I tell you, it's nice when you find videos like the following showing the pains and aches all drivers have gone through to get to # 1.

Lewis Hamilton

We should all watch videos like these before every race.

"Imagine being in a Formula 1 car....it must be really powerful......."

What a story, the kid is on the brink of a F1 championship, just imagine.

Every driver in F1 will have a story like this. Hamilton's was covered because of his colour. But I imagine Alonso, Kubica.. all the drivers have very similar stories. It would indeed be nice to see a show/documentary that covered how they all got to F1 and their individual journey.

For some reason the first two comments are deeply amusing.



Did I see John Cleland's son in that video?

Yeah. If you look at today's top drivers, none of them are in F1 because of their rich families.
Kubica comes from a totally normal Polish family, won everything he could in Poland and then they realized that if they want to do karting seriously they have to do it out of the country. He was living in Italy without his family from the age of 13.

Alonso comes from an average Spanish family as well, and he too had to go to Italy because the Spanish championship wasn't strong enough. He was living in Spain and went to school there, while every weekend he travelled to Italy with his father who had to drive the car all night to make sure they would be at home by Monday morning so Fernando could go to school.

Kimi's family was poorer than the average and it was definetely his talent that got him here and not the money.

No driver can reach F1 without immensly hard work in their early years and most of them had to go through quite a lot of hardships. I don't think Lewis had more difficulties than others, to be honest, and definetely not from the age of 12...

I am more impressed by the "warm" congratulation of Anthony Hamilton to his son after winning.
I think that most of the flaws of Hamilton character can be found on his father putting all the pressure on his son to win.

didnt kimi's manager's invest in him, similer to sato aswell?

ofcourse both got X far tobe noticed and invested in

Lewis was sponsored from age 12 or 13 and because of that ALWAYS had one of the best cars on the grid in EVERY category.

There are many drivers who got nothing and managed to get to F1, just to mention Alonso, Kubica, Raikkonen and Fisichella. Kubica living with foreign family from age 13 because didn't have money for to stay in Italy with his father, Alonso's father delivering his son to Italy every weekend from Spain(!) by car - those are the stories for a good movie about F1!

wow even this can be turned into a lewis bash

Do you seriously believe that none of the other drivers received sponsorship at the lower levels? They may not have got as much as LH did, but maybe that was because they show the initiative that LH had.

Kubica was in the Renault driver development programme. Alonso and the others also had sponsors, it's impossible to do higher level single-seaters without sponsorship.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=hmTydZMelL8

there is a reason they sponsored him, maybe because they saw his potential????????

The first ever article about Michael Schumacher. He was 4.



Michael's story is a bit different to Lewis' or Alonso's in that he wasn't pushed by an ambitious daddy, instead he always managed to grab the attention of local businessmen who supported him financially and other ways. It was not his daddy taking him to races but a local businessmen, Jürgen Dilk. Actually Rolf Schumacher didn't really beleive it's more than just a little fun, he wasn't ambitious about his son like Anthony Hamilton or José Luis Alonso.

I admire Kubica very much too. I think he had the toughest way to F1. It's incredibly difficult to get there from an Eastern European country.

Did I write there's something wrong in it or that he didn't deserve it? You are overreacting.

Thanks, I've already been through the whole reverse discrimination thing during the Pauline Hanson years in Oz and don't need to be reminded.

Can you imagine if a program was called "White Britain", the shit that would happen?

I think Anthony Hamilton came out of that looking good. I'm father of three daughters, so am well aware of parental responsibilities.

Thought it quite ironic he mentioned ".......When he finally crosses that finishing line you know it's all over, nothing else could happen, he's won"
Unless the FIA are watching!

I'm a big fan of Lewis's father.

Yes, F1 Sundays would be much more boring if there wasn't Anthony Hamilton!

If you can't admire Anthony Hamilton - or any other parent of an F1 driver for that matter - all of whom have made immense sacrifices for their children's dream, simply put you're a sad sack.

There are things for which I admire Anthony Hamilton and there are things for I don't admire him at all.

Sounds like a little league dad.

Such as?

Well, that could be said of anybody, and would be one of the most blatant stating-the-bleeding-obvious of all time.
Do you admire him for his support of Lewis? In the past and now? If not, why not? I would have to assume that you are not a parent.

Doesn't he just look like Prost?

It is likely what most of the dolts dislike about people like Anthony/Lewis.... His skin has different pigmentation then their own? and/or feel that they have been slighted from this aspect themselves (oh the irony).

