In the MP4-24?

Do you think the MP4-24 could have done much better this past GP? McLaren didn't think so after their 4th in Bahrain.

Lewis isn't a car breaker like those who fail to Finnish.

Classy.

Q and A with Lewis

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/75273


Lewis has consistently finished in front of faster cars, higher than he started... so whatever your opinions of him are personally, any proper F1 fan gotta admit he's been driving sht of that car every race so far.


I think it would make him an even better driver... one that will snatch race wins whenever he gets a whiff in future

People dont remember the guy who goes from 16th to 10th each race.

Sadly he didn't overtake anyone at Monza.

That told Mclaren and others a great deal.

Meanwhile in Portofino, Italy ...

http://www.vecernji.hr/showbiz/trac/329163....do?fotoIndex=0

Somebody tell that autograph hunter that Invicta rucksacks are very last century.

Is that Tina Turner's mum?

Whatever Heikki may have done that day, at least endangering the lives of his fellow competitors wasn't part of it..

Probably because when Heikki finishes lapped 9th (I assume 15th was a typo, as Hamilton finished 9th iirc) Lewis is usually well in the points and considerably quicker. So Heikki's lapped 9th is demonstrably not the best that could be acheived with the car he has.

Come back with you whine when Hamilton finishes lapped 9th, Heikki fights for a podium and Hamilton gets the plaudits.

Nurburgring 07 wheel nut
Brazil 07 gearbox

Ah, I see I messed up my post, the source I was after was the Heikki=most overtaking 2008. Not that it matters, no-one is trying to put him down. Everyone likes him and in fact Mac fans are desperately willing him on!

Re the 8 yes OK, Kovy and Kimi broke down, 6 had the collisions that Hammy avoided.

Has anyone found that funny yet?

Nope.

That's not true, Lewis still has many fans.

Nurburgring 07 wheel nut - in practice!

Brazil 07 gearbox - self-healing, does that count?

And aren't you glad that Slategray is banned?

It was in Q3 actually and if it wasn't for the incompetent BMW's he still would've made the podium that race

Yes when DC and Webber did it regularly it was like Meh! so what.

WELCOME TO MY WORLD

Yeah, and if it wasn't for the friendly crane driver he could have enjoyed Alonso victory sitting warm and dry in the McLaren motorhome. All those "if's"...

10th on the grid and a big shake-up for the wheel nut, and yes 40 seconds and the whole 2007 wdc for the gearbox does count .

I expect Slate is a big fan by now

Here's a good if...

If Hammy hadn't made that bad call to switch to dries in Nurburgring, on his own initiative, maybe he'd have been allowed to make his own call in Shanghai..........

lol, she is hot... thought she was taller than Lewis though

Yeah, interesting "if"

Just read the Online column on the front page. I can't help but feel that Lewis should just speak his mind on everything, PR people be damned!

Good read - they were his best friends when things were going well

http://www.autosport.com/features/article.php/id/2165

It always takes two to tango - then as now.

Interesting read, I didn't realize it's that bad with him and the british press, although even in the german commentary they made some remarks how Hamilton's behaviour in interviews has changed.

Anyway, to sustain that current attitude would require an incredibly strong head.

I rather suspect a "kiss-and-make-up" of sorts in the near future. Maybe his manager could give him some advice?

Impossible. They'd never be able to speak their mind, because the press would just quote mine and spin their own soap opera from what ever is said that isn't rehearsed and corporate.

It's like the difference between the first series of Big Brother, and those afterward. In the first series, the participants didn't know how big the show was, or just how much they were being filmed, so acted themselves and it was an interesting watch.
Every group of participants since then know exactly what to avoid saying/doing, and what to say/do, and are now nothing more than attention seekers.

I think the same applies to the early drivers. I don't think they quite knew how much hassle it could be, and subsequent generations of drivers have learned to just not bother opening up to the press. This is probably why they are now obligated to speak to the vermin.

It's a shame for instance, we'll never see the Hamilton that Brundle has a laugh and joke with.

Good article, funny when it revealed the quote was from Jim Clark.

Funnily enough I feel Hamilton is driving better than ever at the moment, very mature driving but still full-on commitment. It's probably good advice from Cooper, but I can understand his fury: it appears he was prejudged a liar when in fact his greatest crime might have been failing to contradict his manager. Still less than saintly, but not quite living up to the speculation in the press of Hamilton, with or without Ryan, plotting to deceive the stewards. Now the hyenas want more "Lewis time", ugh!

I thought about starting a thread on that column though i guess it'd get shunted here so i won't. To me it comes accross as a journo annoyed because he's not getting his copy anymore. Its not new, one of them released a book in 2007 and became decidedly cold on hamilton because he wouldn't work with him on it, to be honest i think thats just tough! he can't do everything that everybody wants him to.

