Lewis Hamilton is in his second season as a Formula One driver.

There are highs, there are lows.

Let us discuss them all here, like adults...

if they merge this, itll be 10 pages long instantly

I think it is worth it. But I also fear this thread will get shut down within a day due to the rampant foaming hatred of Lewis Hamilton. Lets hope not. I hope this thread will be like the United Nations.

the united nations of hamibash

hey mel, another hamilton thread
should we not post here if we consider it to be waste of time too?
sorry, but this BB is going down...

Sorry buddy, but there seems to be a consensus forming for a Lewis Hamilton 2008 thread.

Thought I'd kick it off, rather than listen to all the whining on the associated Lewis threads.

Say what you will about LH but he sure gets the BB active.

I haven't seen this much activity regarding a driver since the days of JV.

Having to avoid 1 thread is a lot better than having to avoid 10.

I support this.

yes.

This thread is a good idea. Now we just have to wait for him to say something to take out of context and bash him about. I'm sure we won't have long to wait.

Hold on, does this count too?

Stand, by me, whooooa stand, by me...

I dont rest until someone crashes him out from lead.

Here's an ongoing argument from the "Hamilton says he's driving well" thread...



No I'm not Anthony, unfortunately , just seeing what is there, and not what isn't.

No way the Stewards would wait several laps in France, unless they couldn't decide.

What was Steve Matchett watching then, for Monaco? The world feed? If so he couldn't tell any more than the rest of us, a distant shot through the rain and spray.

Lewis glanced the barrier in a downpour, missed the red light, and didn't give the place back. Yes they were errors, but they're not the kind of driving errors that would mean he's not basically driving well. That's what he meant, and it makes perfect sense. It's just an opportunity, for those who are so motivated, to over-simplify and misrepresent what's happened.

His unforced error at Monaco did not swipe him sideways into the barriers at Casino Square, or run into the back of another driver at the same place. He did not turn another driver sideways in Mirabelle or wreck his car in the swimming pool complex. He did not overrun at St Devote and definitely did not take out another car in the tunnel. His error, in fact, impacted on nobody except himself. In the circumstances, it shouldn't even be a talking point.

Montreal was clearly a dumb error, but in the busy drivers mind I'm sure a red light is the last thing he expected to see at the other end of the pitlane. Certainly no excuse but at least one other driver is on record to say it was understandable.

France was a tough call IMO. Nobody has yet been able to show the incident from a view outside of the car and yet everyone seems to know it was a clear cut case. The only thing clear cut is that Hamilton was involved.

It will be on the official FIA season review DVD and miraculously it will prove that Lewis was completely, utterly innocent...

But Slate will point out it still doesn't prove he couldn't have cut some other chicane, at some other time

In early '07 I already predicted in a post here that "no, he didn't do it!" will be argued about Lewis more than about any driver in history. Just look were we are now... and it's still only the beginning!

Only last month.

... and over half of the threads locked... he must have some friends in "high" places, I guess.

Forget to search for ''Hamilton'', only tried ''Lew''

I think judging from the tone in the indy, the mail, the guardian, heck even the times, if Lewis has even the smallest mishap this weekend he is going to get hammered by the press.

Even Hamilton's Cheerleader in chief, Kevin Garside at the telegraph, is remarking on the extra curricular activities of Hamilton.

I think he really does have to win this weekend or the tide of media opinion really is going to turn against him.

Will be interesting to see how he deals with that though.

Lewis is one of those drivers (like Schumacher) that seems to elicit a love or hate reaction. Whatever he says, gets listened to and (over) analysed by both supporters and detracters.
He's certainly not someone like Trulli who inspires very little in the way of strong reaction. F1 would be dull without such characters surely.

Oh rest assured Trulli elicits strong feelings. Particularly if the driver you like is parked behind him during the first stint of a race :-)

Indeed. Perhaps I should have said Glock or Heidfeld. They might as well be robots.

Yes, journos seem to like being criticised about as much as Lewis himself . A bit spoilt if you ask me, but
I suspect Hammy'll be doing a bit of bridge-building over the weekend.

I think he'll do fine, myself, in the race. I've never believed the idea he folds under pressure.

You have this on good authority, I take it?

Hah that's nothing! Also only in one month:



Too bad he doesn't as many friends as Hamilton in high places!

No, just a feeling... looking forward to the issue getting exhumed when the 2008 review is published (especially if Lewis loses the WDC by less than 4 or 5 points).

That's something different. Alonso is evil, blackhearted and spanish, it's all his own fault.

