Lewis Hamilton

I know this driver has brought a new wave of fans to Formula 1 with his style of racing. He has inspired a new generation and set many records in his very short career. I just wonder if his career has stalled.

I know in 2007 he managed to tie with his double world champion team mate as a rookie driver. Should he have done better and won it? Kimi was 17 points behind with 2 races to go. I believe he should of won it, but perhaps it was to much pressure on a rookies shoulders. He had won titles before, so what was different about winning this one. Winning is natural to a racer. It does not change as you go to a different formula.

2008 he nearly blew it again. But credit where it's due, he won it this time.

2009 he had a inferior car for much of the season but managed to obtain plenty of points when it became apparent he was not going to win the title and the pressure was off.

2010 saw him in the running for the championship but again when the pressure was at it's maximum he crumbled with more rookie like mistakes.

I know all drivers make mistakes, but Hamilton seems to make so many when the pressure is really on with his risk taking at the business end of the season.

What's my point? Well I am not here trying to bash one of Britains best but I am wondering if people think he should of achieved more. He could have been a 3 time world champion had he not kept making mistakes at the crucial time in the season.

Perhaps he will be a one hit wonder as his career seems to have stalled. It's a shame as I would like to see him bring the fight to Alonso and Vettel in a 3 way fight for the championship in equal cars. I just think pressure will forever be his undoing.

People say he is exciting to watch. If I want exciting I'd watch Kobi in his Sauber.

Does anybody else think perhaps he should of achieved more already?

Excellent article Alessandro.

Hamilton has a tendency to choke, and still makes rookie errors. Often he has had a car worthy of winning race, but then crashed.

this coming from a alonso fan.

spa , monaco and abu dhabi all races he choked at last season.

fact is alonso is past it. massa is back up to form and showing alonso what he can really do and is putting him in the shade.

No doubt Hamilton's best season was 2007 but then it was always going to be difficult to match, never mind supercede, such an explosive introduction to F1.

2007 wasn't just about the statistics and facts, nor about his performance relative to his team mate's. Hamilton was like a thunderbolt up the bum of a fusty old hierarchical pecking order. He showed us that, contrary to general opinion, overtaking was possible in F1 and F1 could be exciting. Who knew?

Before 2007 (following Williams's decline) F1 was, when it wasn't a walkover for one driver, usually a battle between two competitors, and usually they were the lead drivers from McLaren and Ferrari (notwithstanding Benetton/Renault aberrations in which a combination of Briatore's cheating, a damn good driver and a pretty decent car twice gave them a brace of championship seasons). By rights 2007 should have been the same story, with champion Alonso pitted against should-be champion Raikkonen and Hamilton and Massa playing back-up roles (nothing to do with team orders, everything to do with the natural order). Hamilton's outrageous skillz and monstering upset that applecart and the expected two-way fight became an epic three-way, with no love lost and no quarter given.

What else happened in 2007 happened and 2008, with Alonso relegated to a midfield straggler and Raikkonen having lost interest following his WDC, was anything but a battle of the titans. As nice a chap as Massa may be, he's not really in Hamilton's league. At the end of the day a single point managed on the last lap of the final race counts as much in deciding the championship as six dominant victories at the start of the season and Hamilton was a worthy and deserved victor. Like Hill in 1996, however, Hamilton didn't defeat the titans. They took a couple of years off and in 2009 he joined them, the effect of a rotten car beyond his control.

That opened the door for new titans to join the assault - a Red Bull car coming into its own piloted by new prodigy, Vettel, and a resurgent Button dominating the season opening longer than his under-developing car should have enabled him to, and skilfully maintaining his position before unleashing a dominant display in Brazil to take the championship by the scruff of the neck and deliver the happy ending to Brawn GP's one-hit fairy story.

By the time McLaren (and Ferrari) had recovered the ground they lost in 2009 the competition had become more fierce than we've seen since the days of Williams hegemony - a team mate who, despite wide expectations to the contrary, can run Hamilton close; Alonso back in a decent car; Vettel and Webber in an all-conquering machine...

Hamilton's exceptionally strong, but he has more than one exceptionally strong adversary to focus on, which neither he nor we could have expected when he made his debut.

It's the luck of the draw. If F1 was now as it was before 2007 then I would say yes - must do better. As it is, with the competition so tight, I don't think you can realistically say that about any of the top drivers.

Re: Lewis Hamilton
 by fernando on Fri 6 May 2011 - 21:24
this coming from a alonso fan.

spa , monaco and abu dhabi all races he choked at last season.

fact is alonso is past it. massa is back up to form and showing alonso what he can really do and is putting him in the shade.






