Lewis Hamilton
Discussion
deadslow said:
Daily Mail reader is Hamilton fan ...shock 
How very dare you, I'm a lot of things but Daily Mail reader I'm not, was just the first link I could dig up from Google for the story. Here's where I picked it up from originally: http://www.planetf1.com/news/rosberg-played-psycho...tankplanker said:
Dr Z said:
I think Nico's ability to set up a car is being underestimated here and it worked both ways.
I agree, I gave Rosberg credit for that in a previous comment. It isn't just setup from Rosberg though, its the racing lines, braking zones, the lot that he was pulling across. Rosberg was far more competitive than Bottas has been so far, who seems to be going backwards as the car has been developed over the season.I can't see Rosberg beating Hamilton without being the same team assuming equal cars, being able to copy setup/lines, being able to be a nasty s
t to your team mate (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/formulaone/article-4611948/Nico-Rosberg-vicious-one-clashes-Hamilton.html), stealing his mechanics (https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/nov/24/leiws-hamilton-mercedes-mechanics-nico-rosberg-abu-dhabi-grand-prix) just wouldn't work otherwise.
The mind games and nastiness is fine by me, he's a big boy and can take it, been known to dish some out too.
tankplanker said:
Lewis had been ahead in the championship from Rosberg's DNF in Singapore and Rosberg had a crap final race only finishing 14th. Lewis still beat Rosberg by the 40 points I mention as I'd already taken off the double points as I can't stand the concept, without them Lewis beat Rosberg by 67 points.
Right, 2-1 WDCs in favour of Hamilton is fine by me. All three years were riddled with Merc reliability problems that affected Lewis or Nico in their Championship campaigns. I documented it in this forum somewhere. It would have been a shame if it was 3-0 to Hamilton at the end of 2016 as it ignores the huge part Rosberg played in pushing Hamilton to greater heights, and to keep the racing interesting. Personal preference is to have more teams fighting for wins, as this gives more value for the quicker driver in a particular team. With Merc, if you're slower than your team mate, it meant finishing 2nd and that's not good value for the guy who'd been quicker. The 2016 championship was the better of the three hybrid years in that regard.I enjoyed watching both Lewis and Nico go at it for the 3 'hybrid' years. I found equal pleasure in seeing Nico hustle the car in a quali lap as much as Lewis all calm and just flowing beautifully from one corner to another. The early Lewis as a racer was a lot more fun to watch than these days, IMO.
Surely there's no discussion over who is the better driver between Hamilton and Rosberg?
I think he is probably one of the all time greats and we're seeing him driver 20 weekends a year. He's not perfect, but no driver has been, is or probably will be. He's entertaining to watch, although perhaps there are others that occasionally make us gasp more. He seems pleasant enough. I think it would be an interesting evening around a dinner table with him.
He's not the only one on circuit who F1 would be the poorer if he left, but he is in the top three to my mind.
I appreciate Hamilton for making the races more interesting, in the same way I do for Verstappen. What's not to like?
Bemused of Burgess HillI totally agree Derek. I think when Lewis finally retires, F1 will be VERY much worse off for it. He has been a lightening bolt since arriving on the scene. I was a fan from when he was in Cadet Karts, and was a stunned spectator at Silverstone in 2006 as he embarrassed the entire field of drivers in identical GP2 machinery. I think he is one of the most talented drivers of all time.
The tattoos and clothes are not to everyones taste, and I suspect that this might be the issue for some folks. He seems a fundamentally decent chap to me, and that view is backed up from what I have heard from people who actually have met him.Appreciation for Hamilton because he's probably the best driver of my 'era' (like many I find it hard to choose between Hamilton and Alonso). He’s a great ‘natural’ driver. What he loses to Alonso in pure determination and persistence on his bad weekends he makes up for in overall attitude and good spirit. If you consider him as a man doing his job, he is basically flawless.
I do find him difficult to like. When he first came along he was pretty young and incredibly talented so could be forgiven for not quite being the complete package in terms of being grounded, pragmatic, balanced… He lacked the filter which comes with the perspective and interpersonal and political awareness that everybody gains with maturity.
In this area he has improved massively.
However over the years he’s become, if anything, all the more difficult to understand and relate to. He seems hot and cold all the time. He has this aloofness about him which I don’t get. He’s so over this whole F1 thing (just not yet). You never know what accent or attitude is going to come out when he speaks. He’s really into his social media but comes across as borderline narcissistic. It’s as though he has multiple personas- one, he hopes, to please everybody.
