Yet again talking about Hamilton. Lewis Hamilton has been advised to take more than one leaf out of McLaren team-mate Jenson Button's book in order to prove that his 2008 F1 world title was not a one-off. That is the opinion of regular Hamilton critic Niki Lauda, who believes that McLaren's other Briton is the better driver of the two at the moment following the Belgian Grand Prix. Lauda voiced a brief opinion on Hamilton's race - and subsequent exit in a collision with Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi - in an interview with the BBC, but followed that up with further criticism of the driver's approach, which the Austrian claims belies his position as one of the sport's top three stars. âLewis could learn a lot from Button," the 62-year old was quoted by Britain's Express newspaper, "Lewis outqualifies Jenson and is the quicker driver but, in Belgium, it was Jenson who finished third while Hamilton crashed out again. You can't win championships if you are crashing. "Look at Sebastian Vettel, he is not making any mistakes or crashing, and that is why he is going to win the title again this year. You can argue he has the quicker car, but just look at Jenson and Lewis. They have the same car, but it is Button who is leading [Hamilton] in the championship, [and] that is because he is getting the car home and scoring points. It is very frustrating because Lewis is one of the top three best drivers in F1. There is no question about that." Lauda insisted that Hamilton did not need to do much to alter the way he approached grands prix, but definitely needed to calm down after two-thirds of a season that has seen him involved in more than his fair share of incidents, including several in Monaco, one with Button in Canada and another with Williams rookie Pastor Maldonado during qualifying in Belgium. âHe is overdoing it," the Austrian surmised, "He just needs to come back a fraction as it is all very simple. If you're not scoring points, then you're not going to win championships.â Hamilton has not been beaten on points by a team-mate since graduating to F1 with McLaren in 2007 - tying with Fernando Alonso in his maiden campaign, before seeing off Heikki Kovalainen and Button over the past three seasons - but currently trails the Briton by three points in the closely-fought four-way battle to be runner-up to runaway leader Vettel. Both McLaren drivers also lag behind Red Bull's Mark Webber and Ferrari's Alonso with seven rounds remaining, and Hamilton's approach has also attracted criticism from another three-time world champion. "Lewis is a racer and he's always been very aggressive, but he's had far too many collisions this season," Sir Jackie Stewart agreed, "If he is continually going out of races, then it's going to affect his results. That's something he needs to get out of quickly.â Gerhard Berger, meanwhile, suggested that if Hamilton was in a better car, he would not be making so many moves. "He is extremely aggressive and the best overtaker in the field but, at times, he overdoes it," he said, agreeing with both Lauda and Stewart, "If he was sitting in the Red Bull, he would not have to take so many risks and so he would get into a lot less mischief." Why doesn't he just give him a break? Although I do agree that he could learn from Button but that's it.
Bit like 2007 with Alonso, one bad season and people think he's ****. Maybe you can look at it that he's going backwards, every year imo has been worse than the one before. (in championship contender years)
The season isn't over yet, Vettel and Alonso were having a very poor seasons last year with 0 points scored in Spa both because of driver errors, then suddenly they made a massive charge! (I'm not saying he will win the title)
Its far too easy to judge as everyone will have a rough patch, be it mechincal or driver error etc! I think it is pretty obvious that Lauda is not a fan, but you must take into account that he foreign and regardless of how good his english is, somethings get blown out of proportion because of certain cultural and lnguage differences. But I think we all agree that Lewis could have another 20-30 points with a little more judgement/luck and so could Button without his car failures and a little more fortune at Monaco! So in short, Lauda is saying nothing we all already dont know, regardless of his like/dislike for any particular driver!
I think Lauda just outright hates the lad. It's a shame it's only the ex-drivers with **** opinions like Lauda and Villeneuve who ever speak out.
Really? I've only ever heard him stick the boot in or start off a rant with "I think he's a good driver but..." to disguise the hatred.
http://www.f1sa.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=24722&catid=1&Itemid=157 criticizing vettel here but saying hamilton is more complete, dated September last year i just think he likes to insult drivers
He needs to back off because F1 has changed so much since he raced. KERS, DRS and stronger cars to cope with crashes. Because of this I think drivers will take more risks and they won't always pay off, he has to realise this and I don't think he does.
Other drivers may speak out and probably do, however, for the media is much more fun to get controversy
There's some over-reaction here I think. If Lauda has been asked for his opinion, he's given it. And if you read the words as quoted by the author of this thread, he's not "having a go at him" so much as simply offering an opinion; and actually for any realist, it is difficult not to agree with him! I think there may have been times in the past when Lauda has volunteered an outspoken attack on Hamilton, but on this occasion I think he's got it just about right. Hamilton needs to tighten his game plan and adopt a more professional outlook. In terms of pure, 'heat of the moment' driving talent, I believe he is the best out there; but he must tighten his game plan and make certain of not coming unstuck. This is nothing to do with 'blame' but he needs to make sure he is not involved in 'racing incidents', which have been happening too often.
Yeah, i see it exactly the same way. And just for info, Niki Lauda doesn't hate Hamilton at all. Old guys tend to use harsh words, because they feel they have earned the right to do so. Niki isn't a bad guy at all, he just lost his (former life) manners to a certain degree as he got older.
Yup -he is too headstrong. If he takes the point that you need to finish to get points -he'll improve.
Yes, I think he's got it right this time, even though he's been pretty overblown about Lewis before. But with the benefit of hindsight, I think even Niki's "He's going to kill someone" line, coming as it did on live TV, was probably no different than DC's outburst about banning Maldonado during Spa quali. That's live TV, folks: no time to think first.
Maybe Niki is trying to give his perspective if he was the team principal or a manager. "Stop crashing (my car) and sort it out."