Hamilton is a very good driver and does the job in the car so in his position i'd probably do the same thing he is, if he were lower down the pecking order he probably wouldn't get away with it. I'm sure people will say "oh, but he's got a responsibility to represent the brands etc" well they get enough exposure with him anyway, he is one of the superstars now as much as some people don't like it. How much does fleet street get out of Kimi? how much have they ever got out of him? hasn't hurt his career

Yep, in some ways I think lewis is learing the same lessons that Schumacher did years ago. MS went from being the ever smiling super talkented young guy to the reserved professional who never gives anything away to the press pretty quick. I think its inevitable that Lewis changes, given the circumstances,he can't help this. He's driving beautifully atm, btw (imo of course).

McLaren should get rid of Bishop, nothing but bad press since he joined.

And he can't put a spin around on bad press.

Bad example

Kimi IS like that. Always, regardless if he's just become WDC or hasn't won a race since ages.

Lewis, OTOH... all sing, dance and smile, look-at-my-superstar-chick if things are running fine, but now playing elusive in troubled times. Of his own making, least we forget!

I can just about see how that doesn't go down too well with the press.

??? Christ.

If anything it's LOOK-AT-HIS-SUPERSTAR-CHICK as he's followed around the globe.

Secondly, he started turning a cold shoulder to the press in 2008 before he won the title.

What i would love is to see Lewis continue driving the way he is and every time press asks him anything just say "no comment" That would be the best thing for me.

For once I agree with you.

I didn't notice, and it doesn't sound like that from the article. Surely you've followed it more closely.

Don't get too excited though, you're supposed to be Mr. objectivity, arent you?

That would be best for all of us.

"Superstar chick"? Geez, you kidz...

She is a mediocre middle-aged singer who will be forgotten as soon as she can no longer fill-in the wrinkles. Don't assume the rest of us have been sucked into the celebrity bullshit whirlwind that you seem to have.

"Don't believe the hype" as somebody once said.

If following it more closely is having a memory that stretches all the way back to 2008 then I guess I do. Here, have a patronizing wink

And since when has he paraded around his girlfriend. The press and media have done that of their own accord to satisfy "Big Brother Paddock" fans. That this in some way bothers you isn't his fault or problem.

And what does objectivity got to do with excitement?

Does it annoy you that you can't just post bullshit without people responding to it?

You quoted the wrong post. I didn't introduce the 'superstar chick' label.

TRY AGAIN

Why not try your Tina Turners mum line again.

I bet Hamiltons pet dog is ugly too, and his best friends are probably all shit.


Seems as you think it's OK critiquing outside the bounds of the guy as a driver, and outside the bounds of the guy as a person, but to also pass comment on his girlfriend; may I ask you what you're ****ing these days? Anything nice? Got any pictures?

Well, basically what Alonso said to him, to keep driving at his best and try to win as many races, all the bs will go away.


And yeah, make sure you take the press out for a nice meal at the end of the season.

Bollocks to the press.

The best approach I think would be a hybrid of Kimi and Button.

Kimi for dealing with the press, and Button for 'cutting out the middle man', and communicating directly to fans with pod-casts and video diaries and things.

No I just find it interesting who does, sometimes. Don't let that stop you, by any means.

BTW the chick reference is just a side issue. My point was... well, read the post again when you've calmed down a bit.

I am calm. Do you think everyone who disagrees with you is angry?

Depends on the style he's talking, use of caps, swearing and stuff.

If you're calm, fine. Let's discuss my point that Hamilton's media relations aren't comparable to Räikönnens because the latter never had any love affairs with the media in the first place.

Interested?

Not interested in that discussion.

My problem was with how you put it across, and I think it's misleading to suggest he's only recently become shady towards the press. It happened on the build up to China 2008 too. Before the highlight of his career when he became the world champion.

In my opinion his mistake was giving the press the time of day to begin with. Not losing interest with them of late.

Thats very nice, but the point is Hamilton is obviously not interested in doing the media bit as he used to, so he isn't, and i don't see that it's going to do him much harm as it hasn't raikkonen.

Whatever happened in the past is in the past, its up to him what he does after all and this is what he's choosing to do, the media don't like it just as they don't like the way kimi is difficult to work with but they don't have much choice do they?

The comparison is valid because a few years ago (not so much today) any team would have signed kimi regardless of his media rep, because of his ability in the car. At the present time Hamilton is in that category of driver, for all the forum boo boys dislike him in the paddock the people that do the hiring and firing would be happy to take him on

Hm.



I didn't invent it, I took the timing line from the J. Noble article. And, sorry to say, it sounds plausible to me that the media relations turned sour during and because of liegate.

But your real issue is with Mr. Noble, it seems.

No, my problem was you making out as if he was the one pushing the hype, and raving about his girlfriend. My disagreement with you was nothing to do with the timelines.
I disagree with Mr Noble on the timelines, and you on your perception of what the press relationship was before, and I explained why.

I could see this coming a mile off from when he stopped being so enthusiastic about wins.