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"

 

[Lewywo4]

And I wonder whose dream it was - Lewis's or his father's?

It definitely could be both.

 

[Jen]

He's supremely confident in his own abilities but his upbringing has not equipped him to deal well with media.

From the look of Speshal's video, Lewis has been 'dealing with media' since he was 8 years old!

 

[Jen]

lewymp4, or a small boy wanting to please his father.

 

[racecub]

Or a father who supported an outstanding talent and fought for his child against the odds??

 

[racecub]

From the look of Speshal's video, Lewis has been 'dealing with media' since he was 8 years old!

He has been in the media's eye since he was eight years old, albeit briefly.That does not equip him to deal with people from different socio-economic backgrounds such as Senna's upbringing equipped him( I love Senna, but he was brought up to deal with all comers-confident and self assured). Lewis was from a different world to the priviladged F1 drivers we are accustomed to, its not easy for him.

 

[Lewywo4]

lewymp4, or a small boy wanting to please his father.

Could be.....but I doubt it Jen. When you view Spehal's video.....look at the intensity on Lewis's face, just driving a radio controlled car, even then that boy was serious, and in that race, I doubt that he was thinking about his father.

 

[Jen]

Funny how we all see different things!

 

[RickD]

Nothing privileged about it - he earned his place fair and square by beating the other possible candidates.

The decision to give the place to Hamilton has been vindicated in the best possible way.

Sorry to bring this up, but £100M fine and exclusion from the championship in his first year. Not sure how much that vindicates him?

He is a very quick driver, but it surely would have been much cheaper for McLaren to get someone who wasn't going to rock that particular boat quite so much. They may have even got their first constructors in a decade with another driver.

 

[racecub]

That wasn't Hamilton's fault. The other driver couldn't handle Hamilton's speed. Mclaren couldn't handle their other driver. And Max Mosely had it in for Dennis.

 

[Brogan]

surely would have been much cheaper for McLaren to get someone who wasn't going to rock that particular boat quite so much.

I agree.

Anyone but Alonso partnering Hamilton and they would have wrapped up both titles easily.

 

[Incubus]

How so? Coughlan hadn't been caught at it?

 

[RasputinLives]

It definitely could be both.

I think one of the reasons Lewis cut himself adrift from his dad as manager was to try and distance himself from this view completely. I think he wanted to show he hadn't just been pushed there by his dad and that he was his own man. Which isn't surprising as I think we all felt like that at his age didn't we? I'm quite sure I but into the martyr view of:

Or a father who supported an outstanding talent and fought for his child against the odds??

But I do believe Anthony Hamilton sacrificed a lot to help Lewis get where he is and I imagine it was quite hurtful for Lewis to take that stance - but once again who of us can't say at somepoint even if they haven't meant to they've thrown our parents help back in their faces in trying to be an individual? Its a natural cycle of life. I do think Lewis has got over that stage though and I hope he brings his father back into the fold more as I truely believe he's much better equipt with his father in his corner.

I remember seeing a clip of Lewis when he was 9 or 10 and he'd just been in a go-kart race that had gone badly and he was saying the go-kart wasn't set up right but couldn't explain why, His Dad kept constantly asking him about it to the point where it looked like he was nagging him but eventually he got the information from Lewis, changed the set-up and Lewis came back and won the next race. Sometimes we need those that know us to help us work our best.

Sorry. random rant.

 

[Jen]

As a parent, there is a fine line between support and push - a supported child will do as well as they can do on his/her own; a pushed child may or may not reach their parent's expectation but, will undoubtedly, resent and react against parental interference at some stage.

I think Lewis has a lot to thank his father for and, equally, a number of reasons to dislike his father's actions.

Lewis could have been even further forward in his career if he had been allowed to go at his own pace, and with guidance, rather than compulsion.

 

[racecub]

You cant really say that Jen, because without his father's encouragement (pushing if you like) he wouldn't have had the McLaren support.Its a highly competitive sport, especially for a child from a working class council estate.

 

[The Artist.....]

I agree.

Anyone but Alonso partnering Hamilton and they would have wrapped up both titles easily.

Anyone but Hamilton partnering Alonso, and they would have wrapped up both titles easily.....
(It does work both ways on this occasion) - 2007 was a year where McLaren descended into chaos

 

[Brogan]

Just to be clear, Hamilton was guilty of one thing only - not letting Alonso through on his qualifying lap.

Alonso was guilty of using stolen Ferrari data, blocking his team mate deliberately and attempting to blackmail Ron Dennis and the McLaren team.

 

[RasputinLives]

Now its you doing his father down racecub - Lewis did live with his mother in a slightly poorer area of Stevenage until he was 12 befor ehe moved in with his father who worked exceptionally hard to make sure his two kids and new wife had a nice home and community to live in - even making sure that Lewis went to The John Henry Newam Acadamy School which is a very nice place indeed. He was not a council estate kid I'm afraid.

 

[The Artist.....]

Brogan
That is a very naive and biased view of the 2007 season;

• Alonso knew about the use of Ferrari data, but so did many others in the McLaren team - and both drivers benefitted from this. Hamilton has always denied knowledge of this, but some people may cynically claim that if 2 drivers in the team knew about it, it is likely that the other driver knows something about it. (I'm not making claims either way!)
• Both drivers were involved with attempts to manipulate the team through the media.
• Both drivers were reported to be involved with rants at their team boss.

All I was trying to say is that with a lesser team-mate, Alonso would have won the championship in 2007....

 

[Brogan]

It's an accurate statement.

"Some people" eh?

 

[sushifiesta]

I remember seeing a clip of Lewis when he was 9 or 10 and he'd just been in a go-kart race that had gone badly and he was saying the go-kart wasn't set up right but couldn't explain why, His Dad kept constantly asking him about it to the point where it looked like he was nagging him but eventually he got the information from Lewis, changed the set-up and Lewis came back and won the next race.

I think this is what you're talking about, the bit you mention is at 1:25.

I don't think there's anything but love and respect between Lewis and Anthony. They had a bit of a falling out last year maybe, but these things happen with family.