Not anymore than being an experienced F1 champion and losing the rear-end of your car because you stuck a wheel on the grass.

Are you serious?

Ramming another driver off the track at the first corner is something you wouldn´t expect from a local go-kart driver, let alone a professional F1 driver. Parking your car at the second to last corner to protect a pole position is something you wouldn´t expect from a local go-kart driver, let alone a professional F1 driver. Brake testing a mid field driver during a Friday practice session is something you wouldn´t expect from a local go-kart driver, let alone a professional F1 driver.

No it's not a surprise that Hamilton and other drivers are criticised for it, but it is a surprise that these one-off events are used to define ones opinion of a drivers ability rather than all their performances in the round.

EDit: I appreciate that you are not saying this but I wanted to make the point.

You forgot to mention warming up the tyres by almost stopping in the tunnel, crashing into other car in a grid forming lap and spinning into retirement under safety car.

Unfortenately for you, you didn´t have a point at all. All your examples are case where driver has delibarately made a move that he shouldn´t have done - that´s not driving mistake, that´s judgement mistake. What Hamilton did in Canada was worst piece of driving I have ever saw.

But, by your judgement, only a driver error. But I can see how for some that must be so much worse than a deliberate action.

Yup.

All he did was look somewhere other than at the light, having forgotten about it.

F1 is not primarily about noticing lights, I can do that. In fact, my Mum can do that, and my dog too .

What do you watch F1 for?

When you (or your mum or your dog) are heading towards traffic lights, are you aware that you are paid millions of dollars for not screwing up? Is the moment when you head towards lights the very moment where all your and your company´s hard work is either getting rewarded or washed down the drain?

In my way to working place I can stop in red lights too, you know, but very unlike LH stopping in red lights or not isn´t most important moment for me and my company this month. If it was, I would most certainly stop rather than crash, wouldn´t you?

Seems to me you're finding it hard to comprehend that Lewis is actually a human being and can also make mistakes/have brain-fade moments.

Give it a rest, yr.

It was a mistake. But "the worst piece of driving you ever saw"? I watch F1 for the car control, extreme speed, lightning reflexes. For me, bad driving in F1 is falling off, crashing, through a failure of skill or judgement. And I suppose the slower the speed the sillier the crash looks, but as an error Canada was not a failure of skill, but just too much focus on the competitors in front of him.

And I still think the team should have reminded him a few seconds earlier.

Best car (the most important advantage of all)
Lap dog teammate, unquestioned #1 status in “his" team!
Kimi, Massa, HK all floundering!
Alonso stuck in a crappy car!

That’s four big ones Gareth.

This is Hamilton’s year cuz it will never get any easier than this. The only thing that can keep Lewis from the WDC is Lewis himself. If he blows it (again) he will be toast, not even up to the standards of one time WDC Jacques Villeneuve.

I hear you. I agree that F1, as inany other motor sport, it is question about about car control, high speeds etc.

But, in all honesty, if you want to be champion, you can not afford doing such an idiotic mistakes as Lewis did in Canada, it can be compared only to DC hitting pit-wall at Adelaide in mid 90´s or - funnily enough - Lewis himself stucking in smallest gravel trap ever in China last year. You can twist it anyway you want it, but there´s no denying Lewis has thrown away big points by very silly mistakes. What if Massa wins WDC this year with few points over Hamilton? His first thought will be propably:"What the hell was I thinking in Canada when I didn´t pay attention to lights or cars infront?"

They´re all humans. But they also battle for every point with tooth and nail, don´t they? Throwing away points with brain-fade as enourmous as Lewis had in Canada isn´t acceptable. Period.

It did say .......Definetly a future great not Possibly a future great .
Heck i think Vettel's possibly a future great too! Possibly even greater than Hamilton, just needs the right machinery.

