personally I agree with El_B, I think if the Press get on his back he'll fold again, I don't think he has the mental toughness and generally looks for and excuse other than it being his fault. He needs a proper manager that has his welfare as his concern rather than his bank balance, maybe even having his mum at all his races would help, it can't be easy having the only member of your family in attendance being 100% committed to one of your rivals, personally I think the split with his dad is at the heart of his problems.
I don't really share the belief that Jenson's form rattled Lewis. JB won two of the first four races of 2010, by mid-season Lewis looked like the favourite for the title. It was Lewis's poor form later on which was allowing JB to beat him. If anything it was Vettel's dominance which caused him to crack.
No at the start because of the softer Pirelli's, but he will gain it back towards the end and finish 2012 with some great performances by going for broke for the championship. He will finish 3rd this season being 15-20 points behind the leaders but somebody else will win the title and it won't be Button as I'm sure Lewis will pip him.
I do think Jenson's form was a factor, along with Vettel's dominance, the media frenzy, his failing love life and, of course, the fact that he didn't deal with it at all well. In the case of Jenson, his form was intermittent in 2010 but in 2011 he'd gained both consistency and aggression. While Vettel was flying away with the championship, Lewis was failing too often against his own team mate equipped with the same car. On top of that, I agree with Miggins, there was a real failure of management. He appeared to have been hung out to dry by those who should have been protecting his interests and his dad would not have done that nor allowed it to happen.
I think he will, but it will be hard to win anything when you have have an equally backed team-mate who can be just as good as you.
on a side note I think his relationship problems with Nicole were caused by his on-track frustrations rather than the other way around.
Not saying you're wrong (since none of us know what happened there) but that's a rather strange evaluation to make. It's impossible for any of us to know the dynamics of any couples relationship, and with that none of us know what the reason for the split may have been. He could be crap in the bedroom department for all we know... or maybe she got fed up of him racing in her finest pair of under crackers. Or like many relationships, maybe it just wasn't meant to be. I personally think there was a number of things that contributed to his poor form. He stated that he lost a close friend last year, his love life, the family issues, and a very quick realization that 2011 was going to be commanded by Vettel. I don't think that Buttton was much to do with it... Hamilton knows he can beat Button when he has his act together, but I think with Vettel, he just simply had no answer for his dominance. I personally think this led to his many errors in overtaking. He let the urgency to get past cars cloud his judgement. I think the tyres may have also been somewhat of a hindrance. If he wants to avoid serious press bashing this year, he needs to just keep his head down and get on with driving. The British press are bastards and will crucify him at the first opportunity. Stay out of trouble... gather the points and keeping the north 'n south closed would see the press move to their next victim.
There's never been a problem with Lewis' form or his ability, it's his "racing brain" that's the problem. In 2007 he should have won the title but made silly mistakes, China being the most notable, all he had to do there was cruise to an easy 2nd place for the title but his attitude of trying to win every race cost him, combined with his lack of experience. The same problem raised itself in 2010 when he was leading the title and silly accidents caused by a lack of patience saw him DNF at Monza and Singapore, another title was possible. Assuming Hamilton can learn from these mistakes and be more patient and display better race-craft then he can do well. There was some evidence of this at Monza last season when he managed to take his time (probably too much time) when passing Schumacher, the old Hamilton would probably have ended up crashing out of the race. Time will tell, nothing else.
Imagine this for race 1 Vettel gets pole by 0.75 seconds and cruises to victory with Button finishing 2nd and Alonso 3rd. Hamilton qualifies 2nd but bogs down at the start ending up behind Massa, when attempting to overtake Massa, Massa defends very hard and they end up crashing causing Hamilton to DNF. Hamilton gets summoned to the stewards office who give him a 10 place grid drop for the next race.
He will be a lot better mentally this year, can't see him losing it as much as in 2011. Not sure if his results will improve though and I think he had it too easy with Kovy previously and Button is a bit of a handful for him as a teammate
I have said this many times - the chances of either of them winning a title againts Vettle or Alonso (with full backing) are remote! I wouldnt suprise me if lewis does move to Merc or Lotus for 2013 with a clear No1 status ready for the new reg changes. Otherwise I can see him racing JB for the runners up spot until JB retires and he gets full No1 status! However, I agree with the comment (somewhere on thisn thread) that it would be fantastic to see the likes of Vettle, Alonso, Lewis & Button fighting fairly with no team orders in roughly equally fast cars.
It's true Jensons pace surprised Lewis, but Lewis will simply be driven to try harder and his amazing natural style will always make him the most likely victor, also why the hell would he want to move team's and as for the cheap seat media who gives a ****, come on Lewis do what you're the best at, drive that bloody McLaren.
He gives a **** Ernie, that's the problem, he lets the media play there game of building up and smashing down. They are carrion feeders who push and push until they get the sensational remark they've been looking for, he gave them pure gold in Monaco. The Sutil trial has given them some more negatives to print, personally I think he should've gone, but there was the new McLaren release close to the day, so I'll give him a little leeway there.
I don't accept the premise of the question. Every season he has put in a few terrific performances, a few terrible ones, and a few that were good until an incident. The number of each of those performances may have shifted slightly, but his top level was as good in 2011 as it has always been. It's not like Massa or Webber, who even on a good day look a shadow of their former selves.
I'd tend to agree with this. He had some bad luck and made some mistakes last season, but I think that's fairly typical (e.g. Italy and Singapore in 2010). I think the only legitimate reason 2011 looks like a real dip in form is because Hamilton was outperformed by a teammate for the first time but that's as much to do with Button finding his feet in McLaren.
The old Hamilton will be back I'm sure. 2011 was just an 'off' season for him, all drivers have them. And besides, after the Sky cock up, I think F1 needs him to be back. I dont think his season was that bad, there are others that were just as bad or worse, for example, Massa and Webber. Massa still scored just above half the points Hamilton had, and they both had a tough time. Webber was quite clearly annihilated by Vettel, maybe just a run of bad luck, but still not really 'up to the mark' considering he had the most dominant car
More news on Sutil/Hamilton - At the Mclaren launch somebody asked Hamilton about Sutil calling him a coward. Immediatly a spokesman came across and took the mic to say: "We are told to not go into it, because the sentence may be challenged on appeal. So can we continue to the next question." Hamilton obeyed responding:" I listen to him. " Interesting..
I wouldn't be surprised if its the media conjuring up the allegation. Hamilton and Sutil are meant to be pretty good friends, and I'm sure Adrian would understand that Mclaren needed him at the launch, which was already pre-booked. I'm pretty sure it's been the same for Sutil; where he;s had to to put the teams media commitments before family and friends
I think you could argue that sticking somebody with a glass is actually a cowardly act. Sounds like he's trying to blame other people for his own stupidity. Enter the new Bertrand Gachot.
Not sure, I think we will know after a few races. 2012 could be a pivotal moment in his career. I think he'll bounce back.
