I know, I know. Just testing, but he repeated his morning performance.

http://www.gp2series.com/en/website/gp2ser...news=tcm:2-6641

Not bad for a first time out.

And ART could be a very efficient team too. Lapierre is no slouch is he I would expect him to be well faster than Hamilton at this point. Good for Lewis though.

That's appaulingly good - for a first time out - to my knowledge he's never turned a GP2 wheel... Miraculous.

Looks great.

Finally a driver that the British press can justly hype.
If he was managed by Flavio it would be plastered all over every newpapers headlines .

Another rung up the ladder.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/49134

I just cant shake this feeling he's having it all a bit too easy. Where are the obstacles that force one to improve to overcome them? If I had Lewis Hamilton's situation I swear I could go a second a lap faster just from having a clearer and more relaxed mind.

hmmmm..

I guess he has good handlers. Seriously though Ross, I think I asked you before, but do you think he is the real deal. I just remember seeing him in a kart 8-10 years ago and hearing his Dad was from the West Indies. So I followed him.

F1 fans (small grouping) here are watching him keenly.

I really cant say. He hasnt had anything other than top class equipment. We havent had years were we've seen him putting a 5th place car on pole. Its the same question I held over Piquet and Rosberg for many years. "if other drivers, with the same opportunities..."

Will Premat give him a run for his money? He was in the series last year, won 2 and was on the podium a lot?

Not really, no - Premat is a nice guy and a reasonable driver, but he lacks the killer instinct needed to succeed in the upper levels - Premat has done well in the nursery of A1, but deferred to Rosberg last year in GP2 (no shame there) as well as giving way to the likes of Piquet, Viso and Jani.

Hamilton's competition is going to come from the Piquets and the Carrolls of the world, not from Premat.

Or maybe he is making it LOOK easy? He has beaten a lot of drivers to get thsi far. Presumably none of them were pulling over and waving him through just to make it easier for him?

Dominating F. Renault got Kimi straight into F1.
Dominating F3 got a lot of guys straight into F1.

Strikes me that some people have had it a LOT easier than Hamilton, who is having to climb right the way up the full junior formula ladder. Yes, he has had it easier than some but not a s easy as others - like the ones with the right name, for instance!

He's always had the top team though, plenty of funding, and if stories are to be believed (and they match the Heidfeld era) assistance technically from the F1 team. And has he ever had a proper teammate? Premat will be his first teammate of note, and even he's accepted as being a solid 'Class B' driver.

Thats my impression too, mean guys like Schumacher, Räikkönen and Häkkinen were not pampered by a top notch F1 team through the junior classes, unlike I am under the impression Lewis Hamilton was like Heidfeld before him.

Heidfeld did the job 'on his own' in Fords and his first year of F3, then Merc/West/McLaren decided to get behind him, though giving him his own F3000 team out of McLaren was a bit much.

I have also been following him since karts. And do believe he has the talent. With out doubt he has as much as Rosberg. They were teammates when they were racing for Keke's team in Formula A (team mbm) and Lewis soundly beat him on a number of occasions. Even if he has had a lot of assistance, he has still had to go out there and put it on Pole routinely, and win races routinely.

To be honest I think it is good to see a driver with talent go through every proper rung of the motor racing ladder. When he gets to the top we know as 'joe public' that he will be ready, unlike say Felipe Massa, who raced in insignificant classes and has somehow ended up in the number 2 Ferrari!!!

As long as Ron doesn't screw him over then he should eventually find himself in a Mclaren and winning plenty of races. and Good luck to him I say.

John

What about first season in EF3 for Manor? That was not a top car. What about putting it on pole in Korea?

Top team or not..He still did a good job it....that's what matters.

Guess we wont talk about him any more then...

I've been following Lewis' career since, in a display of supurb skill, he carved his way through the field and won the Fallopian 500 back in '84. Man that was a sweet victory, one that paved the way for everything we've seen so far. It's where it all began, you know.

Nobody said you should stop discussing about him...Just trying to put things into perspective here.

Which is exactly what I was trying to do

If he jumps into F1 in 2007 or 2008, he will have Alonso, and this will be not easy at all, except having a full back up from Ron.

I dont know, maybe Gary Paffet just pulled a fast one and maybe in line to partner Alonso.

This seems like a good time for new hot shoes. There has not been this much shuffling amongst the top team drives in ages. In the second half of nineties from 96-01 only one of the most coveted seats changed hands now it seems there may still be 3 of those up for grabs for 2007, with only Alonso dead certain.

I read somewhere that Ron wants Hamilton to be youngest ever WDC, so that means that he has to be in 2008 at McLaren. Alonso won with 24 years old. If Ron has any chance to put him there over Puffet, he'll do it.

Exactly same promise he did to Kimi to attract him from Sauber.

He's also stated a number of times that Hamilton will not start his Formula One career with McLaren.

how old is this guy? Or did you mean 94 instead of 84?

If he won the Durex Fallopian 500 in 94 he would only be 12

hmm ok i think im getting it now, damn that weird sense of humor you guys have.

I was wondering the same bearing in mind that the guy was born in 1985.

Well Wheel Nut is right cos Lewis was still in his mum's tummy(Fallopian tube) in 1984.