I'd be more worried if I were Felipe, thinking "why did I change down to 1st instead of 2nd at T1 in Australia and chuck away 2nd place", "how could I spin 5 times in one race", and "why did I gift Hammy the inside line in Germany and hand him the win on a plate"? These are driving errors, more easily repeated because they're about his skill. Hammy will never miss a red light for the rest of his life

Certainly agree about that We need a great rival for Lewis, a third top team too.

It isn't acceptable, not when it's Lewis right? You're not helping your case at all but you just won't stop.

It's interesting. Going by Kovalainen's perfromances this year, the Mclaren is no equal of the Ferrari, indeed it's really struggling to match the BMW for performance this season. It's only Hamilton who is dragging it up to compete with the Scuderia this year. (FreddyFanBoy mode off)

Shame we can't have a race where they all swap cars

And race engineers. I suspect Chris Dyer is still in mourning . I'd like to see Lewis + Rob Smedley myself.

How about what Rosberg did in Canada? Was that the second worst piece of driving you've ever seen in your life? Or would you only use such hyperbole when it comes to Hamilton?

'Isn't acceptable' Yeah well you have to be in a position to have the points in order to throw them away, right? Most other rookies are lucky enough that they make their brain fade errors with much fewer (if any) points.

What Lewis did at Canada was unquestionably the dumb move of the season and the gravel trap last year was probably close to being the dumb move of last season, but I'd contend that there are not many drivers who could control canvas tyres in those conditions any better. But some will (and have) used comments like yours as ammunition to suggest his overall skill levels are just not up to much, and won't take into consideration winning by over a minute in the rain which is a bit sad, no?

No one who is a serious observer of F1 can deny Hamilton´s ability behind the wheel. He is extremely fast and skillful. However, those two qualities alone aren´t enough to guarantee world championships. They are only a part of the package needed. He has some serious problems in other areas. I don´t want to list them, because that would only elicit a stream of counter arguments from the fan boys, but I think impartial observers will know what I mean.
Given his car and team, plus his undoubted ability, he is making incredibly hard work of winning a title that was really his for the taking. That, to me, is a sure sign he still has a lot to learn. The big question that remains then, is, has he the ability to overcome those deficiencies? The trouble is, with respect, I´m not sure Hamilton is the sharpest knife in the draw (sorry, but he doesn´t strike me as a very intelligent person), so I have my doubts as to whether or not he will ever be able to exploit his full potential.

If you're going to call someone else "not the sharpest knife in the draw", you should really learn to spell "drawer"

We already know I´m even less sharp, but that doesn´t alter my point.

I'd agree Lewis isn't as intelligent as, say, MS or perhaps Nico, but he's easily intelligent enough. The mistakes aren't really about intelligence, if you look at them. The one that is was probably Nurburgring 07, when he came in for dries far too soon instead of catching up to the field while they were behind the SC, but even then you have to factor in his inexperience and the stress of the previous day's accident, and having just had a puncture and then gone off.

Otherwise, they're all different, the one factor that applies more than once is his intense focus on racing.

Last year it was the team's mistakes that finally cost the wdc, rather than his.

And he is leading the wdc at the moment...

Based on what?

What does that say about FM and KR who are driving as good a car and in a team with equal resources?

I think it confirms what I said some time ago, and got flamed for my troubles. Todays lot are a very average bunch.
The fact that Massa was 3 laps from the WDC lead when he got put out through no fault of his own, should tell us something. Look at the Massa thread, to see what the majority of forum contributors think about him.

I've noticed you say this a lot (that McLaren lost the title, not Lewis)...you win and lose as a team. It was strategy, driving, mechanical errors that cost the title, not all team, not all Lewis....It reminds of Merc when they joined. When it went well it was a Mercedes. When it blew up, it was an Illmor. You can't have it both ways.




That they are all about the same IMO...as the points, poles, wins, podiums show. I've said it before, I don't think any 1 driver is head and shoulders above the rest.

Compared to whom?

What does that tell us?

I'd agree with that and add that no one enjoys the huge difference in car performance that could be seen in past seasons.

