The Lewis Hamilton Circus

[FB]

So, another race and the only talking point for most media outlets is Lewis Hamilton. On Radio 5Live this morning there was an interview with David Croft who spent 15 seconds discussing Sebastien Vettel's fautless drive to virtually secure him his 2nd Drivers Title and then 2 minutes on the trials and tribulations of Lewis Hamilton.

Please, all you die hard Hamilton fans, don't misunderstand the point of this thread. He's a very exciting driver, a very personable young man but jeez, doesn't it get on your nerves when the only thing everyone talks about after the race is the bloke who came 5th?

His team mate finished 2nd (who is also British in case anyone had forgotten) but that didn't even justify a mention on the 5Live summary despite the fact that Jenson (mathematically at least) could still win the title.

When Lewis joined the McLaren team in 2007 I felt F1 was better for the arrival of the first afro/caribbean driver in F1. He was hard charging, exciting, made the car do things few thought it was capable of doing. He still has all of those qualities but the media circus and the nonsense that now follows the man is really getting up my nose. Some may argue that he is harshly treated by the stewards and authorities in F1, an argument I have some sympathy with, but he's not always in the right and, more often than not, he's probably in the wrong.

Is it Hamilton's fault? Is it his teams fault? Is it the media's fault? Is it poor management that results in so much hype and then rather disappointing results? As mentioned before, I like Lewis, but I'm rapidly reaching the conclusion that F1 would be a better place if he weren't driving then we could all get on with concentrating on the racing rather than what one man has or hasn't done, one man who makes up 4.2% of the drivers but about 80% of the coverage.

Yawn...

 

[Brogan]

Well it's certainly not his fault that everyone talks about him.

I won't say any more for fear of being labelled a Hamilton apologist or accused of making excuses for his behaviour again.

I also made the same point here: http://cliptheapex.com/threads/2011...fying-race-discussion.3705/page-18#post-81268

 

[Bill Boddy]

Well it's certainly not his fault that everyone talks about him....

That is the most frustrating thing. The majority of fans are reasonable , it's the minority who go over the top. The latest thing seems to be to hint that Massa was to blame for Hamilton running into the back of him.

The media does not help, stirring up a bit of controversy never does any harm to the viewing figures.

 

[riskitall]

lewis is great for the sport,the race for the most part was dull,but lewis yet again has given us something to talk about.
without lewis f1 would be alot duller.so i dont know why you think f1 would be better without him?
the reason why ppl always talk about him is because most of the time nothing interesting happens unless lewis is involved.
if it did,then ppl would be talking about that instead.

 

[riskitall]

yeah jenson came second,but he didnt have an eventful race did he?so not alot can be said apart from he got off to a good start,quickly got up into 2nd place and stayed there for more or less the entire race.

 

[Bill Boddy]

So crashing into other drivers is more entertaining than driving a good solid race without putting a foot wrong. BTTC must be much better to watch then.

 

[Brogan]

it's the minority who go over the top

Can I suggest then that you just ignore them and don't respond?
That's what I do.

Once we upgrade to 1.1 you will have the option of adding members to your ignore list so their posts will no longer appear.

 

[Vortex]

Don’t think that’s quite what he said or meant. Vettel was flawless but not really entertaining, watching Hamilton trying to come back through the field was entertaining.

 

[FB]

the reason why people always talk about him is because most of the time nothing interesting happens unless lewis is involved.

Simply not true Riskitall and a rather naive (or perhaps biased) statement. Every incident with Hamilton is dissected to the minutest detail whether it's interesting or not. There are lots of other drivers doing very exciting things out on the track but the media (maybe just the British media) seem to forget about that. I'm an F1 fan, stats on here will show you that Jenson Button has overtaken more cars this year than any other driver, where's the hype about that? Jenson Button, the most exciting driver in F1? No, because when he makes an overtaking attempt generally it works rather than crash, bang, wallop, oops Lewis has bent the car again.

As I said before, I'm an F1 fan, I have certain preferences toward drivers but I can enjoy a Fernando Alonso win as much as a Lewis Hamilton win if the result is deserved and the drive worthy. Why can't we talk about other drivers, perhaps I'm falling into the same trap by posting a thread like this but as an F1 fan it is just so dull that the racing takes second place to the events surrounding one man.

 

[Brogan]

perhaps I'm falling into the same trap by posting a thread like this

I didn't want to point out the obvious irony

 

[Vortex]

Yeah FB, you're such a Hamilton fan boy hahahaha, just jokin mate!

 

[FB]

I didn't want to point out the obvious irony

Yeah, I know. I'll get on a write a Jenson Button - The most exciting F1 driver today thread - Rick'll enjoy my volte-face...

