Current Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton MBE

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"
 
That's great, it really is, but if you'd actually read what I said you'd know I didn't say he shouldn't go for it - by all means, he should, but he should know when to give up instead of going over the limits and crashing or doing something stupid (and yes, I realize he hasn't crashed that often and it wasn't always his fault).

Please note that I'm not saying he's bad - he's easily one of the best drivers right now. I just don't think he's a "great" yet.
 
Please note that I'm not saying he's bad - he's easily one of the best drivers right now. I just don't think he's a "great" yet.

It isn't personal, but I really don't get this talk. He's not a "great". What does that mean?

This talk of greats is moot specifically because greats are created by people, not by anything tangible. And I don't think the aim of anyone in sport is to be liked. Or, more specifically, they'd prefer to win than be liked.

He's a World Champion in this sport for 2008. Talk of who are and who are not greats will not change that. And I hope Lewis himself doesn't care who is categorising him as "great" and "good".

I prefer to talk of tangible things like the form he's shown, the results he's got and the speed he's gone at. Please don't get into the trap of calling a historically incredibly reliable driver either a "crash kid" or a "carbreaker". Its not true.
 
It's true that his judgement has been questionable at times - Monza last year and the clash with Webber in Canada are two examples where he should've exercised a bit of patience. However he is the most scrutinized driver in the field and most incidents are often blown out of proportion.

Exactly. If he pushes all the time he'll have DNFs sometimes(rarely though) but if he settles for positions more often then he'll not have as many points as he does even with the crashes. So which one is better?
Also it's not something he knows whether the next move he makes will result in a crash or not otherwise he wouldn't do it!
Most of the time it depends on what the the other car will do, you always rely on the other car not to turn into you or leave enough room etc. it's a percentage game and he has to judge the percentage of the possible moves of the other driver.
All this in a split second!

Whoever doesn't understand this has never ever raced in their life (which is probably a most people)
and they'll not have an insight into the racing drivers minds.

I suggest everybody to try karting, cheap enough and loads of fun. That should help understanding racing in general a bit more.
 
I understand what people are saying about Hamilton and mistakes, but I would like those same people that use this as an argument as to how he must improve, to think before writing it, of a driver that has had the same level of success, without making a few mistakes (I prefer to call them taking risks personally) along the way.

I'm afraid whilst F1 continues to operate with human racers everyone of them are going to 'make mistakes' for the rest of their career. As tby has indicated, on the grand scheme of things Hamilton's mistakes are far fewer than many of his competitors.
 
That's great, it really is, but if you'd actually read what I said you'd know I didn't say he shouldn't go for it - by all means, he should, but he should know when to give up instead of going over the limits and crashing or doing something stupid (and yes, I realize he hasn't crashed that often and it wasn't always his fault).

Please note that I'm not saying he's bad - he's easily one of the best drivers right now. I just don't think he's a "great" yet.

Only time will determine if he will.....or will not be great.
 
That's great, it really is, but if you'd actually read what I said you'd know I didn't say he shouldn't go for it - by all means, he should, but he should know when to give up instead of going over the limits and crashing or doing something stupid (and yes, I realize he hasn't crashed that often and it wasn't always his fault).

I have been trying to get my head around this

So he should go for it
But he should know when to give up instead of going over the limit and crashing

So if he goes for it, it must be because he thinks it will be within the limit - lets assume he prefers not to crash out of races
And if he then accidently goes over the limit and crashes then its not stupid is it, its the nature of motor racing
The only way to prevent this is to not go for it ever - but we have agreed that he should not stop going for it as it has brought great success

So suggesting that a driver changes a winning strategy because a by product of that strategy is occasional loss, is only meaningful if an alternative can be shown to be obviously much more successful.
 
Anyone else think Lewis's love affair with Mclaren is well and truely over? I know we only hear edited snips of the radio messages on the TV but he didn't sound best chuffed with them.

Get him in that Red Bull for next year - it'd mean we had a title battle at the very least!
 
I expect it's frustration at watching Vettel being well on the way to achieving what he never did, which is back-to-back titles.

Even though Webber seems to make it harder each week for Red Bull to justify keeping him, Hamilton won't be at Red Bull next year, if ever.
Horner made it clear at the weekend that team harmony is more important than having 2 great drivers.
 
I expect it's frustration at watching Vettel being well on the way to achieving what he never did, which is back-to-back titles.

Even though Webber seems to make it harder each week for Red Bull to justify keeping him, Hamilton won't be at Red Bull next year, if ever.
Horner made it clear at the weekend that team harmony is more important than having 2 great drivers.

Can we say that Mark is easier to subjugate than say if Lewis was there, which would likely end up in a Vettel/ Hamilton bust up. It has been seen you pair two very competitive drivers together of similar calibre and the prams fly......or is this only a Ferrari thing?
 
I expect it's frustration at watching Vettel being well on the way to achieving what he never did, which is back-to-back titles.

Even though Webber seems to make it harder each week for Red Bull to justify keeping him, Hamilton won't be at Red Bull next year, if ever.
Horner made it clear at the weekend that team harmony is more important than having 2 great drivers.

You may be right Brogan and if this is all about F1 then I would agree with you - but its not - Red Bull are a brand who promote themselves by being involved with the most famous and most exciting thrill seekers and sportsman. I'm afraid Lewis is a perfect fit for that. I'm sure Mr Simon Fuller is pushing for this as well.

I'm pretty sure it won't be long before word filters down from the top and Mr Horner starts changing his PR strategy.

Maybe I'm being too cynical about it but thats how I see it. In someways I hope I'm wrong.
 
If you interview Horner and he panders around the story then in 6 months signs Hamilton, he looks silly and McLaren accuse him of tapping up. I don't see Hamilton at RBR nor Ferrari, that leaves McLaren and the rest......

Lewis is stuck at McLaren which on the options is the best and he will make more money.
 
Just a thought... If Hamilton were to move to RedBull, would that present him with the opportunity to be the only driver to ever beat 3 WDCs' in equal machinery?

Ah... just thought, Prost. Although Damon and Nige weren't a WDC when Prost beat them, so you could say 2 for Prost.

Still... Hamilton could have the chance to be the only driver to beat 3 reigning (which Vettel will be if he goes anytime soon) WDC in equal machinery.

Nice feather(s) in his cap.
 
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