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"

 

[racecub]

Yes. Did you watch him in GP2 where cars are the same ? I was sold before he came to F1. His performance against Alonso just confirmed it.

 

[The Pits]

The cream always rises to the top.

 

[Josh]

I think he'd be less hated to be honest, I assume most people who dislike him think he kind of lucked into that Mclaren drive and is a spoiled brat for getting a top drive in his first year.
There's no doubt he'd still be as highly regarded as he is today though, no matter how your first F1 years are. Just look at Alonso, he was a test driver in his second season and now he's a double world champion and currently driving a Ferrari and leading the championship.

Something that kind of annoys me sometimes is when people say he's one of the most successful rookies ever. And yes, obviously he is, but considering how most rookies start way down the team order it's not that difficult to be. Not trying to take anything away from him here, he's obviously one of the best drivers on the grid at the moment, it just kind of annoys me when people use that argument to talk down a rookie who didn't end up in a top team right away.

 

[Viscount]

racecub I did watch him in GP2 but out of the millions of F1 fans today I doubt many did see him or had even heard of him until he was in race seat at McLaren. I'm not questioning his talent just how he he's perceived with my 'what if' scenarios.

 

[tooncheese]

I think he could have been more successful had he spent a year in a slower car to learn the ropes as Raikkonen and Alonso did. Due to always challenging for wins there are still errors you would not expect of someone of his experience.

 

[racecub]

Raikonen was lucky. Ok he spent the year at Sauber, but prior to that he was launched into F1 from much lower series than the normal route. I dont have a problm with that, if he had the talent then why not, but I cant see it as an arguement for saying Lewis should have gone in to a mid or back marker car, he was clearly ready to deal with the Mclaren and a double world champion team mate.
Josh If people hate Lewis and think he's a spoiled brat I think it says more about them than it does about lewis.

 

[Fenderman]

@tooncheese Sorry, can't help it. That's just too funny and don't ask me for a reason why. I recommend deep meditation and a degree course in motorsport history and statistics.

 

[Lewywo4]

I think he'd be less hated to be honest, I assume most people who dislike him think he kind of lucked into that Mclaren drive and is a spoiled brat for getting a top drive in his first year.

Why was Hamilton so hated and considered to be a brat, for getting a top drive with Mclaren in his rookie year?........especially when Jacques Villeneuve in 1996 also as a rookie, was a given a top drive in the FW-18, and without a doubt at the time considered to be the best and fastest car on the grid, but without people getting all bent out of shape, the way they had with Lewis.

If luck is the answer for that dislike of Hamilton, why wasn't that same emotion expressed towards Villeneuve?

Without a doubt IMO, the matter of race and Lewis with some, plays a role in that.......hatred!

 

[Incubus]

What's all stuff about "hate"????
People might have their favourite teams and drivers and get annoyed when they feel other posters lack perspective, but "hate" drivers? Come on!
Can't say I have seen much evidence on here of people actually HATING drivers but if they're actually sad enough to do that then they clearly have a problem that go way beyond this forum. Thankfully I haven't seen that on here.

 

[FB]

Not to go off topic but Jacques was Indy Car Champion, a series not far removed from F1, before he joined Williams so was a known quantity. I'm sure the Villeneuve name helped, as did the Andretti name for Michael when he ran his first season in F1 for Mclaren.

I think it very unlikely we will see any drivers stepping in to a top team, as Hamilton did, right from the off for many a year to come, particularly with the testing ban now in place.

 

[Josh]

Maybe hate was a too strong word. "Dislike" would have been better. Undoubtedly there are people who hate Hamilton though, but I'm sure every driver has his haters.

Btw, anyone know what happened to CFS? Haven't seen him in a while. Sorry if the mods did something to him, feel free to give me a slap for asking then

 

[KekeTheKing]

The word "hater" has taken on a new meaning in recent years. It doesn't necessarily mean that the person well and truly "hates" someone else, just that they're always looking for a reason to put them down.

And just because you asked for it Josh,

 

[Josh]

Right, that clears that up then

 

[teabagyokel]

Josh - we do not discuss moderating decisions in public

 

[ExtremeNinja]

The McLaren boys, and Lewis especially will be hoping for rain tomorrow. The car did not look at all clever on inters but looked great on wets.

 

[KekeTheKing]

Lewis will be hoping he gets through turn 1.

 

[Dizzi]

Yes, Lewis will be hoping Williams put the test driver in Maldonado's car & McLaren don't stuff up his start procedure.

 

[Bill Boddy]

Quote from http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/18745699

"I struggled a lot and could not get temperature into the tyres for some reason. I also had no grip and we were skidding all over the place. We will try and understand why and fix it for tomorrow."

I presume that he isn't talking about changing the setup whilst in Parc Ferme.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Tyre pressures, braking points, tyre loading...

I'm sure he's not going to sneak into the garage and fit a new aero package.

 

[Speshal]

I don't think he's that handy with a spanner after seeing that video of him and Jense putting together the car at McLaren