 

[Road of Bones]

I think the most telling thing is his Father (he of the penetrating stare ) coming out and saying that he doesn't think Lewis is getting enough management support from XIX. It does seem like there needs to be someone who is looking out for Lewis' interests as a Racing Driver, not just as a money-accumulator - someone to have a word in his ear during a race weekend and say "look - you're not doing yourself any favours here. Focus on your performance, and the results will follow." Someone who actually understands how motorsport works, in fact.

If you look at the the other "sports mega-stars" in the Fuller stable, you can see the likes of Beckham and Murray - who here can argue that David Beckham signed for LA Utd for reasons other than money? It certainly wasn't to further his career as a footer of balls. And as for "nearly-man" Murray, I understand that he's had several seasons where he chopped & changed his tennis coaches, even going without a coach at all. Why is this? Do they think that because they command million-pound salaries that they no longer need to refine their craft?

The simple fact of the matter is that talent alone will not guarantee you success any more - especially not when so many of the competition are working harder than you at overcoming any deficiencies in their own level of talent.

I think Lewis needs his Dad back in his corner, to give him the grounding he had when he started out - trouble is, I suspect that like millions of kids throughout the world, he feels that he's old enough & wise enough to make his own decisions (who amongst us hasn't thought that we know better than our parents at some point in our lives?).

 

[riskitall]

Simply not true Riskitall and a rather naive (or perhaps biased) statement. Every incident with Hamilton is dissected to the minutest detail whether it's interesting or not. There are lots of other drivers doing very exciting things out on the track but the media (maybe just the British media) seem to forget about that. I'm an F1 fan, stats on here will show you that Jenson Button has overtaken more cars this year than any other driver, where's the hype about that? Jenson Button, the most exciting driver in F1? No, because when he makes an overtaking attempt generally it works rather than crash, bang, wallop, oops Lewis has bent the car again.

As I said before, I'm an F1 fan, I have certain preferences toward drivers but I can enjoy a Fernando Alonso win as much as a Lewis Hamilton win if the result is deserved and the drive worthy. Why can't we talk about other drivers, perhaps I'm falling into the same trap by posting a thread like this but as an F1 fan it is just so dull that the racing takes second place to the events surrounding one man.

yeah jensons overtaken more drivers but most were in one race in changeable conditions.they were easy overtakes,nothing special.but yeah in some races he has pulled of some great overtakes.but most are not worth talking about.its the not the amount,its the type of overtakes that matter.
also if ppl didnt wanna talk about lewis they simply wouldnt,regardless of what the media say.when i read a newspaper for example,i only read the storys im interested in,the rest i just ignore.
if ppl were bored about talking about lewis,theyd simply talk about someone else.

 

[Brogan]

Shall we set up a separate Lewis Hamilton sub forum and then anyone who doesn't want to read about him can just not bother opening it?

 

[Cookinflatsix]

Imagine every race was uneventful

Everyone qualified within their capability and finished the race in the same positions

The team with the best staff most resources won every single race

That would be great fun season after season

Sports does not appeal to the head, logic, statistics and order all the time

It's attraction is the dometimes emotional, irrational and out of the ordinary actions of players who are generally far removed from the man on the street

Even in the Roman times, the gladiators who inspired the crowds and won their life or freedom where the ones who did things outside the ordinary, displayed true guts etc

Ordinary is ordinary and boring because it's predictable

Hamilton has more spirit and more substance than many others, that's what appeals to so many, they feel for the kid

Yes Button is also English, however as a white middle-class kid with a racing driver dad who is safe sensible etc his story is not as extraordinary as the black kid who breaks into the whitest of sports and battles lots of demons

That's not going to change unless F1 is banned, which isn't a bad idea as it goes

 

[riskitall]

considering the terrible season hamiltons had,if lewis finishes the season with more points than jenson ,what will you say then,?and he still could with 125 points still up for grabs.

 

[Vortex]

Well its kinda half banned for next year when I can only watch half the races, grrr sky.

 

[Road of Bones]

if ppl were bored about talking about lewis,theyd simply talk about someone else.

I think the point FB is making is that we don't seem get a chance to talk about anything else, as every thread or F1 news article seems to get hijacked by the Hamiltonistas. It's like trying to have a conversation at a Motorhead concert - everything you say gets lost in the background noise...

 

[Brogan]

BTW, I posted this in April last year: http://cliptheapex.com/threads/lewis-hamiltons-driving.1320/page-3#post-20235

It reinforces your point FB that the media would far rather report what Hamilton's doing than other drivers, good and bad, on and off the circuit.