Brilliant.

Thanks Gareth

Obi

At the risk of dragging this thread back on topic , there's a nice readable piece about the town he comes from in the Times .

But that's a Gorman piece (of sh*t), I'd rather not go there

Don't then

Write felipe instead of Lewis and then re-read your post

As a parent I totally agree - to achieve what Lewis (and ANY other F1 driver) both parents and children all have to be so focussed and committed that to get to this point is a huge achievement for all.

It's both.

And that's the issue why there is so often so much bickering in these discussions. Some people want to see things only from one perspective.

Achievement isn't everything.

Last year there was a sad story. A 21 year old student that throughout his entire school time had perfect scores in every test. That is an amazing achievement. But then he wrote one test, and got in one topic only a 97 instead of a 100. Result? He committed suicide because of it. Achievement showed it's ugliest face.

Also, most racing drivers are very egotistical people. They need to be in order to get to the top. However, there was a time, when being egotistical wasn't appreciated at all in society.

While I can agree that Hamilton's story is impressive, there needs to be the question asked why is it, that he like other extremely competitive people creates such division amongst race fans. To me that's the down side of being so focused and committed to achieve a certain goal. Also as long as Hamilton's career is still in progress there's not enough context yet to evaluate it if he really achieved what he is capable of.

Your post is interesting because alll the other bright new things that have trod (almost) the same path, and no-one has questioned Nelson's approach, Kova's approach, Vettel's approach, etc - there has been thised this incredible amount of words focussed on one driver. From an achievement perspective he equalled a 2xWDC in his first year, at 21years of age. That in itself is a great achievement, and he's proven that it was no flash in the pan by being at the same point this year despite the FIA's best efforts to level the field. I'm sure if he was driving for someone other than Ron that wouldn't have happened.

In fact I reckon a lot of the negativity on this forum and others would be absent if he was driving for Sauber, Williams, or Ferrari and achieving similar results.

I coach kids (well now U20's) sport and despite seeing some incredible competitiveness at the younger age groups (parents and kids) the kids have to be absolutely determined, ferociously determined in fact to even make to State level basketball (in Australia) full stop. What we tend to see mostly is that regardless of the parents best efforts to keep them interested, they eventually lose interest and move onto to studies(!), work, other interests (other sex etc) or simply drop away. Over the last ten years I've seen so many kids with promise, 20 of the 800 odd per year, that have then dropped away when they need to lift their game to progress. I've seen two kids try out for National level teams, but not make it all the way.

Regarding the Anthony Hamilton thing (pushy parent etc) if Lewis hadn't wanted to take this all the way there's no way Anthony could have successfully pushed Lewis into this. This is a partnership, and all drivers have one, eeither through their manager or another mentor. They need it for the mental support, guidance and focus. And also to insulate them from the media and other external influences, both positive and negative.

Having said all the above Schu was incredibly focussed, but took a while to bring the team around him - Lewis hasn't had to do this. In fact I think the moulding of the red team around Schu was Michael's biggest achievement. And it's this area where Lewis will struggle for a while. He's young but hasn't realised how fortunate how lucky he is with the McLaren team environment.

Well few will admit they dislike him or are prejudiced against his success merely because he is perceived to be "different" from themselves. Been on the receiving end of it and have had some come to apologize much later. Some I was surprized at others not. YES, it may "kill" an argument but the inane anti-LH threads and posts "kill" the website.

Hamilton is not perfect - BUT NEITHER THE HELL ARE ANY OF US. Same with his father, mother, etc., etc. WE watch from the sidelines. He, on the other hand, is living OUR dream in one way or another. I try not to criticize unless I'm sure I could do better. A perspective many here need to learn.

Wow that little boy in the video is now a World Champion