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"

 

[RasputinLives]

Would anyone else feel more confident that Lewis was in the 'right frame of mind' if he didn't keep trying to convince he is in every interview he does at the moment?

 

[riskitall]

its simply done to make button feel more comfortable with the car.
i mean think about it,if jenson had to copy hamiltons setup he would struggle because he needs his car to be just so,whereas lewis is more flexible when it comes to setup,so thats all it is.

 

[Slyboogy]

Even then, it is still quite strange, why can't the drivers have different setups?

I do agree with your point though, but my own confuzzles me

 

[johnnoble1990]

I think the only thing that will cure Lewis' frame of mind is to start winning. I suspect if he can compete for the title again, we will see the old spark. I do often fear Lewis may be a choker. Blew the huge lead in 2007, almost lost the title 3 laps from the end in 2008, Was leading till a string of mistakes in 2010. When Lewis won the title in 2008, I saw 5 titles as the minimum I'd be happy with considering his ability. I fear it may turn into a gross over-estimate as time goes on and Mclaren fail year after year to give him a car he doesn't need to drive to death in order to be world champion.

 

[racecub]

I think the only thing that will cure Lewis' frame of mind is to start winning. I suspect if he can compete for the title again, we will see the old spark. I do often fear Lewis may be a choker. Blew the huge lead in 2007, almost lost the title 3 laps from the end in 2008, Was leading till a string of mistakes in 2010. When Lewis won the title in 2008, I saw 5 titles as the minimum I'd be happy with considering his ability. I fear it may turn into a gross over-estimate as time goes on and Mclaren fail year after year to give him a car he doesn't need to drive to death in order to be world champion.

But to put that in percpective
- in 2007 I think there were other things at play(Mclaren/Ferrari saga)and he was only a rookie up against a double world champion
-2008 won the title
-2010 made less mistakes than other leading contenders(particularly Alonso and Vettel) but only Hamiltons get quoted-possibley because his mistakes came at the end of the season other drivers mistakes more spread out; posssibly because, well...people like to remember Hamiltons mistakes more
- should win 5 titles? Yes he should with his natural talent. Even though the field is very strong and he's not had the fastest car for most of his F1 time,. Not winning more championships would be an underachievement.

its simply done to make button feel more comfortable with the car.
.

Absolutely right, as has everything in and out of the car since jenson arrived. By always suiting Jenson the team are handicapping their fastest driver, albeit not as much as they would be handicapping their slowest driver if they reversed this policy.

Would anyone else feel more confident that Lewis was in the 'right frame of mind' if he didn't keep trying to convince he is in every interview he does at the moment?

He would stop trying to convince interwievers if interviewers stopped asking him about his frame of mind. He must be sick to the back teeth of it, yet he remains polite.

 

[teabagyokel]

Absolutely right, as has everything in and out of the car since jenson arrived. By always suiting Jenson the team are handicapping their fastest driver, albeit not as much as they would be handicapping their slowest driver if they reversed this policy.

Is it an established fact that McLaren are suiting Button in and out of the car, or is it just you repeating your opinion often enough that it is taken for a fact?

 

[RasputinLives]

He would stop trying to convince interwievers if interviewers stopped asking him about his frame of mind. He must be sick to the back teeth of it, yet he remains polite.

To be fair though racecub would they be asking them if he hadn't decided to tell everyone his results were suffering because he was in a dark mental place last year?

I still think it sounds like he's trying to convince himself more than the interviewer.

 

[RasputinLives]

2010 made less mistakes than other leading contenders(particularly Alonso and Vettel) but only Hamiltons get quoted-possibley because his mistakes came at the end of the season other drivers mistakes more spread out; posssibly because, well...people like to remember Hamiltons mistakes more

Sorry just read that and its not true I'm afraid. Both Vettel and Alonso made errors but the difference was they didn't make them 3 Grand Prixs in a row and take themselves out of the championship - hence why Lewis's get talked about more not because of some sort of conspiracy.

 

[racecub]

Sorry just read that and its not true I'm afraid. Both Vettel and Alonso made errors but the difference was they didn't make them 3 Grand Prixs in a row and take themselves out of the championship - hence why Lewis's get talked about more not because of some sort of conspiracy.

But champiopnships are won over a season not on three races in a row. If you look at the mistakes over the season Im pretty sure Lewis' were less.

Is it an established fact that McLaren are suiting Button in and out of the car, or is it just you repeating your opinion often enough that it is taken for a fact?

Well its established for me, others must make up their own minds.

 

[EvilWhippet]

Regardless of 2010 mistakes, he also had an inferior car and some mechanical failures but was still in it down to the wire. 09 or 2010 were his best years all around performence wise in my opinion. All the ability of his best moments in 2011 but with much more consistency.