Yes, the people of Monza have noticed that Massa is having a barn storming season that could eventually earn him a seat at Virgin if he is lucky.

As for Fernando Alonso. 2xWDC, being past it? The people of Monza would like to point out the Monaco master class of 2011 he was teaching in a car that should be nowhere near a red bull or a Mclaren!

Only a fool would say Alonso is over the hill.

Alonso choked big time in the last race of last season.........

Tried to bully his way past Petrov as if he was on his payroll....

If the team didnt ask Massi to slow down or ask Pique to crash into the wall..then Who is AlonSLOW

Bully his way maybe. But at least he respected his right to be on the race track and did not bump him off like some other drivers would.

The sad thing for Britain is Lewis should be 3 x WDC. I think deep down, Hamilton knows this and over compensates in every race. It's all well and good doing a Kobi and putting on a show, but your defined by WDC.

He should never be compared to Senna until he has at least achieved what his idol did.

You mean like when AlonSLOW deliberately forced his team-mate off the track in Brazil 2007

Forced him off the track? Lewis could of used the brakes and yielded the position instead of trying to win everything on the first lap Or in that case, loose everything in the first lap.

This all negates the fact the Lewis has an attitude where he feels it's his right to win. Not a good attitude to have and it's reflecting in his driving style. He has the skill, but not the consistency of Alonso or Vettel.

not the consistency of Alonso

---------------------------------------------------

alonso only turned up for the last few races last year, how is that consistent?

I believe the quote had Vettels name on it as well. Are you questioning this consistency as well?

People of Monza have dug this interesting stat out with regards constancy. Laps completed in a GP from just last year. Fernando Alonso failed to complete only 8 laps. The people of Monza say spot the crash kid!

Pos Driver Laps completed
1 Fernando Alonso 1120
2 Felipe Massa 1074
3 Sebastian Vettel 1066
4 Jaime Alguersuari 1045
5 Mark Webber 1043
6 Rubens Barrichello 1030
7 Nico Rosberg 1029
8 Michael Schumacher 1023
8 Jenson Button 1023
10 Adrian Sutil 1002
11 Lewis Hamilton 1001
12 Robert Kubica 995
13 Vitaly Petrov 939
14 Heikki Kovalainen 926
15 Nico Hülkenberg 923
16 Sebastien Buemi 891
17 Vitantonio Liuzzi 832
18 Timo Glock 821
19 Jarno Trulli 816
20 Lucas di Grassi 769
21 Kamui Kobayashi 720
22 Bruno Senna 700
23 Pedro de la Rosa 537
24 Karun Chandhok 479
25 Sakon Yamamoto 331
26 Nick Heidfeld 269

laps mean nothing just means reliability not consistent .

points mean everything.

he didn't come high enough each race.

Alessandro Ciambella

You sound desperate......

Tell me since 2007

How many races has Alonso finished ahead of Hamilton?

People of monza,get your laughing gear around this.

The only stat that matters.

Sebastian Vettel,WDC.FACT.

This article was not written about Fernando Alonso. We know he is a great driver.

This is about Lewis and how he should of achieved more. He is now being dominated by Vettel. A driver who Hamilton was beating in GP2. But Vettel has matured into a great driver like Alonso.

Hamilton, for all his talent has stalled in his career.

vettel wasn't ever in gp2( he was in renault world series) so get your facts right also he's dominating everyone including alonso.

you say hamilton has stall but if you look alonso is on a downhill decline apart from last year.

since 2007 hamilton wdc positions 2nd,1st,5th,4th and so far he is 2nd
since 2007 alonso wdc positions 3rd, 5th 9th 2nd and so far he is 5th

if anyone is stalling in his career its alonso

The highlight of this season so far was


When AlonSLOW saw the blue flags about to be lapped by Hamilton infront of the Spanish crowd..........

I cant wait for Monza!!!!

tso, his name is Alonso

Apologies for getting the series wrong.

As for results in previous years, you can only run what you brung. Unfortunately for Fernando he has not had competitive cars. You may as well compare Lewis to Timo Glock.

Truth be told apart from 2009 Lewis has had the equipment. Since 2007 Fernando has had a half decent Ferrari for the last 7 races of last season. At least he managed to take the fight to Vettel with his consistency.

Lewis would of taken last years championship but the pressure of being watched by the people of Monza proved to much. As for Singapore, that was like a rerun of Monaco on Sunday. Wreckless.

fernando wrote:fact is alonso is past it. massa is back up to form and showing alonso what he can really do and is putting him in the shade.

Really?

