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]

As I said a long time ago, the guy could start from the pit lane in reverse and win by a lap and there would still be those who belittle his achievement.

*Waits for comments about best car, team mate who isn't allowed to challenge him, blah, blah*

 

[Titch]

He is a worthy winner, and a stunning driver. But .... I wish the guy would get a better press secretary. wherever he is when he wins it’s always the same. Best fans in the world, best ever team effort. I just wish that he would say something original about the race he just had. I realise that he is probably letting his driving do the talking, but in a media driven F1 it would be nice to see some genuine personality shine through. He seems like a nice guy, but I have only ever heard him utter corporate speak.
And no I’m not belittling the guy, he frustrates me. He’s brilliant, but , I repeat myself, he doesn’t let his personality shine through.

 

[Lewywo4]

Titch….Maybe you would rather the honesty of Raikkonen, when responding to a question from Brundle on an earlier grid walk.

 

[Brogan]

No arguments there Titch - he's full of shit.

Not that different to pretty much everyone else in F1 in though.

 

[Titch]

You know what Lewywo4 I think I would, perhaps a little less graphic, but at least he’s out there.

 

[FB]

Lewis is an exceptional racing driver but he really should be coached on when to keep his gob shut on non-motor racing matters.

Has anyone ever worked out how many years to takes for a driver to become a bell end? I think Alonso probably reached this level faster than most. Lewis was still fairly grounded until he left McLaren and his dad stopped being his manager. Vettel hit it at either the multi-21 race or the crash in Turkey with Webber.

Maybe something for another thread.

 

[gethinceri]

One race for Eddie Irvine.

 

[Ruslan]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1188558503226564610

In the end, it is a pretty impressive record, even if he did have the best car in the field for most of that time.

 

[Ruslan]

Lewis is an exceptional racing driver but he really should be coached on when to keep his gob shut on non-motor racing matters.

Actually, I like that he is expressing his opinions on non-racing matters. It shows he cares about something other than some silly little sport. A lot of these F1 drivers seem a little too one-dimensional.

 

[FB]

I agree with that, but someone should remind him that he takes part in a sport which uses up natural resources at an astonishing rate and he's spent all of his adult life as an international jet setter and playboy.

Perhaps we should think of it in this context "there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance", although he's still driving a range of gas guzzling cars and jetting around the world so not much repentence there.

 

[Dartman]

Someone has to do the job

 

[cider_and_toast]

Reading the F1 book The Mechanic, Hamilton was well liked by McLaren when he was the young eager kid buzzing around the pit lane in 2006 but, when he got the drive for 07 the team quickly saw a change in his attitude almost overnight. The book was incredibly candid on the breakdown in relationships within the team. So much so that when Kimi took the title at the end of the season the guys from McLaren who had worked with him the previous season spent the night partying with him.

There's no doubt Hamilton is an exceptional driver and the foremost in his generation of drivers.

The problem he has, apart from running off at the mouth, is the quality of his opposition. Its not his fault that he can normally win races at 9/10ths of his talent because that's all he needs to do.

The Rosberg / Hamilton years will be well remembered because he was tested and measured. It took every sinew Rosberg had and a bit of luck to win the title.

For Hamilton it almost appears effortless. (though sometimes it's far from it).

I also think Hamilton was the first driver to attract the 'super fan' which was something unusual to F1. I remember a poster on here telling people they wouldn't understand a point because they weren't the right kind of fan or something along those lines. We had the perfect 10 in the votes crowd regardless of how shit the race was just because Lewis won and we had an absolute rejection of any attempt to describe something that had happened in a race, before, during or after as being Hamiltons fault.

This is far more common among all drivers fans now.

We need to accept that sport changes and evolves and, for those of us who have watched it for decades, we all have an era we measure up things against. This generation of F1 is different but its great for a generation of fans.

 

[Bernoulli]

So much so that when Kimi took the title at the end of the season the guys from McLaren who had worked with him the previous season spent the night partying with him.

Nothing unusual. The F1 paddock is a small world and he had worked with them for 5 years.

 

[F1Brits_90]

Lewis Hamilton incredible achievement, to be a 6x world champion he is best driver on the grid in stats the 2nd greatest driver ever at his peak best driver ive seen live, better than schumacher & maybe this would be his least remembered title as the others were more important & this maybe an anti climax, because we known he will be a 6 time world champion for 4 months now. he didn't reach the heights of 2018 where he was untouchable & driving better than I had ever seen where you think wow it italy & singapore but he didn't have to

you can talk about the 1st 8 races but he capitalised & took the points. as Ferrari proved in the last 7 races the best car doesn't guarantee success. especially as in the last 3 races (bar the 1st 50m of sochi) Ferrari have started 1-2 . but its Mercedes that won all 3 with both drivers on the podium with 123pts. Ferrari with 3 podiums & 73pts. he must be greatest british F1 driver but i guess people might talk Stewart & Clark. on pure talent he deserves to be talked about with all time greatest British sportsman of all time likes of Lennox Lewis, Steve Redgrave, Chris Froome, Bradley Wiggins, Chris Hoy, Bobby Moore, Ian Botham, Andy Murray or Mo Farah. it is so weird to think he is a 6 x world champion because when he came so close in 2007 Britain had only won world championship once in 30 years & now Britain are celebrating 7th world title in 11 years.

i would think he should equal Schumacher which in 2004 sounded ridiculously far fetched that anyone could do it. it is the same today saying that Verstappen Norris Leclerc Ocon Russell will get 7 titles that sound as far fetched & depending on 2021 pace Lewis could get 8 which would be mad

 

[cider_and_toast]

because when he came so close in 2007 Britain had only won world championship once in 30 years

So whose World Championship did you forget. Mansell or Damon Hill?

 

[Bernoulli]

Beat Bottas in the third last race and you claim he's better than Schumacher... Schumacher would've put Bottas to bed mid-season during his peak years like he did with Barrichello, who was considered to be very fast, and Irvine, who he destroyed when he came back from his injury.

 

[F1Brits_90]

So whose World Championship did you forget. Mansell or Damon Hill?

sorry nigel

 

[F1Brits_90]

Beat Bottas in the third last race and you claim he's better than Schumacher... Schumacher would've put Bottas to bed mid-season during his peak years like he did with Barrichello, who was considered to be very fast, and Irvine, who he destroyed when he came back from his injury.

in 2018 he was driving better than i had seen anyone. i would say yes he was untouchable. Singapore 2018 pole lap is as close to perfection as any driver can get

 

[Bernoulli]

Go back and listen to the AutoSport podcast covering the race, they say that he was held up on his out-lap which hindered the warming up process of his tyres but benefited him later in the lap. The same happened in Australia 2018. Nothing to spectacular with that in mind, unless we disregard the facts for the sake of creating a legend.
Plus: 2018 was a mistake ridden season by Vettel and Ferrari.

 

[cider_and_toast]

A driver under pressure to perform, particularly if they are struggling to match someone who appears to be quicker than they are will tend to make more mistakes.