So there have been 12 Grand Prix thus far and the McLaren has been the 2nd best car of the season to date, yet Lewis Hamilton has only 4 podiums all year. (Jenson Button has 6) Weather he is to blame or not, or the blame is shared or it is merely racing incidents - there is no doubt he certainly manages to get himself into a lot of incedents and always spends a lot of time with the stewards throught race weekends. Given the importance of straightline speed at the 2 circuits, the races he should have been really strong in so far are Montreal and Spa and yet he crashed out of both of them. There is no denying he has had his fair share of bad luck over the year ie. Monaco quallifying was really unfortunate for him and played straight into Vettels hands and then his team weren't ready for his pitstop, but then he was involved in so many incidents in the race that he himself drove into. To be fair to him the McLaren was only 3rd best at Valencia and Silverstone and the two 4th places were two good jobs done by him, he was also stunning in his 2 wins of the year. His qualifying pace and his race pace are in no doubt as putting him as one of the fastest drivers in Formula 1 and in my opinion he is THE BEST overtaker in the sport. But it has been a season of highs and lows for him, lots of incidents/collisions and he does seem to crack under pressure. It is doubtful weather he will beat Alonso or Webber in the championship and he is currently struggling to beat Jenson Button. Next up Monza, where he hasn't scored a point since 2008 despite having the car to do so. What is your opinion on Hamiltons performance this year so far?
I think you've mentioned most of the essential criteria in assessing Hamilton's 2011 campaign. There's one more thing I feel worth adding (lest it be overlooked): the McLaren car is not up to the job of fighting for a World Championship. Hamilton's self-belief is such that he feels he should be a permanent contender (which I agree with) and it simply isn't happening for him. To put it bluntly; he sees what should be his destiny being kept out of arm's reach. I cannot know this for certain but my feeling is that he is frustrated with circumstance and perhaps lacking the maturity to deal with it as effectively as he might in a few years time. As a consequence, he is perhaps mentally 'over-driving' himself; and I deliberately say this as opposed to over-driving the car itself. Mentally, I think Hamilton is between a rock and a hard place. And he is yet to come to terms with it.
Hamilton has driven well this year, but just a few small mistakes cost him potential wins at the two easiest tracks to overtake (Canada and Spa). His qualifying is still on form though. McLaren also don't make his or Jenson's job easy by messing strategy, pit stops and qualifying at times.
There's been a combination of Hamilton under performing as well as McLaren under performing, but I don't think that this excuses Hamilton's current position in the championship. It has been without a shadow of a doubt his worst season to date. I personally think that missing out on the championship last year has in some ways been the catalyst for some of the rash decisions he has made this year. Barring a few incidents, Hamilton could have sealed his 2nd championship last year and I think he knows that. To me, RBR seemed to be trying to demonstrate how to throw away a championship in 2010 and Hamilton failed to capitalize on their errors and lack of reliability. To me (and this is just my opinion) I feel that seeing Vettel romp off in such a dominant fashion early on this year rattled Hamilton to an extent. I think that he has put himself under pressure in trying to keep Vettel in his sights and in doing so has compromised his own championship by trying too hard to not let Vettel get too far ahead. There have been glimpses of desperation in his driving at times even though we have still seen glimpses of brilliance. He has acres of talent and he’s one of the best overtakers (IMO) that we have seen in many years when he’s at the top of his game. To me, Hamilton needs to take a step back and look at his overall performance this year and be a little more measured with his approach in the future. If he can accept that the championship is over this year and focus on getting some good clean results for the remainder of the season, maybe he’ll find his mojo and he can carry that momentum in to 2012. He needs some confidence boosting races.
Any suggestion that Hamilton is underperforming is ridicilous. Over-driving yes, under-performing no. To under-perform would mean he would qualify badly and race in a lacklustre way. Nick Heidfeld under-performed. Do you mean over-driving?
I think this has been Hamilton's worst season in F1 by far. He's made some silly mistakes and is far too inconsistent. Hamilton's had a bit of bad luck but not as much as others. Four podiums this season is pathetic to be honest. Even Alonso has 6 podiums. You say he is the best overtaker in F1, but a lot of his moves end with contact. Button, Webber and Alonso also do great overtakes and unlike Hamilton, their moves are clean. Until Hamilton tones down the aggression, as far as I'm concerned Button is the best overtaker. cosicave, you mention that car is not up to the job of fighting for a World Championship. I disagree - Hamilton's had the car but hasn't used it properly: Australia - I reckon without the damaged floor (which was his own mistake) he had the pace to challenge Vettel. Malaysia - He said he his car was capable of pole position - whether his car was good enough to win is debateable but certainly it was better than what Hamilton delivered (8th). Turkey - Too aggressive on lap 1 and should have finished 2nd or 3rd Spain - He drove well but I feel missed a couple of oppurtunities to overtake near the end. Monaco, Canada, Belgium - 3 potential victories, 3 appalling drives. Hungary - Big mistakes switching to inters, spinning and forcing Di Resta off the track (all which were his own fault) cost him the victory Far too many mistakes. I believe the right driver could have won McLaren 8-9 races this season.
