Lewis Hamilton is a very talented driver however I think Mclaren have not done him any help. Firstly he was brought straight in into a top team - personally I think all drivers should start at a back/midfield team (i.e. vettel and toro rosso, alonso and minardi, schumacher and jordan etc etc). By throwing him right into a top team I think that this has been bad for him. he is now quite arrogant and a bit of a spoilt brat because he didn't have to work his way up. This was clear in Monaco when despite being at 100% fault for both accidents he still tried to blame it on someone else. Brundle got it spot on - he needs an attitude change, and fast. I think this all comes down to Mclaren treating him like he can do nothing wrong.
I agree with that. We don't know what goes on behind the scenes, but he has a very unnatural route through, and it's finally compromising him massively. He claims he's learnt what it's like to have a slow car, '09 mclaren at the beginning was horrendous, but he doesn't really know what it's like. As you said with Alonso, he was in a Minardi! The slowest team by miles in '01, and yet he showed his teammate up by 2-3 seconds in qualifying on occasion, and was pushing the midfield teams of the day. Lewis just got to walk into a championship car, and I'd wager if we put Vettel, Alonso, and Hamilton in the Hispania, Hamilton would be noticeably slower, with Alonso possibly faster, I think he's the best on the grid, as a package. Vettel is unbelievably quick, but I have doubts if he'd be able to bring a car that isn't as good into title contention as Alonso did last season
I always believe within teams you are told how much you have to care for your car through the season. The likes of Alonso, Lewis and Vettel are pritty much allowed to destroy the car if it means getting the win, as this season and last showed. But the likes of Kamui, Sutil, Rubens etc... have to make sure the car actually get's points and to make sure it doesn't get smashed in, since their pockets arn't as deep as the big 4's are. If anything the top 3 drivers only look like the top 3 is because the shackles are allowed to be off on them while other drivers have to think and consider what is at stake.
Martin Whitmarsh suggested this was indeed the case after last year's Malaysian GP. Of course, he worded it slightly differently, saying McLaren's involvement with Hamilton had not equipped him to deal with adversity: "Lewis was an experiment. He had a programme. It was all the right stuff. But the one thing you miss in all that is that you don't necessarily equip someone to make life decisions." Schumacher ran in a qualifying session for Jordan and retired from the race on the warm-up lap I think.
he had to work his way up from karting. and alonso starting in a midfield team hasnt stopped him from whinging has it?moaning about massa not letting him past,moaning about petrov not letting him past. making team mates crash on purpose,throwing toys out the pram when he wasnt given preferential treatment at mclaren.so saying if lewis had of started at a midfield team,it would have made him different is nonsense.lewis is simply the way he is because he is desperate to win. vettel has it cushty right now so he has nothing to moan about,once he stops winning all the time we'll see how he reacts.
when lewis and alonso were team mates lewis outqualified him more often than not.and vettel is extremely quick too.so we dont really know who'd win if they all raced for hispania.
Hamilton is simply showing his frustration after such a successful background. Adversity is hitting him hard and he is struggling to deal with it in a grown up manner.
We don't know if Alonso moaned about Massa, or if the ferrari garage, with the information they had to hand, made the decision for them. Alonso may have waved his fist at the en dof the race, but 2 minutes later he was smiling and praising him for a good defensive drive as I recall There is absolutely no proof that Fernando knew of the decision Flavio made Maybe he felt he wasn't being given equal treatment by Ron Dennis, who has a habit of prefering one driver over his team-mate. I wonder if his spoiled childishness may be due in some what to the fawning and blinkered hard-core 'he can do no wrong' fans he seems to have accumulated, who no doubt send him gushy messages and enforce his own sense of self importance.
Lewis was actually a Mclaren driver before Alonso ever was, that was more Lewis' team than Alonso, even though Lewis was a rookie. Yes he's very fast, as is Vettel, but Alonso is more dependable I think, just looking at his history. he beat Schumacher when he was in his prime, you can't be a slouch to be able to do that surely?