That’s the nub of it I suppose. I think he’s kind of insecure and craves approval from all quarters hence his apparently conflicting personas and attitudes. Maybe there’s a smidge of Peter Pan syndrome in there. The upshot of all this is I really don’t know which Lewis Hamilton is the real one or whether they are all elaborate foils.
Sometimes he appears on C4 or Sky coverage and he’s affable, warm, open, intelligent etc etc and I think ‘why don’t I like this guy’, and then the next race weekend he’ll appear distant, distracted, weirdly absent for some reason… or he’ll come out with a Princess Diana poem or something, and I’m just bemused by it.
No, I haven’t met him and yes, I have donned my flame suit.
paulguitar said:
Derek Smith said:
HustleRussell said:
I've a grudging appreciation for Hamilton . . .
Why grudging? It seems, to me, a rather odd thing to say.I think he is probably one of the all time greats and we're seeing him driver 20 weekends a year. He's not perfect, but no driver has been, is or probably will be. He's entertaining to watch, although perhaps there are others that occasionally make us gasp more. He seems pleasant enough. I think it would be an interesting evening around a dinner table with him.
He's not the only one on circuit who F1 would be the poorer if he left, but he is in the top three to my mind.
I appreciate Hamilton for making the races more interesting, in the same way I do for Verstappen. What's not to like?
Bemused of Burgess Hill
The tattoos and clothes are not to everyones taste, and I suspect that this might be the issue for some folks. He seems a fundamentally decent chap to me, and that view is backed up from what I have heard from people who actually have met him.
I do find him difficult to like. When he first came along he was pretty young and incredibly talented so could be forgiven for not quite being the complete package in terms of being grounded, pragmatic, balanced… He lacked the filter which comes with the perspective and interpersonal and political awareness that everybody gains with maturity.
In this area he has improved massively.
However over the years he’s become, if anything, all the more difficult to understand and relate to. He seems hot and cold all the time. He has this aloofness about him which I don’t get. He’s so over this whole F1 thing (just not yet). You never know what accent or attitude is going to come out when he speaks. He’s really into his social media but comes across as borderline narcissistic. It’s as though he has multiple personas- one, he hopes, to please everybody.
That’s the nub of it I suppose. I think he’s kind of insecure and craves approval from all quarters hence his apparently conflicting personas and attitudes. Maybe there’s a smidge of Peter Pan syndrome in there. The upshot of all this is I really don’t know which Lewis Hamilton is the real one or whether they are all elaborate foils.
Sometimes he appears on C4 or Sky coverage and he’s affable, warm, open, intelligent etc etc and I think ‘why don’t I like this guy’, and then the next race weekend he’ll appear distant, distracted, weirdly absent for some reason… or he’ll come out with a Princess Diana poem or something, and I’m just bemused by it.
No, I haven’t met him and yes, I have donned my flame suit.
Dr Z said:
You think Lewis doesn't look at where his team mate is quicker and tries to improve himself in that regard, week in week out? Please. It would be foolish to not do so. He ain't some kind of god, y'know?
I've already acknowledged that its a matter of fact that Lewis borrowed much of the setup from Alonso back in 2007, I have no doubt Lewis would have been signifcantly slower that year at least for the first few races if Alonso had been and had been able to protect that information. Obviously that isn't good for the team so you can see why it didn't happen.Dr Z said:
The mind games and nastiness is fine by me, he's a big boy and can take it, been known to dish some out too.
It defined how Rosberg won 2016 for me, with games off the track rather than a straight up beating on the track as Lewis proved susceptible to the mind games, which is a weakness on Lewis's part. After 2015 finished Rosberg looked completely fed up and beaten down, he came back with a new approach in 2016 and it worked, fair play to him, but its not an approach that I'd ever want to take even with a world title at stake. Dr Z said:
Right, 2-1 WDCs in favour of Hamilton is fine by me. All three years were riddled with Merc reliability problems that affected Lewis or Nico in their Championship campaigns. I documented it in this forum somewhere. It would have been a shame if it was 3-0 to Hamilton at the end of 2016 as it ignores the huge part Rosberg played in pushing Hamilton to greater heights, and to keep the racing interesting. Personal preference is to have more teams fighting for wins, as this gives more value for the quicker driver in a particular team. With Merc, if you're slower than your team mate, it meant finishing 2nd and that's not good value for the guy who'd been quicker. The 2016 championship was the better of the three hybrid years in that regard.
