Brazilian Grand Prix ***SPOILERS***

Apparently he put into the start procedure. I don't know which button it is that does that, but he clearly presses a button with his left hand just before the apex and then starts fumbling for gears with his right.

I'm not going to state he is a spoilt brat, but you can't deny he's spoiled. He's had the past 10 years of his career paid for by Daddy#2 and received top level support in whichever formula he's been in too. I think anyone could have made it to F1 with that support. Whether he's a brat or not is open to opinion, but equally most will say he's a wonderful talent.

My own opinion is that he is obviously a truly excellent driver, but behind the veneer of publicity he's no better than Alonso. He has more than a passing resemblance to Schumacher in the way he goes about his career to me. He and his team have done a job with the publicity better than he has on the track. Comments like he came up with after Fuji show he's not the angelic innocent little boy they put across.

For years people have been saying more needs to be done to halp british drivers and as soon as a driver is helped they are spoiled. Alonso also had alot of help from renault is he not spoiled? and MS had help from merc so what about him?

They all had funding to drive for top teams early on when they joined f1.

From f1-live


Ron Dennis has denied that finger trouble cost Lewis Hamilton the 2007 world championship.

Hamilton, whose McLaren dropped through the field last Sunday when his gearbox slipped into neutral, reportedly told the French-Canadian newspaper La Presse that he accidentally pressed a wrong button on his steering wheel.

The Briton's claim is backed by on-board camera footage that depicts Hamilton's left thumb as pressing a button before he slowed.

But Dennis is on Tuesday quoted as saying: "There was nothing that Lewis did that had any relevance to the gearbox."

Team boss Dennis speculates that the problem may have been caused by a faulty sensor, but insisted that it was a mechanical rather than human glitch.

"The only reason that we did not win the World Championship was the gearbox problem," Dennis told reporters.


Hamilton, who had to pause an interview with reporters in his Sao Paulo hotel room on Monday afternoon to throw up, called the incident a "small hiccup" that cost him a place in F1's record books.

"But I didn't wake up this morning thinking 'oh shoot'," he added. "I've just got to get on with it."

Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz competition director Norbert Haug has indicated that Hamilton's wish for the 'cool fuel' protest to be dropped is unlikely to change the team's decision.

"Those teams had a competitive advantage," Tuesday's Bild-Zeitung quoted him as saying. "We cannot brush that aside."


You can bet the appeal is to get more constructor points so they get more money to off set against the fine.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/2007 02:26PM by marcl.

The thing that gets me is they seem to be beating around the bush. Why not tell us what that button does and put an end to the speculation? Certainly isn't the radio button as that’s more of a flip switch which he presses at the end of the video clip.

Tbh Ron is desperate to protect Lewis. The team practically took the blame for Lewis driving his car into the gravel trap. Every other driver managed to negotiate it with worn inters, maybe not as bad as his but that was bad tyre management on his part. That was his fault and in reality cost them the championship and so did his off at the Nurb. McLaren have had a bullet proof car all year and both drivers failed to capitalise with silly errors.

I wouldn't call Hamilton a spoilt brat, he is an exceptional driver but one who has been very privileged. Had he been in Hekki's or Nico's (in his first year) shoes I personally don't think he'd have done any better than them.

He hasn't had any pressure of having to deliver in a not so good car compared to them whos careers depend on it.


vMax.Keiran
Velocity Maximum Simulation Racing
www.vMaxSR.com
www.liveforspeed.net LFS Status:

lol ppl dont hate lewis cuz he is favoured in mclaren this is just their politic or he has beaten alonso

the most part of the society ppl hate him bcuz they see in lewis a FIA boy , in the most part of the year he escaped punishments or just got fine while alonso got penalty of five positions and massa got black flag in canada the strange of this is FIA give a pressrelease after the race saying they must opened the boxes early so they are sorry for massa and fisichella...(we have to agree that its not nice cuz they lost points... )



pay attention theres no part of my post saying FIA is right or no ,cuz i have to understand they have their way to judge these things . Im just saying whats my point about that , based on what its looking to most part of the ppl!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/2007 02:35PM by Rodrigo007.

That could be a radio button for all we know we really need a pic of it. But for years we have seen drivers pressing buttons.

I think someone has just jumped on this and made up a story.

Kubica still stopped at the red light that massa and fissi did not so thats their fault. Still it helped kimi as he was behind them well massa anyway.

The china mistake was silly no matter what mclaren say. But still he is not the only driver this year to mess up in the pit lane is he kimi got away with lewis did not.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/2007 02:37PM by marcl.

this pic of the McLaren wheel is from a thread in the Off-Topic forum: [img300.imageshack.us]

i got post 666 in this thread

and regarding his mistake at China and Brazil, that is precisely why I and others have been "wanting" him to make mistakes earlier in the season, so when it came to crunch time, he could cope with them better and have experience of things going badly and how to recover.

having an almost perfect, flawless season and then having problems in the last 2 races when it really counts is not good for him. had he had car failures, or made his own mistakes under pressure earlier on, he *probably* wouldn't have made them in China (going off on worn inters) and Brazil (making an unnecessary, rash move on Alonso at T4 and going off).

