions, courted controversy and generated some ill feeling boardering on outright hatred at times.

From my side, I don't dislike the man, I dislike what goes on around him. In the car he's thrilling, outside of it he can do what he likes, it's the commentary that follows that (both positive and negative) and the fact that for some people he can do absolutely no wrong despite clear evidence to the contrary and to others he can do no right, again despite the blindingly obvious evidence in those cases.

Every driver at the very, very top has moments of genius and moments of madness, the hard thing for fans is to recognise which is which and be honest about it.

I should know, I'm a massive, MASSIVE, fan of Senna. Japanese GP discussion anyone?

 

[The Pits]

To those not in the know, he also came straight in to a top team. Some people will only see what they want to see, and start to make judgements, mostly unfounded, then these will echo throughout, and distort their view of everything.

It happens all the time, and there are those who suffer more than others.

 

[cider_and_toast]

If I posted a list of drivers who made their debuts in top line teams it would be quite a long list!