On the actual topic - I'd say he's having a pretty damn good season. He said it clearly enough himself, half way through the season and he's only 10 points off the Championship leader which can evaporate in a single race. He's been quick and won two races. As consistent as last year - probably not, but then post Melbourne I don't think he has as good a car as last year either - compared to the Ferrari - and that's probably required him to push it a bit more than he'd have liked. Canada was a disaster, no question, but frankly more for him than anyone given the high probability of 10 pts in the race and what would have been a 3rd place start in France. He's sitting half way through the season and still is in the hunt for the WDC - especially if McLaren can find a few more tenths to get them on par with Ferrari.

As good as last year? No, probably not, but then expectations this year were so high if he didn't win every race he'd get bashed to high heaven around here.

Oh look . . . .

"I've learned from others mistakes with the red lights"

vs.








"Hamilton says he can still win in France"

vs.




Only last month.

Good article by Mark Huges:

http://www.itv-f1.com/Feature.aspx?Type=Mark_Hughes&id=43176

It´s good to see that ITV can produce some balanced and objective views on Hamilton.

Silverstone qualifying didn't go too well for Lewis, overdriving on S3 and going wide, simply couldn't understand that his teammate was so much faster than him and cracked under pressure.

Race is still ahead, it'll be interesting to see whether Lewis can get his act together and score the crucial points required for the championship hunt.

Yeah, Hamilton needs to put on a show on a track where bascially he's meant to be good at, his race last year went bad compared to his quali, now this time it likely will be a reverse.

I think he knew Hekki would be strong here, yence the extra pressure he put himself in for pole.

He was well faster in the first two sectors and took the wrong line into the relevant corner for some reason. It's encouraging that in this day-and-point-harvesting-age someone will still go shit or bust in a mere qualifying session.

His second attempt was very strange. It looked just plain slow like run out of talent (which of course he didn't), or maybe there was a small problem with the car after he went wide?

That's true. Did you see Lewis looking at the telemetry data during the end of Q2. I bet that it was Heikki's data and probably he couldn't understand where Heikki was so much faster in S3. Maybe he took a different line indeed or carried too much speed to the corner and lost it. However the thing is that he would have probably taken pole or at least 2nd place if he didn't try any "tricks" there.

I think the pressure was just too high for him to get the pole in front of the home crowd and sometimes this is what happens. However, Lewis can still deliver tomorrow, if he keeps his head cool.

Keeping his head cool is his biggest problem.

He's probably heavy, and keep in mind he was only a tenth off of Kimi's time, and with rain expected tommorow, I don't think we have anything to worry about.

Apart from his religiously loyal bashers.

Somehow I saw this coming.

Too much pressure was on him, with his two zero point finishes and his home grand prix, he should have delivered.

I don't think he's not that much, if at all, heavier than Heikki. He seemed to be so disappointed in weighing.

I don't think he is heavy, nothing suggests it. He is not okay in his head, he is looking as someone who won't win tomorrow.It's a shame because his driving talent is exceptional and his style is really an enjoyable one, but......he should fire his father. IT's a hard choice but he must to do is..

his second attempt was more of a banker lap...
fisi went off in a similer fasion aswell didnt he?

lewis looked mega smug tho after qualy, surprisingly

Guess he should've been on pole after all. Maybe he was even lighter than Kova. Now that's really sthg to be disappointed about.

Did you watch the same qualification as we did? Ferrari was off McLaren pace, and Heikke probably has similar fuel load to Lewis, your boy was just slow, made mistake & cracked again, get over with it.

Even undersquare (who I must admit I considered as Lewis' blind fanboy, but I'm changing my mind) saw what really happened in quali, but you don't. I'm wondering what might RicardoF1 thinking about it...

He was OK early in the lap, and on run 1, so I suspect he's only a lap longer than Heikki. I think his engineer telling him not to overdrive was a distraction. Lewis looked quite annoyed in the interview afterwards, so I think he's disappointed.

Tommorrow he's on the dirty side so he could easily end up 5th with Kimi 2nd, and Webber and Heidfeld in between, both very good defensively. I am a bit nervous, TBH, but with rain it could all change.

Get over what? I only said that I'm not too worried, and that his religiously loyal bashers are...

Did you think so? In his interview with Louise I thought he was having to make an effort to be civil, and the smile looked forced I thought.

Refer to Turkey and Magny Cours as to what a dissapointed Lewis looks like. He looked fine in the interview.

He was trying to put a brave face on it but you could tell he knew he messed up and only had himself to blame for it. I'm sure if he had the choice he wouldn't have been interviewed.