He's in 5th in the championship behind his team mate (whose had stupidly bad luck), behind Alonso (whose got a much worse car), Webber and Vettel. At the very least he should be ahead of Button, but due to stupid mistakes which his rookie year should have been instead of this, he isnt even there. Correct me if i'm wrong, but he's never beaten his team mate at Monza so thats against him too for the next round. He needs to accept he has lost the championship, put his head down and start to be a racing driver instead of a person who wants to be partying 24/7 with his pussycat. This is by far his worst season in F1 and if he's clever, he will learn from this. But I dont think he will.
So what have the Red Bull drivers been up to for not winning 8-9 races in a car that is clearly superior to anything out there!? So are both McLaren drivers underperforming?
I think if you give Vettel the Mclaren, he would be beating both of their drivers, he will get rid of that "cant overtake" **** (which is mostly due to top speed being lower than other cars). And probably would have won atleast 4-5 races in it.
Because at the end of the day, what performance equates to is scoring points. That's the way I see it anyway.
I can agree with you on one thing Forza: we disagree about the quality of the McLaren! As a team, they have one ace that trumps all others: they have the best pair of drivers; and this has been a significant factor in any of McLaren's momentary successes this season - a team which seems hell-bent on underplaying its hand.
I reckon your post is very sensible if not harsh, it lists the truths.. I respect you for that. But Hamilton is a racing driver, they all make mistakes once in a while so I doubt he could have won 8-9 races ..
A lot of good points here, SgtBhaji is pretty much on the same level with me in regard to this being Lewis/McLaren worst year to date. Hamilton is rattled by Seb, not just "talent-wise" (im not saying Seb is better than Lewis) but that he is younger, probably more respected in the paddock, Bernie loves him, he cant be beaten with mind games, the public dont dislike him and he has taken everything that Lewis once had 2 years ago. Talking about leaving McLaren must of left a scare with his relationship with the team, it's just they seem very happy with Button in the team and that it looks like he's running it now. I don't understand what's going through his head, he should be happy with McLaren, if history is anything to go by he should be assured of getting 3 WDC's, since Seb and Alonso will have their off years, it's very unlikely they wont. He's going to be stuck with McLaren for the rest of his career, unless he replaces Schumacher for the long run. Mercedes are a team trying for the top and they need WDC material drivers, though Nico looks able to do it when Schumi does retire. My personal view... Lewis isn't complete in the sense of his state of mind, he has something personal to proove, maybe he really wants to be rememberd the best ever, and equal to Senna. Seb, Alonso and a few others he knows about seem very intent stopping him and he does not like it one bit. It only took another "super talent" like Seb to break the camels back, he's scared of being beaten. I think Seb's goal in life was to be world champion, nothing else, he has achieved it already what he wanted, look at the tears last year he showed. Nothing is pressuring him to do more, he has achieved what he wanted to achieve and he did it so much sooner than he ever thought possible. Now he just wants to enjoy himself and go from there and if he wins more WDC's then that's a bonus. I really believe Seb when he says he would drive for free, he loves driving. So much thought could be discussed about this, I would love to review every conversation Lewis and Seb have done with the media, yes they love to both win, but after that it's something completely different and this is why Seb has ascended while Lewis has stagnated of sorts, Seb is complete in his personal life, so is Jenson, hell even Alonso is with Ferrari, but Lewis he seeks something different and it could take years to understand 1% of it, only he knows.... One day if I ever have the chance, I would love to talk to Lewis face to face, no camera's, no microphones and ask him, "What do you want?", to be the best ever? be Senna's equal? to be better than Senna? understand Senna to a different level? proove something to your father? etc..."
Nice one Silver. You'd be asking the right sort of questions. In my opinion, nothing less than being perceived as the all-time greatest is his ultimate goal. The strange thing is that he is one of the biggest obstacles to his own achievement: something which applies to us all, to a greater or lesser degree…
Hamilton is one of the best out there, he beat Alonso in his rookie year, he's beaten Button in Jenson's first year, but I don't read much into that as it was JB's first year at McLaren. Even though it was also's Alonso's first year at Mclaren he was of course a double world champion and is a better driver than Button in my opinion. They are level on wins. With Lewis winning in Germany and showing us how good he was with a fine overtake around the outside of Fernando and holding off Webber and retaking Webbber at Turn 1. China was one of his best races and was a exciting one as well. Going back to the question has he underperformed? Yes of course because he is not leading the World Championship, but he doesn't have the fastest car so you can't say he's getting worse as a driver although he has made some silly errors such as last weekend in Spa.
Some good responses here thanks To answer a question: I do count over driving and making mistakes as underperforming. I also count this as his worst season to date, its frustrating to watch as I am a big fan of his but I honestly think that his best year was 2007. Its a good point about Vettel achieving his goal and having no pressure left anymore. It very much does seems as though Vettel has inherited Hamiltons destiny......