Your´re not practicing auditioning for a job as a quiz master by any chance are you?

Another post reinterpreted away from the words actually in it, to be something extreme you can argue against, instead of something reasonable you might be forced to accept . I said finally lost the wdc. I did not say "McLaren lost the title".

It was not all the team, absolutely. But I keep pointing out the team's role in the mistakes because so much has been said about Hamilton "choking" when he did not choke. A lot of people seem to be adding up Hamilton's misfortunes as though everything that went wrong was him. He would be the reigning wdc if the gearbox hadn't misbehaved or the team hadn't switched strategy, his off at Turn 4 was irrelevant, it only cost 4.7 seconds. The final mistakes were the team's. I'm not saying the outcome was unfair or that he deserved it, just that as a driver, he was good enough, that's my point.

In response to ex Rhodie saying he's basically too thick.

Based on him being partial to hip-hop music and having hangers on the likes of P Diddy ?

That are just minor symptoms of the deeper cause ;)

More telling was the situation where he tried to excuse his recent errors by pointing at Nelson Mandelas... at first that seemed unbelievable arrogant, but on second thought it was probably more the common trait of not-quite-so-sharp people to just chatter about what's currently on their mind, regardless of the overall relevance. He was just going to sit at a table with Mandela, so he used him as a reference.

Mind you, could have been worse. IIRC there was a catholic bishop at the table too, he could easily have chosen Jesus as an example...

Ever paused and wondered why your views about Lewis Hamilton are still being errr flamed?

Almost. Just like Hamilton I once ran into a parked car on our street. Let me tell you, that is embarrassing.
However, I managed to straighten my handles out, check my nuts for any permanent damage, and continue on my way.

I know it´s difficult for you, but try reading it again son.

However many times I read it, it still says he's too stupid to fulfil his potential.

Which doesn't make any sense, even if you'd offered any evidence for it.

It just reads like a rambling post scratching for something negative to say about him. On the one hand he's been so good the chamionship was "his for the taking" (do you mean 2007 or 2008?) but somehow the reason he hasn't made it is a lack of intelligence.

Which is a mystery to me because he seems to have learned about F1 incredibly quickly, the normal learning curve was hardly to be seen at all, starting with 9 straight podiums, and now with no FA there his setups look perfect. His key weapon against Fernando last year was in fact the way he got the team around him, something straight out of the MS book of how-to-win-in-F1.

So this kind of baseless negativity leads to suspicions about prejudice of one kind or another, and bearing in mind the flaming you got a few months ago for opposing mixed-race marriage, you can't really complain, it seems to me, if the flames keep coming when you post like this.

I have daddy. And it still reads exactly the same as last time I read it.

Well then, let´s see if I can enlighten you then, shall we?
I said
I think it confirms what I said some time ago, and got flamed for my troubles. Todays lot are a very average bunch.
You said
Ever paused and wondered why your views about Lewis Hamilton are still being errr flamed?

My remark was that I had been criticised (flamed) for suggesting the current crop of F1 pilots are an average bunch. I never said I had been criticised for anything I had said regarding Lewis personally. As such, I don´t understand your question.

Here is what I said about Lewis.
No one who is a serious observer of F1 can deny Hamilton´s ability behind the wheel. He is extremely fast and skillful.

So you disagree with that do you?

Its not what you are saying there. Obviously.

Its stuff like. 'He has no class'.'I wouldn't have dinner with him' 'He is not the sharpest chisel in the toolbox'

Need I go on?

That is what you are being 'flamed' for and rightly so IMO.

How old is Lewis again?

The pressure he has to deal with right now must be enormous.

LEAVE LEWIS ALONE!!!!

This really helps understand the mind of the Hamilton fan, and it is funny as heck

^^The corollary is also the case Slate!

Good point, I agree it also helps understand the mind of Hamilton.

^Oh OK. I give up!

Lots of whooooshing noises this evening.