---

RIP Jules, never to be forgotten. #KeepFightingMichael



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/2007 03:27PM by Muks_C.

Yeah, it's clearly either the "N" (neutral I assume) or "-10"? (presumably a generic button depending on which mode you're in, again presumably for knocking down engine performance in increments and the likes).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/2007 03:27PM by gav.

Well going by the pic it could well have been the n button or the one below it but surly if he got n he could have just gone back in gear. There is deff no start line button there though. If they are the buttons there why press any of them unless he wanted a drink.

But there is no saying the 2 wheels are the same as in the past we have seen drivers in the same team using different layouts.

Cheers for the pic.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/2007 03:28PM by marcl.

i got post 666 in this thread

It's over, you're doomed. Call the priest

---

are you blind? -no, I'm deaf, can't you see? -no, I'm blind.

Kimi got away FROM Lewis, and the dish ran away with the Finn!
Did you mean Kimi got away while Lewis did not?

I watched it, I heard it, but I still can't believe it. The driver who seemed so likely in previous seasons, yet was so agonisingly far away, has in unbelievable fashion nailed it by a solitary point. I thought I was dreaming as Lewis spluttered and then Alonso was worn down by Kubica. And all that fuss over McLaren being scrutinised for 11th hour fairness to Alonso. Mr Dennis must have thought it a certainty.

I wonder, maybe Lewis could be the new Kimi, well within reach and truly worthy, but just not getting there. Give it a few years and he might end up sitting in a Ferrari next to the '07 champ?

@ Marcl, true, it might not be the same as the wheel he used in Brazil, but usually the layout for a particular driver is generally the same as they get familiar with a certain layout and don't want to change.

and the start procedure could be activated by pressing a combination of buttons, there won't necessarily be a button that says "Press this at the start ONLY".

---

RIP Jules, never to be forgotten. #KeepFightingMichael



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/2007 03:30PM by Muks_C.

[www.mclaren.com]

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
theRacingLine.net
SportsCarArchives.com

Cheers dave.

So he could have press the speed limit one or the menu one which if he had a problem then he would have pressed 1 i suppose.

If he had done the pit lane one he would have just pressed it again and got on his way.

He could even have pressed the radio but there is no button there that would turn the car off.

When u look though it looks like he is either pressing drink or radio. Its so hard to see



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/2007 03:49PM by marcl.

the button configuration on the wheels in Dave's link and the one in my earlier post are different, so who knows. we need a pic of Lewis' Brazil-spec wheel to know for certain.

---

RIP Jules, never to be forgotten. #KeepFightingMichael

Normaly when a driver hits the speed limit button the lights in the car flash this did not happen and the rear light flashes again this did not happen.

But yeah even from the incar footage to both pics the wheel looks different

I just find it strange that at the end of a year he would press a wrong button but if he did he did not much you can do about it now.

I am sure if he did he would/will tell people as so far he has seemed honest.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/2007 04:06PM by marcl.

marcl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When u look though it looks like he is either
> pressing drink or radio.

No. No it doesn't.

Looking at the race again in full res, the wheel bears more resemblance to the photo than the one Dave posted on McLaren's page - certainly on Lewis's car it's a green button. I checked too, and when he pitted there was no (obvious) flashing lights, whereas there were when he appeared to put it into or the gearbox malfunctioned or whatever.

Oh what irony, with some seeing a British driver losing the championship from the mistaken pressing of a Button.

Ok i could not see the flashing lights on the wheel when he pressed the button. If it was the pit lane button he would have just had to press it again so I find it strange it took so long to sort out.

marcl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I just find it strange that at the end of a year
> he would press a wrong button but if he did he did
> not much you can do about it now.

With the amount of buttons on the wheels I can imagine it would be very easy to press the wrong one, especially when your concentrating on the track rather than your wheel. He is pressing a button mid-corner so chances of him even looking at the button is slim.

If he did press the N button which I presume would be neutral the car may have gone into a fail safe mode especially as it was traveling at speed and with Lewis' foot to the floor.

Keiran


vMax.Keiran
Velocity Maximum Simulation Racing
www.vMaxSR.com
www.liveforspeed.net LFS Status:

yeah Martin often comments that a car's gone into safe mode and just trundles along at 25kph (or whatever speed) and then the driver has to reset the whole system to get it operational again. i doubt it was the pit-limiter as no rear light was seen flashing, and that would be easy to cancel anyway so doesn't explain the trouble he had in getting it going again.

---

RIP Jules, never to be forgotten. #KeepFightingMichael