Alonso has 69 points, while Massa has 24. The car still suffers with aerodynamic imbalance and tyre warm up issues - so both drivers struggle to get the most out of the car. Difference is, Alonso fights the car and produces a "super lap", while Massa is unable to do so.

Alonso is as good as ever. Ferrari wouldn't sign him until 2016 if he was "past it"

tso4karma wrote:Alonso choked big time in the last race of last season.........

Tried to bully his way past Petrov as if he was on his payroll....

Were you not watching the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, or even the GP2 race the day before?

Track design makes it almost impossible to overtake - the best Alonso could do was to try and pressure Petrov into an error. Not only that, but in case you weren't watching the season, the Renault has superior traction as well.

The best example of the flawed track design was when Lewis Hamilton pitted onto fresh tyres, drives 2 seconds per lap faster than Kubica (who's tyres were over 30 laps old) and still couldn't pass. Hamilton is supposed to be one of the best overtakers is he not? Did he "choke" as well?

Alessandro Ciambella wrote:Apologies for getting the series wrong.

As for results in previous years, you can only run what you brung. Unfortunately for Fernando he has not had competitive cars. You may as well compare Lewis to Timo Glock.

Well the last time I checked Lewis did beat Alonso driving the same car, despite the fact Alonso pulled so many dirty tricks, hid his set-up data from Lewis, threatenen Ron Dennis to short fuel Lewis's car, angry with the team for not asking Lewis to slow down for him to pass......

Two key events - China 2007 and Monza 2010.
Hamilton SHOULD be a 3 time WDC and he knows it.

Will always be a fan despite the flaws because he's exciting, passionate, only ever wants to win and always wants to put on a show for the punters. In fact alot like someone else I can recall whos lifestory happens to be opening across cinemas today.

I think Hamilton should be a 2x WDC. 2010 he was in an inferior car throughout the season compared to the Red Bull in terms of outright pace. The only reason he, button, webber and alonso were able to challenge was because of Vettel's catastrophic and exceedingly unlucky mechanical issues that plagued his early season. 2007 he should of won, however Mclarens failure to pit Hamilton was astonishing on those tyres.

The most frustrating thing about Monza last year was Hami had the speed to win. A podium at worst. The frustration of that DNF also led to a succession of points losing incidents at Singapore and Suzuka as the pressure mounted in each race to claw back the points lost in the previous races.

IMO had he won at Monza then he would have gone on to win the WDC and it would have cemented his position driving the 3rd fastest car for the majority of the season.

As for 2007 - that was simply defeat from the jaws of victory and I'll never get my head round it - ever.

As for 2007 - that was simply defeat from the jaws of victory and I'll never get my head round it - ever.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Someday the truth will out.IMO.

As for 2007 - that was simply defeat from the jaws of victory and I'll never get my head round it -

----------------------------

It's to understand, all season Lewis had dominated and humiliated his 2 x WC teammate Alonslow. After Alonso tried to blackmail the team into sabotaging his rookie teammate, culminating in Mclaren getting removed from the constructors championship Lewis' luck suddenly changed dramatically

Left out in china on bald tyres, and the suspicious gearbox glitch in Brazil, and Alonso becoming cheerful for the first time all year

Almost as if the teammhad been instructed to ensure their driver didn't win the drivers WC as a condition of been allowed to race

Despite all this sabotage style bad luck, the rookie Lewis still beat his 2 x WC team leader to second place

Alonso has not won a thing since then and famously choked in Abu Dhabi in front of assembled European royalty

People of Monza can't believe your crying conspiracy theory. The fact of the matter is 17 points to Kimi is a shambles.

If you are suggesting that Lewis deliberately parked his car in the gravel of China and then they deliberately made a gear box glitch to enable another driver from another team to win the WDC then you are crazy.

Do you think any driver would want to stay in this sport if this were true?

People of Monza say some formula 1 fans may have been watching to much X Files!!! Get a grip!!!

CookinFlatSix wrote:It's to understand, all season Lewis had dominated and humiliated his 2 x WC teammate Alonslow. After Alonso tried to blackmail the team into sabotaging his rookie teammate

As we're all spelling names incorrectly, I guess I'll join in..

Lewis Shamilton certainly didn't "humiliate" Alonso - they finished level on points, and beating a driver through countback doesn't mean dominating, unless you are taking some strong stuff

Do you have any proof for the part of your quote highlighted in red?

Alonso gave evidence to the FIA against McLaren in Spygate, but certainly did not blackmail anyone.