Without trying to turn this into a Ham-Alo argument, Q3 back then wasnt a good indicator due to unknown fuel levels. Q2 was a better indicator, where Alonso beat him 11-6 (5-0 before Monaco 07). When it comes to qualifying, Hamilton may have this rep for being fast, but Alonso is just as good if not better. On the original topic, I think a season or two in a midfield team and Hamiltons attitude will improve and his agression on the track will be more controlled - which ultimately will make him a better driver.
Agree with you. Seems we're surrounded by Anti-Alonso, Hamilton fans. We gotta defend our guy's reputation
You can't really say Hamilton had a easy ride into F1, you can't really say that about anyone, even the pay drivers. Hamilton is one of the best around, he's British, he drives for a 'British' team, and we are discussing this in Britain. Anything he does good or bad will always be over hyped in the press, this is something everyone knows but some people can forget. He's no angel and he's certainly not the outstanding driver of the grid, but I don't think he's spoilt or that he drives angry when things don't go his way. He's a born winner, if there is such a thing, and if you always go for the win your always going to end up upsetting people. He deserves some of the criticism he gets, but he also deserves the hype he gets. People need to accept that a driver can be praised and criticised at the same time without one side of the argument being a hate/love campaign.
I don't think it's just McLaren, the media promoted him to heroic status, his fans to godlike. Gotta be hard for someone to keep their feet on the ground with all that going on.
Although I agree with parts of this comment, one thing I dont agree with it ..." didn't have to work his way up". Lewis has had to work harder than most drivers on the grid to get into F1. Just look at what he had to achieve before he got into a McLaren. Formula 2.0 UK Champion, Formula 3 Euroseries Champion, GP2 Series Champion. Thats hard work right there, not many drivers in the history of the sport have the kind of CV before entering F1, if any. He earned his drive for McLaren! Then when he did get that drive he beats a 2 time current world champion, wins the title the following year, wins 2 races in a car that was horrible for half the season, and beats the defending champion in 2010. He comes across as arrogant because hes used to winning all the time, just look at Schumacher during his prime. Most people would be happy with just beating their team mates every year, but he only has eyes for the title and nothing less, hense the frustration when driving for a team that should really be winning races on a regular basis given the history. Anyways thats just my response. Btw Brundle said the Maldinardo clash was just a racing incident as did Sam Michael.
Two things here, in Q2 as FF says it was 11-6 and Alonso out raced him too, in a time where there was less overtaking. He had his team against him too. Anyway back to the matter, he is a skilled driver. But for me thats about it. Him in the press conferences (before Monaco) I found a bit fake and he always gets his team to think of strategy for him and blames the team when he doesnt get his own way.
I just think it would have done Hamilton good to have had a season or two in a midfield team to experience what it is like to not being at the front. Then he would be much more grounded now and not have all these tantrums because he could know what its like. Look at Button - he ended up 3rd depsite leading at one point, being really unlucky with strategy/safety cars, doing nothing wrong but yet he was philosophical and didnt have a tantrum. Lewis needs to take some lessons from jenson on behaviour control and a good racing mentality. Brundle said in commentary that he felt both incidents were Lewis' fault. In his column he was a little less harsh about the second crash saying that Maldonado should have covered the inside better. He also said that with the benefit of extra cameras, the pass on Massa in the tunnel was "wild". Imagine what would have happened if Massa hadnt got out the way and their had been a coming together in the tunnel!!! Horrible thought! Yes, it is good for a driver to be very aggresive and have an attacking mentality but I feel that when they go over the top and get reckless, endangering themselves aand others in the process, then they need to be penalised. Hamilton was very careless and reckless this weekend! And the stewards obviously agree with this.
I dunno it what way you mean reckless, they weren't high speed corners where he had his moments, the tunnel was all Massa's fault, he left the door open, Lewis took the opportunity, Massa should be the last person to complain about people's aggressiveness, IMO he has pushed the boundaries of fair racing a number of times this season. The hairpin, Hamilton is to blame yes, but he was right in what he said about Massa, he did suddenly turn off his line, but it was never going to work.