I agree, 2016 was one of the best recent title fights, just wish there had been no nastiness. I'd argue that this year has been better than 2016 as Ferrari and Merc both have very good cars, but good at different tracks so it has lead for more interesting racing. If Merc had been able to keep Rosberg this season we would have had a very interesting battle. Dr Z said:
I enjoyed watching both Lewis and Nico go at it for the 3 'hybrid' years. I found equal pleasure in seeing Nico hustle the car in a quali lap as much as Lewis all calm and just flowing beautifully from one corner to another. The early Lewis as a racer was a lot more fun to watch than these days, IMO.
In 2016 its the extra DNF or the races were one of the Redbulls managed to sneak in between Lewis and Rosberg that cost Lewis that year and especially Baku and China. Anyone of those and Lewis would have won the WDC, the same cannot be said for the previous two years, with Lewis ~60 points ahead each time.Lewis lost so many points and even WDCs from that rashness, he should have 5 titles by now not even counting 2016, so I can see why he has calmed down. A young Lewis vs. Max in the same team would have been a lot of fun to watch though.
Still even saying all that, it would have been rough on Rosberg to leave Merc without a title, he was there from the start to help develop the team to the top tier whereas Lewis joined at just the right time.
HustleRussell said:
Appreciation for Hamilton because he's probably the best driver of my 'era' (like many I find it hard to choose between Hamilton and Alonso). He’s a great ‘natural’ driver. What he loses to Alonso in pure determination and persistence on his bad weekends he makes up for in overall attitude and good spirit. If you consider him as a man doing his job, he is basically flawless.
I do find him difficult to like. When he first came along he was pretty young and incredibly talented so could be forgiven for not quite being the complete package in terms of being grounded, pragmatic, balanced… He lacked the filter which comes with the perspective and interpersonal and political awareness that everybody gains with maturity.
In this area he has improved massively.
However over the years he’s become, if anything, all the more difficult to understand and relate to. He seems hot and cold all the time. He has this aloofness about him which I don’t get. He’s so over this whole F1 thing (just not yet). You never know what accent or attitude is going to come out when he speaks. He’s really into his social media but comes across as borderline narcissistic. It’s as though he has multiple personas- one, he hopes, to please everybody.
That’s the nub of it I suppose. I think he’s kind of insecure and craves approval from all quarters hence his apparently conflicting personas and attitudes. Maybe there’s a smidge of Peter Pan syndrome in there. The upshot of all this is I really don’t know which Lewis Hamilton is the real one or whether they are all elaborate foils.
Sometimes he appears on C4 or Sky coverage and he’s affable, warm, open, intelligent etc etc and I think ‘why don’t I like this guy’, and then the next race weekend he’ll appear distant, distracted, weirdly absent for some reason… or he’ll come out with a Princess Diana poem or something, and I’m just bemused by it.
No, I haven’t met him and yes, I have donned my flame suit.
I'm not gonna flame you but I'm curious... I do find him difficult to like. When he first came along he was pretty young and incredibly talented so could be forgiven for not quite being the complete package in terms of being grounded, pragmatic, balanced… He lacked the filter which comes with the perspective and interpersonal and political awareness that everybody gains with maturity.
In this area he has improved massively.
However over the years he’s become, if anything, all the more difficult to understand and relate to. He seems hot and cold all the time. He has this aloofness about him which I don’t get. He’s so over this whole F1 thing (just not yet). You never know what accent or attitude is going to come out when he speaks. He’s really into his social media but comes across as borderline narcissistic. It’s as though he has multiple personas- one, he hopes, to please everybody.
That’s the nub of it I suppose. I think he’s kind of insecure and craves approval from all quarters hence his apparently conflicting personas and attitudes. Maybe there’s a smidge of Peter Pan syndrome in there. The upshot of all this is I really don’t know which Lewis Hamilton is the real one or whether they are all elaborate foils.
Sometimes he appears on C4 or Sky coverage and he’s affable, warm, open, intelligent etc etc and I think ‘why don’t I like this guy’, and then the next race weekend he’ll appear distant, distracted, weirdly absent for some reason… or he’ll come out with a Princess Diana poem or something, and I’m just bemused by it.
