Is Lewis Hamilton the "real deal"?

I think Hamilton is a bluf. A product from Ron Dennis. He has given such a great opportunities...he coped with them, but always with some of the best material. I think that Fisichella or Trulli in that McLaren would have been in the podium, too. Anyway this is "dangerous" for Hamilton, because he has very high expectations and all this hype is because Bahrain (but what about Melbourne...and Sepang specially), but he has the worst team-mate you can have in F1 so let's see if he can deal with that. Besides, although some british press says Alonso is unhappy or sad or worried, he is not that ingenuous I think, he have had to deal with much worse situations in the last four years, so we'll se if he is capable of strike back (I would put my money on him before than Hamilton...).

I'm also eager to see N.Piquet in the Renault, who give Hamilton some bad moments last year in GP2.

mikef1 Wrote:
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> Actually the Jordan was a great little car but
> Schumacher did do a superb job in qualifying. In
> fact Decesaris could have ended up on the podium
> as he was second at one point in the sister Jordan
> but had to slow because of engine problems that
> eventually put him out.

Yup, backed up by Moreno in the following race qualifying high up too, having swapped places (not that he had much choice) with Schumacher. Schumacher didn't have the best car, or even nearly the best car at any point in 1991, yet he walked all over his 3 times world champion teammate... admittedly Piquet was on his way out, knowing his F1 career was finishing at the end of the season, but the end of Piquet's season was just as good as the start of it to be honest.

People (OK, the media) rave about Hamilton having 3 podiums in his first 3 races, and that it's never been done, but the fact is, none of the 'greats' have ever had such a cushy position. They all started driving F2 cars with F1 engines, or in tiny Minardi-like teams. In most cases, it was nearly impossible to get 3 consecutive finishes, let alone 3 consecutive podiums in your 1st 3 races, no matter how good you were.

Hamilton could be a great. He could be magical driver to look back on. Or he could be Jacques Villeneuve. Jean Alesi. David Coulthard. Alexander Wurz. Heinz-harald Frentzen. Ralf Schumacher. Drivers in recent times who've promised to be the next great, usually had the ability to be the next great, and it's just not happened. Not even slightly. It's all far, far too easy for it to just slip slowly away, almost un-noticed.

If some of you guys don't like Hamilton threads, don't read them, or even comment in them for that matter, leave it to those that do, everyone deserves a fair go and right of opinion on these forums, and the mods decide if there's too many threads on one driver.
No one has yet opened an 'official' Hamilton thread, like the JB or the MS threads seen in the past, until then it can stay open just like the rest of them.
If an official thread is opened, maybe I'll close this and the others and leave a link behind. Or I might just leave four up on the first page to drive everyone crazy, it's my job lol

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The hype around Hamilton is an international one if you ask me. Using the colours of Senna on his helmet already says he at least has the right spirit, which he has shown in only three races already.

On the other hand everyone seems to forget how relativly easy it is to drive a formula one car now a days. Nononono!! Hold your horses! I am not saying Hamilton is over rated... Compared to the rest of the bunch he IS up there. It's just the fact that the driver has lesser influence on the total perfomance package compared to the 80's and early 90's.

Therefor... I am already looking forward to next season. With traction control taken out of the package we will find out who has the better car control (as far as no engineer finds some back door compensating it).

Marc B Good

Marc, you're not related to Johnny by any chance?

Ehmmm... How did you notice? :D No... Who's Johnny? (Jeezzz... Feels like being owned asking an old movie here..) Whahaha!!

No honestly. Hamilton has done what should be done to become a formula one driver. For that you have to be a winner. Though he's been given every opportunity he still had to grab it and fight for it. A winner can hardly really be made. Saying that, he is as good as what we are seeing now and probably will only be getting better as the season evolves. Hope to see a lot more of him.

Marc B Good



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/23/2007 10:14PM by Marc B Good.

Don't worry we are going to see more of him, a LOT more of him thanks to the Hamilton Appreciation Society aka ITV!

Hakkinen's not surprised by his current form [www.autosport.com]

And people go on about the ITV hype over Hamilton...

As I've said before Hamilton isn't your ordinary rookie who has been on his back foot trying to prove himself on a shoe lace in a competitive world. His Cadet racing was pretty impressive but I don't believe Ron saw anything hugely spectacular to justify the deal he got, more he saw the opportunity to try mould a driver to be the best from a young age. Just think of the possibilities of taking a young child and developing their knowledge and skills for 11/12 years in that one specific area. To me he was in the right place at the right time. Many talents go missed at the stage he was at before Ron stepped in due to the spiralling costs of moving up classes and competing in the big events.