 

[Slyboogy]

What about his performance at Caterham in 2014?

 

[FB]

I don't know if this is new news but it's new to me. Lewis has left Switzerland for Monaco.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/...ed-return-the-feelgood-factor-86908-23782598/

 

[RasputinLives]

But champiopnships are won over a season not on three races in a row. If you look at the mistakes over the season Im pretty sure Lewis' were less.

Racecub - after the 13th round at Spa Lewis lead Vettel by 31 points and Alonso by 41 points. 3 Grand Prix's later he he trailed them both by 14. None of the other drivers had such a poor period of races and lost so much ground in the championship which is why its talked about more and why its viewed as Lewis making the most errors. You're right about the championship being decided over a season and Vettel recovered from his mistakes and Alonso very nearly recovered from his. Lewis had an inferior car it is true and there is no shame in losing out to Vettel in a Red Bull but I'm sure he would be the first to tell you he should have been closer to the title battle come that last round and would have been if it hadn't been for a series of errors. Hence why we saw him with his head in his hands in practice in Japan.

Just to make this clear this is not a criticism of Lewis or me suggesting the others have more talent its is just plain facts. Like I said I'm sure Lewis would agree.

 

[Brogan]

I read that the other day FB.
I thought the timing could have been better, by all accounts he still hasn't unpacked.

Is this the first time his contract details have been made public?

He later revealed tax reasons also played a part, in particular after signing a £10million per season five-year deal with McLaren at the start of 2008.

 

[Brogan]

if it hadn't been for a series of errors

I don't even know why I'm responding to this as I know what the response will be (not from you specifically) but Hamilton was on the inside at Monza and the outside at Singapore. He can't be to blame for both incidents.
Although I'm sure some here think otherwise.

So a "series of errors" is stretching it a bit.

 

[johnnoble1990]

I've already said it on another thread, but i think this apportionment of blame in most cases is wrong. Hamilton-Webber was clearly a racing incident. As was Monza, except Lewis was probably best to avoid putting his car in that danger. He then crashed FP# a week later which added to the pressure, but i think the main reason his title slipped away was the lack of pace of the Mclaren, which was clearly the 3rd best car by that point. Don't forget, Jenson's title hopes faded even quicker than Lewis'.

 

[The Pits]

Don't forget, Jenson's title hopes faded even quicker than Lewis'.

But as has been discussed at great length, Lewis is a far superior driver, so that is not really relevant.

 

[racecub]

Racecub - after the 13th round at Spa Lewis lead Vettel by 31 points and Alonso by 41 points. 3 Grand Prix's later he he trailed them both by 14. None of the other drivers had such a poor period of races and lost so much ground in the championship which is why its talked about more and why its viewed as Lewis making the most errors. You're right about the championship being decided over a season and Vettel recovered from his mistakes and Alonso very nearly recovered from his. Lewis had an inferior car it is true and there is no shame in losing out to Vettel in a Red Bull but I'm sure he would be the first to tell you he should have been closer to the title battle come that last round and would have been if it hadn't been for a series of errors. Hence why we saw him with his head in his hands in practice in Japan.

Just to make this clear this is not a criticism of Lewis or me suggesting the others have more talent its is just plain facts. Like I said I'm sure Lewis would agree.

I understand you're not just trying to criticise Lewis but I think you have the facts wrong. Yes Lewis was leading after Spa-thats because he'd been superlative in an inferior car, and Alonso and Vettel had made mistakes. After Spa Lewis had three bad races (Monza and Singapore cannot both be laid at his door as has been mentioned)but even supposing he was responsible for everything, that still puts his error rate on a par or lower than Vettel and Alonso's. Had Lewis had his 'errors' at the beginning of the season and Alonso had his at the end, would Alonso then be the inept accident prone waster of opportunities?And Lewis the amazing come-back kid? And what of Vettel taking off Button and his team mate and seeing red mist at Silverstone? You cant simply pick lewis 'Errors' because they came at an inopportune time in the season.

 

[johnnoble1990]

But as has been discussed at great length, Lewis is a far superior driver, so that is not really relevant.

I'm the biggest of Lewis fans I know, yet I prefer to wait till these things are proven. I think everyone can see Lewis' potential, but if Jenson beat him last year, then he beat him and we can't take that away from him. I just hope Lewis can prove in future he is the better driver.

I also think people need to avoid confusing "better" with "faster". I think Lewis, Fernando and Sebastian have proven they are the fastest drivers of the top 3 teams over the last few years, but Lewis failed to show he is the "better" driver last season. What is odd about this, is the fact Lewis' race craft is probably his greatest strength, which made last season even more baffling.

 

[Viscount]

Today's mildy controversial Hamilton clip, the unseen interview at Monaco: