Drivers being exposed and the inevitable rise of Hamilton

Originally posted by Alfisti
I thought last year was a little crazy driver wise, Kimi never really looked "fast" in the Ferrari

pffff... he wasn't impressive in the first half, but in the second one he was better than anyone else.

First that poor excuse of a thread by muzzino, now this. Threads are being started to purely bitch at how good someone is? Im sorry but it's just f***ing ridiculous.

I became bored watching Shumi walz to victory season after season but the only reason I never liked him was because of his 94 and 97 antics and monaco 06. Those apart I regard him as the greatest driver of all time. These i see as valid reasons to dislike a driver but to have vitriol for someone who has done no wrong is just childish and and smacks of jealosy as they are obviously coming from disheartened Ferrari fans.

Its only one race into the season - Kimi dominated Oz 07 arguably more than Lewis did today so cry at the end not the beginning.

Originally posted by Alfisti


Someone above said Hekki was just as quick "fuel corrected", i am sorry but his race pace was so much slower that he needed to be one stopping to make it work .... and he clearly wasn't.

Hamilton will beat HK easily this year, as in finish in front of him (rightfully) 80% of the time when they both finish without incident. IMHO, this is exactly why HK was brought in.

We don't know their fuel loads of course, but Lewis did come in four laps before Heikki. So it is possible that Heikki was much heavier all the time. He was also held bý traffic, unlike Lewis. When Heikki had a light car, he made the fastes lap of the race.

Interesting to see if Heikki gets the better strategy next weekend. If he doesn't, then he is #2.

Originally posted by HoldenRT
Seems like there's some idiots that know how to type but don't know how to read.

Originally posted by Domination
McLaren is not the best car. Lewis is just making it look like it is. The Ferrari is still competitive in pace but their drivers and reliability are not up to scratch.

Brain fart there, Domination. How much good "competitive pace" does when the car stops in quali and fails to finish the race? Ah well, this thread is little more than flame bait anyway...

Let´s watch few more races and see. Last year started with Kimi praise as he won the season-opener with best car. Then Hamilton was the best...then Alonso was the best...finally Räikkönen won with smallest of margins, as Hammy blundered his lead away. The fans seem to change their opinion every week.

Originally posted by Chiara
It's easier to have a trouble free weekend and make it look easy when your out front and not under pressure. For example Lewis's drive today, Felipe's drive in Brazil etc etc

When your battling to overtake coming up through the pack, then inevitably there is always a risk that your going to make mistakes or misjudge the intentions of the driver you want to overtake. I'd be very interested to see how Lewis would have dealt with the issues thrown at Kimi for example.

Don't get me wrong I'm not picking fault with Lewis at all, he and McLaren had a superb weekend, but I'm kind of hoping to see a little bit more of how he deals with not being at the front all the time.

Hammy hasn't been at the front all the time though, he's done a lot of overtaking (France, Monza, Brazil) and so far hasn't touched anyone - amazing for a first year.

Kimi's mistakes today weren't ones I could see Lewis making, especially the first where he was so much too fast into the corner. I suspect Lewis is fitter, and Kimi's concentration and judgement wilted a little in the heat.

But I too am looking forward to seeing Hammy doing more overtaking . I think the Ferraris are easily fast enough to stop him being at the front all the time.

Originally posted by Durant


Alonso was the next great driver after Schumacher

According to your former nick ("juan"), Montoya was the next great thing ;)

Originally posted by Alfisti

However, it's becoming abundantly clear he's the next great driver after Schumi. His ability to brake super late but not lock up is amazing, his qualy laps are fantastic and he's a great "racer". For the most part he keeps his head and he knows where to put his car, especially at the start. Kimi and Massa were badly exposed in melbourne, looked like amatures, whilst the race was easy for Hamilton the body of evidence over the last 19 races suggests he has something the others don't. Oh, and he's lucky, horse shoe shoved deep into his arse.

I really love the way people use the word exposed. The next great driver after Schumi...excuse me? The same Schumi who crashed out the last time he raced in Melbourne? Yep, simply lost it and hit the wall. Zero points. Was he "exposed" as well? Lots of folks suggested this was the case. Alonso was the next great driver back then. In 2003, Räikkönen was the next great driver. Schumi didn´t exactly deliver in 3 first races. Off in Melbourne, boneheaded crash with Trulli in Malaysia, spun out in Brazil...under double yellows, nearly collecting track marshall in the process. "Exposed"? You bet he was.

I can find similar blunders from Räikkönen, Alonso - and even Hamilton.

Who knows? Perhaps in Malaysia it is Hammy´s turn to be "exposed"?

well one race does not a season make. I think today we saw a lot of drivers having problems at the start. This will not always be the case. Yes Kimi did suffer under pressure which is rare, but i do not think we will see it too often this season.
Hamilton was lucky today. i am not saying he drove badly he drove well but he was lucky he could have got caught out on the pit startegey like heikki he did not thats luck. Heikki did a full purple lap when Hamilton was in the pits.
I look forward to this season i wont write ferrari off. and no i dont think hamilton is the second schumacher. he is the first hamilton.