Hamilton Criticism

Back on topic, I think Lewis has a great future, and is exactly what F1 needed after Shumi's retirement.
Any comments about his driving at this time would still be unfounded..... all of the really great drivers were criticized for some thing or another when they started F1.
I would like the commentators to make less of a fuss about it though

Originally Posted by Eric Metz

Back on topic, I think Lewis has a great future, and is exactly what F1 needed after Shumi's retirement.
Any comments about his driving at this time would still be unfounded..... all of the really great drivers were criticized for some thing or another when they started F1.
I would like the commentators to make less of a fuss about it though

Thats right Eric anyone would think that all the others were having a bad season and they are clearly not. If you take Hamilton out of the equation the other front runners are fairly even. Lewis has had an amazing unprecedented start to a season but it could turn the other way just as easily,this is F1 after all. So, too early for criticsm or comparison with Schumacher,Prost,Senna and co IMHO.

Eric, no offence taken.
As for 'what makes a great driver', whew! That's a hell of a question. What is the most important attribute?
I would say that Hill had the out-and-out pace, had one of the best abilities to develop and set up a car of anyone, but was maybe lacking in that killer instinct.
JV was fast, brave, but has never had the ability to get the best out of his team and car for me, and that's why his only success was in a car already sorted into the best on the grid by someone else. Without that done for him, he's been very ordinary.
Senna had the balls-out, all-for-glory, bullying nature necessary to be a great. Schumacher had less of it, but was an absolute technical machine on top of the killer instinct, which made him largely unbeatable.

I must admit I am prejudiced agains certain drivers, sometimes without reason.... based on what I see in interviews, what other drivers say about them, how much they get up to off the track etc.

Based on this I really liked Berger ( a true gentleman, no killer instinct though), I thought Alesi was one of the most naturally talented drivers ever, but had terrible luck and a few personality "issues", Eddie Irvine, for his great personality , Piquet...just for his tanacity against Mansell (another overrated driver - ducks for cover- idiot on and off the track, although fast)....

My feeling about Hamilton so far is neutral.... the potential for greatness is there, but like A F says, its early days.... hopefully he does not fall into the "hollywood glamour" clutches.

It is his aggression/assertiveness that makes him the out and out winner he will undoubtably be.

It is the difference between a real champion and common or garden competent racer. Coulthard is a perfect example of this; a very fine driver , a race winner even, but never a champion.

The only pity is that we haven't seen LH in a lesser car to see if he could make it perform above its weight as MS did with Jordan etc. There is always a feeling that it is easy to look good in a dominant car. This is not a LH bash and I am not anti LH. I just think I prefer seeing drivers coming through the F1 ranks.

I see what you are getting at there Dave. When M. Schumacher first went to ferrari he wasn't massively successful in their cars of the day but did pull them through to the championships as he promised. Not many other drivers (if any) could have done that.
What puzzles me still is why Alonso went to Maclaren when he had been beating them week in week out in his Renault, now one year on Renault have dived and Maclaren are looking like champions already. Same with the Ferrari, its looking very ordinary in the hands of Raikonnen (less so Massa,who would have thought that). Anyway my point in this is that maybe Fernando and Lewis are in a lesser car......

Originally Posted by alfafamily

What puzzles me still is why Alonso went to Maclaren when he had been beating them week in week out in his Renault, now one year on Renault have dived

I think that at the time Alonso signed for McLaren, some of the Renault management were suggesting they might not be in F1 in 2007.

To miss quote Barry Sheen"Jacque Villeneuve couldn't even sort out a chest of draws"

Agree with Bazza about Hill.

Originally Posted by davecooper

The only pity is that we haven't seen LH in a lesser car to see if he could make it perform above its weight as MS did with Jordan etc. There is always a feeling that it is easy to look good in a dominant car. This is not a LH bash and I am not anti LH. I just think I prefer seeing drivers coming through the F1 ranks.

Fair point, but in any team/car the first car that you would want to beat would be that of your team mate who would be presumably driving the same spec car. In that respect I would say that so far Hamilton has certainly matched (double world champion) Alonso.

Sticking with Mclaren, have you read Prost's latest comments - he reckons that Mclaren are making a mistake by running two drivers on equal status. Does anyone else think the man's an idiot - especially since the seasons not even at half distance yet and all of the debate surrounding team orders (race fixing)

I have to say i agree with JV as good a driver as Hamilton is some of his starts have been nothing short of dangerous.

There is defending your line, but swerving left and right in front of a second place car is against the rules.

Is it against the rules? I thought it was agreed after Schumacher's shenanigans that you could swerve twice to defend your line and no more?

I think they should swerve as much as they want, it's car racing after all!

As far as i know you can swerve only once to protect your line. I could be(and regularly am) proved wrong

Where's Chrispy when you need him, still swaning round America?

I think The Flav is not letting any of his engineers have time off till the car starts going fast

Originally Posted by stukav

As far as i know you can swerve only once to protect your line. I could be(and regularly am) proved wrong

Yes I agree with above, you are allowed to deviate off the racing line only once as a defensive move to protect your position. This rule was introduced about 5-6 yrs ago.
I can't remember Hamilton in any of his starts breaking this rule, I have seen him deviate against Alonso once as he did at Indy but then move back to the racing line to enter turn 1 correctly, maybe it's the positioning of his car for the first turn that causes the confusion.