No, I haven’t met him and yes, I have donned my flame suit.
I like Lewis... a British guy up there getting done, proud of being British. No, I don't care that he lives in Monaco and not UK. Plenty of you would be doing what you could to keep it from the taxman if in a similar financial situation. He's done stupid stuff, worn some iffy clothes, loves to travel and party. The whole social media thing Facebook, Snapchat, twitter whatever... I'm not into any of it but I just don't care what he does... some PHers moaned he shouldn't be doing all this stuff between races, he's not concentrating on what he's paid to do yet he turns up and gets it done... Senna became a business man and got to the stage at Mclaren where he didn't want to do any testing... wanting to leave it to the test drive then turn up on race weekend, race and head back to Brazil. Kimi isn't adverse to a bit of partying but we know that's ok, he can say stupid stuff and he gets a pass... he's cool.
Anyway HR... All that analysis of Lewis, trying to work him out... suggesting he might be insecure, narcissistic etc. Why the need to even analyse him? I get it in terms of someone I know, I like to know what makes someone tick, why they say and do what they do but someone I don't know.... I'm just not that interested... Genuine question.
I suspect most top top sportsmans, successful driven people probably display the same traits.
HustleRussell said:
Appreciation for Hamilton because he's probably the best driver of my 'era' (like many I find it hard to choose between Hamilton and Alonso). He’s a great ‘natural’ driver. What he loses to Alonso in pure determination and persistence on his bad weekends he makes up for in overall attitude and good spirit. If you consider him as a man doing his job, he is basically flawless.
I do find him difficult to like. When he first came along he was pretty young and incredibly talented so could be forgiven for not quite being the complete package in terms of being grounded, pragmatic, balanced… He lacked the filter which comes with the perspective and interpersonal and political awareness that everybody gains with maturity.
In this area he has improved massively.
However over the years he’s become, if anything, all the more difficult to understand and relate to. He seems hot and cold all the time. He has this aloofness about him which I don’t get. He’s so over this whole F1 thing (just not yet). You never know what accent or attitude is going to come out when he speaks. He’s really into his social media but comes across as borderline narcissistic. It’s as though he has multiple personas- one, he hopes, to please everybody.
That’s the nub of it I suppose. I think he’s kind of insecure and craves approval from all quarters hence his apparently conflicting personas and attitudes. Maybe there’s a smidge of Peter Pan syndrome in there. The upshot of all this is I really don’t know which Lewis Hamilton is the real one or whether they are all elaborate foils.
Sometimes he appears on C4 or Sky coverage and he’s affable, warm, open, intelligent etc etc and I think ‘why don’t I like this guy’, and then the next race weekend he’ll appear distant, distracted, weirdly absent for some reason… or he’ll come out with a Princess Diana poem or something, and I’m just bemused by it.
No, I haven’t met him and yes, I have donned my flame suit.
No need for a flame suit, when your critique of hamilton is reasoned out rather than the generic muck slinging that 99.99% of people who have a problem with him cant express themselves beyond.I do find him difficult to like. When he first came along he was pretty young and incredibly talented so could be forgiven for not quite being the complete package in terms of being grounded, pragmatic, balanced… He lacked the filter which comes with the perspective and interpersonal and political awareness that everybody gains with maturity.
In this area he has improved massively.
However over the years he’s become, if anything, all the more difficult to understand and relate to. He seems hot and cold all the time. He has this aloofness about him which I don’t get. He’s so over this whole F1 thing (just not yet). You never know what accent or attitude is going to come out when he speaks. He’s really into his social media but comes across as borderline narcissistic. It’s as though he has multiple personas- one, he hopes, to please everybody.
That’s the nub of it I suppose. I think he’s kind of insecure and craves approval from all quarters hence his apparently conflicting personas and attitudes. Maybe there’s a smidge of Peter Pan syndrome in there. The upshot of all this is I really don’t know which Lewis Hamilton is the real one or whether they are all elaborate foils.
Sometimes he appears on C4 or Sky coverage and he’s affable, warm, open, intelligent etc etc and I think ‘why don’t I like this guy’, and then the next race weekend he’ll appear distant, distracted, weirdly absent for some reason… or he’ll come out with a Princess Diana poem or something, and I’m just bemused by it.
No, I haven’t met him and yes, I have donned my flame suit.