One guy I used to race had great car control and his race craft was top notch but he realied on his Grandad to take him racing. I always had him down as a name to look out for in the future but by the looks of it he has had to stop racing, which is a shame.

Take nothing away from Lewis, he is a good driver but I don't think people should be that hugely impressed with his performances. He has been in what I'd say is probably a unique position of not having to worry whether his sponsors are going to pay out and whether or not he has the funds to make it to the next race. He has been fully able to concentrate on the task at hand, driving and from the sounds of it being taught about car dynamics. Not just learning it by trial and error like most drivers.


vMax.Keiran
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"back foot trying to prove himself on a shoe lace in a competitive world."

do you mean "on a shoestring budget"?

while you're correct about his circumstances over the past 12 years since he met Ron, before then he did race for 4 or 5 years again boys older than him, and he was beating them. and in those years, his parents had to do everything to find the money to pay for him, his dad having 3 jobs at once.

what i mean is that there must have been something special about him that Ron noticed, and was prepared to take a gamble on. yes a lot of people could be where he is now with all the financial help he's had since linking with Ron, but he and his family did the hard work before that time, to make himself be noticed, to get himself into the position of being the "chosen one".

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RIP Jules, never to be forgotten. #KeepFightingMichael

Hamilton's hype comes from performances at the stage of the career where pretty much all of the main opponents have some sort of financial/future deal and enough talented people around to teach them about car behavior (Hamilton doesn't have a monopoly on them).

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I wish i got his skill

When Wayne Rooney signed for Manchester United, he had been trained in football from a very young age because David Moyes (of Everton) had seen "something special in him", when he was about 11-12 years old.

Now, who's going to tell me that Wayne was simply in the right place at the right time, and that any other player would have done the same if given the same opportunity?

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Please find us on [en.wikipedia.org] for more information.

on the 10:30pm ITV news tonight there'll be a small interview with Lewis, just seen a preview of it. it'll only be about 3 or 4 minutes, near the end of the news (around 10:50 or 10:55 probably), so watch it if you are able to, i'm off to work so will miss it. seeya.

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RIP Jules, never to be forgotten. #KeepFightingMichael

Or he could be Jacques Villeneuve. Jean Alesi. David Coulthard. Alexander Wurz. Heinz-harald Frentzen. Ralf Schumacher.

A world Champion who should have easily won his first race, and could have won his first season? :P I'd be chuffed with that.

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Yeah, but he trailed off magnificently, which was the point I was trying to get across. STFU skirt man. :D

MS praises Lewis:



and Lewis and his dad talk to Sir David Frost:



i saw a bit of the news thing from ITV last night, showed him in a suit talking to one of the Suchet brothers (the newsreader not the Poirot actor) in the MTC.

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RIP Jules, never to be forgotten. #KeepFightingMichael



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2007 06:50PM by Muks_C.

yes......but not this year

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Hill has warned Lewis about the price of fame:

[www.planetf1.com]

Lewis Hamilton, here we go again it's just like Lennox Lewis after Mike Tyson's demise.
He's the one, ... yeah! The next British world Champion.
The best car (arguably) one of the best teams and years of experience behind him.
Forget the 'rookie' bit He ... is an experienced race-car driver after all. So there's no phenomenon in what he's doing .... do it in a Bmw Sauber then I would be impressed, I would even forget Senna and that ain't never gonna happen!

It's got nothing to do with him being great, please, schumacher had to work so hard for that recognition and most people hated him for every accomplishment he attained ..... right time, right place, nothing more. That's all it is with Hamilton. If he is great, wich I doubt. You're hardly likely to find that out after three races are you?

And incidently formula one cars are a lot easier to drive.
Here's an example ..... remember when there was talk of Rossi relaceing Ms?
Well he never drove race car in his life but he was only a second off Michaels pace the first time he let go in anger .......?


Oh and by the way ..... I am British but I guess I'm not that desperate for a Hero ..........

It's the car fella's, he is a good driver but it's the car ... the car .. the car.
Let him drive a few bath tubbs like Schuey did and then we'll see?!!

F1 Rocks, Seeeeeeeeeeee - yaull!!



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 05/03/2007 04:28AM by Isaint.