CookinFlatSix wrote:Left out in china on bald tyres, and the suspicious gearbox glitch in Brazil, and Alonso becoming cheerful for the first time all year

Almost as if the teammhad been instructed to ensure their driver didn't win the drivers WC as a condition of been allowed to race

Despite all this sabotage style bad luck, the rookie Lewis still beat his 2 x WC team leader to second place

Alonso has not won a thing since then and famously choked in Abu Dhabi in front of assembled European royalty

Why are you even bothering to suggest Hamilton was sabotaged? Are you really that deluded?

I believe it was Lewis who trashed his tyres in China - and this error is 100% Hamilton's fault: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGa7syabE9g
As for Brazil, did you know that there was an FIA steward monitoring McLaren to make sure they didn't cheat in that race?

The blue part of your quote is completely unnecessary and untrue. He didn't choke - his team called him in to pit - this strategical error lost him the race - nothing to do with bottling it under pressure.

Alonso has won many races since then, come very close to winning a third title and more importantly, he drives like a true champion. Did you see RAM-ilton's performance in Monaco?

Rookie driver in first year of F1 finishes level on points with 2 x wdc in same car = humiliation of 2 x WDC

And it was the team in China who kept Lewis out.

People of Monza would like to remind you that it was Lewis Hamilton that parked the car in the gravel of China 2007. NOT the team. 100% Hamiltons fault.

Some drivers just can't drive that fast in the Chinese Pitlane to make up time. Other, more complete, brave and skilled drivers can actually pull off an over take on the entry to that pitlane.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8628304.stm

Again what a load of tosh. Lewis hamilton has a bad race and suddenly he's deemed the worst driver on the grid blah blah blah. Wasnt so long ago people were calling Vettel the "crash kid" which is where i believe you got that saying from.

One bad race and suddenly he's an embarrassment to the sport lol I would expect "people of monza" to treat the next driver who as a couple of crashes in one race in the same way.



We all make mistakes, i dont think that means people should go round tarnishing your name over these 'Mistakes'. Get off your high horse.

It could be worse i suppose, it could involve Ferrari, the team the breaks rules left right and centre. I bet you're quiet then arent you.

When Schumacher had numerous crashes in one race, were you saying he was an embarrassment to the sport, no i bet you werent. Because lets face it, this is nothing to do with Lewis crashing its an excuse to launch an attack on him. Im by no means saying he's innocent, but to go to your extremes is dispicable.

Critical_mass wrote:And it was the team in China who kept Lewis out.

Strategic errors are made all the time, but the mistake that put Hamilton out of the race was his own fault. Regardless of his tyre condition, he misjudged the entry into the pit lane and got stuck in the gravel.

Well yes that is true. But was caused, or partially caused by the tyres.

The people of Monza believe Lewis Hamilton should be learning more from Jenson Button MBE about Tyre Management.

hamilton should have won the wdc in 07 but a combination of errors and bad luck , china and brazil gp put paid to his chances. he made a number of crucial errors last year , especially monza when he could have won the wc ,

The whole "button is better with tyres management" is a myth.

He's not better at tyre manangment but this so called smooth driving style means his tyres last longer. Its an indirect result of his lack of ability to get the best out of the tyres.

Besides all that is mitigated by this years Pirelli tyres.

Critical_mass wrote:Well yes that is true. But was caused, or partially caused by the tyres.

Drivers have to deal with things like worn tyres all the time. It's no excuse for Lewis' misjudgment.

He's human, humans make mistakes

In all honesty, it appears it's Alonso's career has stalled, not Hamilton's. Alonso couldn't hack it at Mclaren, went back to Renault and the team went backwards. He left Renault and the team moved forwards, he joined Ferrari, they went backwards at the start of the season, then they copied the red bull flexi wing and went forward and failed in their world championship bid due to his inability to overtake Petrov. He still would have failed as Rosberg was ahead of him. Now the team have a car he helped develop and bring his famous 6tenths to languishing behind the Red Bulls, Mclarens and Mercedes'.

In his time in F1, the only team mate who stood up to him and became stronger is Hamilton. Fisichella's career went downhill because of Alonso and he's doing a great job of ruining Massa's as well.

It appears Fernando wants to take everyone down with him. Really sad though as he was a great driver.

"Alonso couldn't hack it at Mclaren, went back to Renault and the team went backwards."

Backwards? When the great Fernando Alonso left Renault to join Mclaren they slipped down into obscurity. Upon his return, he helped develop the car into a race winning machine. Correct me if I am wrong?


"He left Renault and the team moved forwards"

Did they really? Please remind me again, how many races have Renault won since Fernando left? I would say that car is a lot more capable than the current drivers are showing.


"he joined Ferrari, they went backwards at the start of the season"

I thought Alonso won the first race of the season in his veru first drive for Ferrari, becoming only the 5th ever Ferrari driver to achieve such a feat.