Competition History


1995 Cadet Class; British Champion; STP Champion

1996 Cadet Class; Champions of the Future series Champion;
Sky TV KartMasters Champion; Five Nations Champion

1997 Junior Yamaha; Champions of the Future series Champion; Super One series Champion

1998 Junior Intercontinental A; Second in McLaren Mercedes Champions of the Future; Fourth at the Italian Open Championship.
It is announced that Lewis will be supported by McLaren and Mercedes-Benz

1999 Intercontinental A & Junior Intercontinental A; Italian "Industrials" Champion – ICA; Vice European Champion – JICA;
Trophy de Pomposa winner – JICA; 4th Italian Open Championship - JICA

2000 Formula A; European Champion; Winner of all four rounds; World Cup Champion; World Number One. Winner of Masters at Bercy.
BRDC ‘Rising Star’ Member. Winner at the Second round of the Italian Open

2001 British Formula Renault Winter Series; fifth overall

2002 British Formula Renault; Manor Motorsport; third overall; three victories; three fastest laps; three pole positions.
Formula Renault EuroCup Championship; competed in four out of nine rounds; fifth overall; one victory; three podium positions

2003 British Formula Renault Champion; Manor Motorsport

2004 F3 Euroseries. 1st and 3rd at Norisring, 3rd at Nurburgring, Winner Bahrain F3 Superprix

2005 F3 Euroseries. Champion; ASM F3, Dallara-Mercedes

http://www.mclaren.com/frames/1138040179.htm

A Wheel Nut was a bad influence on me

Looking forward to this weekend to get GP2 kicked off. Hamilton has looked good in testing so far particularly the last 2 days. I just hope he is not pushing too hard and is pacing himself.

Hopefully Speed is going to show the races on Sunday.

Hi Johnny:
SPEED Channel doesn't show the Valencia race till Fri 4/21

bummer huh....
Jp

Well, 3 weekends down and he hasn't done too badly. Silly mistake in Imola, but really stepped up this weekend in Germany. It was really quite crushing, beating Premat after getting drive through penalty.

The F1 pitwalls must be taking note.

I hate to think you might have watched that race.

There is a bit of talk about him at McLaren next year. Maybe Ron has looked on at Nico's performance and figured maybe the closeness of the two formulas will prepare Lewis for a seat. It would be cheaper than keeping JPM or Kimi, but Lewis would have a learning curve.

From Mclaren aim to keep pressure of Hamilton

I saw that, but bear in mind the context is in relation to whether Lewis will get a race seat at McLaren. This is a very different tune from some months ago when Ron said that LH would not start his career with them.

JPM is going to look for another drive, and Kimi cannot be happy. If Ferrari is really back and Bridgestone will be the tyre next year, he will most likely go to Ferrari. Who is Ron going to get? he will definitely give LH a test against say a Paffett, but I believe he will be considered for 2007 if he continues to win in GP2.

Turun Sanomat says that Hamilton was 3 days in Finland doing physical and reaction tests. All results were top class.

I enjoy that they want him to concentrate on winning the GP2 crown...

I doubt that will take much concentration, at all.

Going a race weekend with out falling foul of the stewards unfortunately.

But he's a prince; it's truly brilliant to see someone with the pace to crush the field, in spite of his justifiable rookie errors. Winner.

Far be it for me to take anything away from Lewis' performance on the weekend, which was astounding, but it does need to be pointed out that this was one of the few tracks he's raced on previously, which may have contributed substantially to his performance (which was one of the reasons Nico was lucky his debut was in Bahrain, for example).

The other point to consider is that the teams have been better or worse at specific tracks so far - ART was clearly dialed in at the Nurburgring, whereas Piquet Sports struggled with their tyres, and iSports more generally there - one race earlier those two teams were untouchable at Imola, and ART had no answer for them.

There's a very, very fine line between success and failure in GP2 these days - as Negrao pointed out last year finding half a second would only put him up one or two spots on the grid, whereas this year it could push him up from 18th to 4th - and it seems that the teams who find the perfect car on any given track will have a big advantage. There's no guarantee anymore that ART will dominate the rest of the field, as most of the other teams understand their cars just as well now.

I hear you Jackman, but Premat was there last year and was a top runner. Lewis made him seem ordinary.

I think ART will not be as strong at some tracks, but their professionalism will allow them to take more wins throughout the season. Whether it will be enough to win the championship, time will tell.

A fair point, although of course most of the other drivers had experience there as well.

He has definitely raced at Silverstone, Monaco and Hockenheim before. Has he tested for McLaren at Barcelona? Not sure if he raced at Magny Cours or Monza during his F Renualt Eurocup campaign? If he did, then he has most of the remaining tracks under his belt.

True enough, F1Johnny - ART are always going to be one of the top teams, but nowadays Piquet Sports, ART, iSport, Arden, Racing Engineering, Super Nova and Dams are probably able to fight for a proper Saturday win, and perhaps some of the others with the reverse grid Sunday race, which means the points spread will be very wide.

I think it's really going to come down to weekend by weekend, race by race results for the title this year, and I don't think it's going to be a two man shootout this time. Lewis will definitely be up there, but just as I was glad to see Nico do very well in his F1 debut, the saying one swallow doesn't make a summer seems to apply to GP2 as well.

Some prophetic predictions there and some not-so prophetic predictions since the beginning of the thread ;) Am glad however that Lewis is doing well, no wins at Barcelona but confirmation that his pace last race was not a fluke and it should be a big battle between him and Piquet with a French guy (Premat) hovering in the background to pounce if Piquet and Hamilton slip up- anybody else reminded of the 1986 F1 season? Hope it doesn't end like that season ;)