Get over it folks Lewis (and his father) are here to stay; they deserve it.

We should start banning people who's counter argument consists of "they are just being racist"

Oh that's just white supremacist thinking.



(But yes, I agree)

And who the F-k are you to think that what you think matters? Some kid (was a kid) who thought they had what it took? But didn't, and is possibly now bitter? Who still thinks they know something that the rest of the motor racing 'public' doesn't because they sat in a Palmer Audi? Get over yourself.

You compare what A. Hamilton has done to a little league dad? Maybe that is why you are posting at a racing web site instead of planning your next racing paycheck?

I just spent the weekend with many racing dad's/families that are spilling blood. sweat, tears and their future security for their boys and girls.

P.S. Do you honestly think that the Hamilton's 'background' has nothing to do with this?

[2]

For you it clearly does.

But even if true (it's bound to be for some people), the outcry "you don't like him cause he's black!" still serves no real purpose.

Even if the shoe fits, it would be way better to nail people on their arguments why they don't like him. Either they'll reveal themselves very soon or be exposed to have no real argument.

Blind accusation of racism kills all arguments, valid or invalid.

I don't like him being in the media, giving interviews all the time. You didn't see that with any F1 daddy before.

Funny, how I don''t think of his skin color as a reason to like or dislike him. Apparently you do. So who is a racist then?

John Button.

I think that's because he's his dad and his manager. Willi Weber would have looked odd jumping up and down in the pitlane to celebrate pole position.

Well, John Button's comments didn't get past ITV, so that wasn't so annoying to me. But if he did the same, yes, I wouldn't have admired him for that either.

I don't especially admire Willi Weber either - apart from the the fact he has helped Michael having a career. But I was not a fan of his comments in the media. He too was pushy and narcisstic.

Fair enough, but funnily Anthony Hamilton almost never appears on ITV nowadays, he was really only on a lot during the period where Lewis Hamilton was being shielded from the media (i.e. early 2007), as a sop to prevent them moaning. If you're still seeing a lot of him blame your broadcaster (RTL?) because I doubt he trawls the pits/paddock looking for airtime.

His fault or the media? Who else in F1 has their father as their mechanic in karts and as their manager in the sport?

José Luis Alonso.

Alonso's dad is there at most of the European races but he is shown on TV very rarely and he hardly ever gives interviews.
He's not Fernando's manager though.

Officialy not his manager, but I have read somewhere he was very much involved in his deal with McLaren.

Look, This was not my intention. I responded to one aspect/reality when I thought of ricardo's very valid question. If you wish go back to the first responses and read each 'negative' comment maybe someone can see why. It was not my intention to paint any one, or all with that brush. The fact that I used to word 'most' WAS incorrect.

That being said I also feel that it is ignorant to try to ignore this aspect too. Ross' response was for me an example of why we can't talk about this correctly. Whether or not stated correctly; to say that anyone who mentions race/bigotry should be banned is laughable. I am also not going to be bullied by anyone [except maybe bira ;)] from discussing what is obvious and logical.

As for this one issue (race/bigotry) I think as65p said it best. I also know that this is not the tread to discuss/debate this as a individual topic, and it was not intended.

There was no race issue in this thread until you brought it up without any reason.

So is this kind of a british thing?




;)

BullS-T, There were/are many underlying comments about ones background and race. The underlying tones of bigotry were/are rife in this thread as in the many others:

I quote from this tread prior to my post:

‘Kubica comes from a totally normal Polish family’

‘Alonso comes from an average Spanish family’

‘…Kimi's family…’

HELLO >>> ‘Hamilton's was covered because of his colour.’

‘even this can be turned into a lewis bash’

‘...there is a reason they sponsored him, maybe because they saw his potential?’ <<< In 'reference' to why he was supported

FROM YOU >> …’It's incredibly difficult to get there from an Eastern European country.’ <<< I guess economic class/nationality doesn't count?

‘…I've already been through the whole reverse discrimination thing…’

Many aspects of how one is 'defined' is mentioned, it even goes beyond just race or country, even if one is a parent or not>>>> “I would have to assume that you are not a parent.”

Now I explained my comment as it may have been mistakenly been related to what you said, and offered you to return to read the tread, which you obviously didn't (or did with tinted lenses). Now you can kiss my Lilly-white-asscot. Good day to you.

Nice Sig.

Yes it is! Though I suspect every country is much the same, i.e. media: we've a star driver, does he have any relatives/associates who are willing to be interviewed and are able to string sentences together.