"they copied the red bull flexi wing"

I thought they copied the blown diffuser.


"Now the team have a car he helped develop and bring his famous 6tenths"

Compared to his team mate, I can see the extra he is getting from this car. Its a shame he is a driver and not an engineer. He is telling them how to improve the car but the engineers are yet to provide the goods. I believe they will.

Alonso's sole win in his return to Renault was due to crashgate. It's truly a disgrace that he still claims that engineered victory. The team was taken so far backward that they struggled to get back. They've got a great package now and only have one podium less than Alonso this season.

He won the race at the start of last season due to reliability problems with the red bull.

Ferrari copied the diffuser and flexi wing and tested them at the 'media day' and improved performance. Cheating again.

He has battered Massa into submission and all Massa does now is crash into people who can hamper Alonso's challenge.

He put in a stellar performance at Monaco though. Even Schumacher puts in the odd performance. It's what you would expect from a has been. Truly Alonso is finished. He also managed to con ferrari into giving him a long contract.

Smart move by the matador.

"Alonso's sole win in his return to Renault"

His sole win? Enjoy reading and digesting this:-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7665745.stm

Obviously you forgot about this race... two successive wins in a mediocre Renault. Who was the last driver to achieve that in a Renault???


"Ferrari copied the diffuser and flexi wing and tested them at the 'media day' and improved performance. Cheating again."

One word. Spygate. Alonso showed integrity and did the right thing by telling the FIA about the going ons at Mclaren.

Massa does now is crash into people who can hamper Alonso's challenge.

"Talking of crashing, did you enjoy Monaco 2011? Vintage Hamilton driving wasn't it!? Or do you not want to bring that up? Hampering Jenson Button MBE's race wasn't he?

My mistake, Alonso won a race in the renault without his team mate crashing or moving over for him. Great, I wish he won races like that more often.

Alonso blackmailed the team, didn't work and he then testified against the team. He, along with De la Rosa were the ones with the Ferrari docs and e-mails. What was he doing with them by the way?

What I find particularly hilarious is that you think I'm a Hamilton fan. Far from it. I enjoy a good scrap and praise all the racers. Hamilton was silly in Monaco and paid the price for it. He's still the only driver to beat Vettel this season.

So your best defence against Ferrari cheating is spygate. Oh my!! Have you observed that wherever Alonso goes controversy isn't far behind. The common theme in Spygate, Crashgate, Teamordergate, UnabletomanagePetrovgate is Alonso. One day he will be exposed. He is called Teflonso for a reason. One day he will get caught and the truth will out.

The sad thing about you Alessandro or whatever you call yourself these days is that you aren't here to debate with anyone or discuss the sport. I truly feel sorry for you. You need serious help.

As a representative of the United Nations Road Safety Campaign, you would think the erratic driving from within the yellow helmet may of mellowed.

http://www.manipef1.com/news/articles/12190/

It seems Lewis fine form from Monaco has followed him to Canada. I think Lewis may have made some history today. I don't believe a driver has ever been investigated by the stewards twice inside the opening 8 laps.

I will get the finest people of Monza to find out if such a thing has happened!!!

lol you are weird referring to yourself as "the people of Monza" lol

I bet you dont have any friends ...

It would appear that Formula One legend Mr Lauda has called for Lewis Hamilton to be banned from the sport following his in track discretions.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/92293

The question is will the FIA do something about it before another driver is injured as a consequence to his recent form? Or will the FIA do nothing as the commercial revenue Lewis brings to the Formula One circus is to much for them to loose over a 2 race ban.

Niki Lauda, we salute your bold opinion. Let's hope people listen as driver safety is paramount.

So when Webber went air-bourne and flew over Kovy where was Nikk?i, when Vettel wiped out both Webber and Button where was Nikki? When Schumacher nearly Carve Barrichelo's face on the wall where was Nikki?

Jensen has appologise to Lewis that its his fault . Or are we talking about same Nikki that bottled to race in the Rain in Japan 1976...are we talking the same Nikki who show his love for Redbull on a German station.

Nikki should concentrate on playing with his match-sticks

tso4karma wrote:So when Webber went air-bourne and flew over Kovy where was Nikk?i, when Vettel wiped out both Webber and Button where was Nikki? When Schumacher nearly Carve Barrichelo's face on the wall where was Nikki?

Jensen has appologise to Lewis that its his fault . Or are we talking about same Nikki that bottled to race in the Rain in Japan 1976...are we talking the same Nikki who show his love for Redbull on a German station.

Nikki should concentrate on playing with his match-sticks