I think his problem is he's gifted but sees himself as a true social equal and that confuses people. Most people fight for social status, with friends or colleague's whatever, and being gifted puts you naturally at the top, where people expect you to act superior and domineering and grasp for everything you can, like say alonso/schumacher. But Hamilton acts more like the handy journeyman racer who just wants to be fair. Ironically, I think a lot of his detracters would like him more if he acted like more of a c*** - because they'd be able to pigeonhole him more easily.
hairyben said:
HustleRussell said:
Appreciation for Hamilton because he's probably the best driver of my 'era' (like many I find it hard to choose between Hamilton and Alonso). He’s a great ‘natural’ driver. What he loses to Alonso in pure determination and persistence on his bad weekends he makes up for in overall attitude and good spirit. If you consider him as a man doing his job, he is basically flawless.
I do find him difficult to like. When he first came along he was pretty young and incredibly talented so could be forgiven for not quite being the complete package in terms of being grounded, pragmatic, balanced… He lacked the filter which comes with the perspective and interpersonal and political awareness that everybody gains with maturity.
In this area he has improved massively.
However over the years he’s become, if anything, all the more difficult to understand and relate to. He seems hot and cold all the time. He has this aloofness about him which I don’t get. He’s so over this whole F1 thing (just not yet). You never know what accent or attitude is going to come out when he speaks. He’s really into his social media but comes across as borderline narcissistic. It’s as though he has multiple personas- one, he hopes, to please everybody.
That’s the nub of it I suppose. I think he’s kind of insecure and craves approval from all quarters hence his apparently conflicting personas and attitudes. Maybe there’s a smidge of Peter Pan syndrome in there. The upshot of all this is I really don’t know which Lewis Hamilton is the real one or whether they are all elaborate foils.
Sometimes he appears on C4 or Sky coverage and he’s affable, warm, open, intelligent etc etc and I think ‘why don’t I like this guy’, and then the next race weekend he’ll appear distant, distracted, weirdly absent for some reason… or he’ll come out with a Princess Diana poem or something, and I’m just bemused by it.
No, I haven’t met him and yes, I have donned my flame suit.
No need for a flame suit, when your critique of hamilton is reasoned out rather than the generic muck slinging that 99.99% of people who have a problem with him cant express themselves beyond.I do find him difficult to like. When he first came along he was pretty young and incredibly talented so could be forgiven for not quite being the complete package in terms of being grounded, pragmatic, balanced… He lacked the filter which comes with the perspective and interpersonal and political awareness that everybody gains with maturity.
In this area he has improved massively.
However over the years he’s become, if anything, all the more difficult to understand and relate to. He seems hot and cold all the time. He has this aloofness about him which I don’t get. He’s so over this whole F1 thing (just not yet). You never know what accent or attitude is going to come out when he speaks. He’s really into his social media but comes across as borderline narcissistic. It’s as though he has multiple personas- one, he hopes, to please everybody.
That’s the nub of it I suppose. I think he’s kind of insecure and craves approval from all quarters hence his apparently conflicting personas and attitudes. Maybe there’s a smidge of Peter Pan syndrome in there. The upshot of all this is I really don’t know which Lewis Hamilton is the real one or whether they are all elaborate foils.
Sometimes he appears on C4 or Sky coverage and he’s affable, warm, open, intelligent etc etc and I think ‘why don’t I like this guy’, and then the next race weekend he’ll appear distant, distracted, weirdly absent for some reason… or he’ll come out with a Princess Diana poem or something, and I’m just bemused by it.
No, I haven’t met him and yes, I have donned my flame suit.
I think his problem is he's gifted but sees himself as a true social equal and that confuses people. Most people fight for social status, with friends or colleague's whatever, and being gifted puts you naturally at the top, where people expect you to act superior and domineering and grasp for everything you can, like say alonso/schumacher. But Hamilton acts more like the handy journeyman racer who just wants to be fair. Ironically, I think a lot of his detracters would like him more if he acted like more of a c*** - because they'd be able to pigeonhole him more easily.
HTP99 said:
Has Hamilton ever expressed a desire to drive for Ferrari?
Doesn't every F1 driver want to drive for them at some point of their career? I think, after reading this thread from the beginning to the end that everyone is agreement that Hamilton is class act and that we are currently watching one the greatest driver to grace F1.
Gassing Station | Formula 1 | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff