The way Hamilton forced Massa and Piquet to drive off the track to avoid contact when he overtook them is nothing less than bully boy tactics. It may help him to become top dog but I doubt if it will win him many friends amongst the other drivers. Most current F1 drivers exhibit good sportsmanship, but not Hamilton.
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Very good race, good to watch and thanks to Glock for a decent crash to watch!
Those moves on Piquet and Massa were commented on at the time as being legit, its called racing I think, they could have yielded if they wished.
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HJ 'But what about The Doctor's win over Casey Stoner at Laguna Seca?'
Sometimes I found it hard to believe what I was watching
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The way Hamilton forced Massa and Piquet to drive off the track to avoid contact when he overtook them is nothing less than bully boy tactics. It may help him to become top dog but I doubt if it will win him many friends amongst the other drivers. Most current F1 drivers exhibit good sportsmanship but not Hamilton.
I recall that Schumacher won one championship, beating Damon Hill, after he pushed Hill off the track. That was intentional but IIRC Schumacher was not punished. Whereas Hamilton was recently punished for stupidity i.e. rear ending another car in the pit lane.
I recall Schumacher being very agressive, to the point where he lost my respect. A top driver, but a cheat.
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I recall that Schumacher won one championship, beating Damon Hill, after he pushed Hill off the track
In that incident, Schumacher deliberately steered in to Hill's side. In the case of Hamilton vs Massa and Piquet, Hamilton stayed absolutely on the racing line and was perfectly within the racing rules. L'escargot has previously posted about Hamilton's driving and I can only surmise that he is amongst a small minority who are biased against Hamilton's style or ability.
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L'escargot has previously posted about Hamilton's driving and I can only surmise that he is amongst a small minority who are biased against Hamilton's style or ability.
I wouldn't say I was biased ~ it's just that when the need arises I form opinions about people!
I totally acknowledge Hamilton's ability, but by comparing his tactics with the gentlemanly behaviour of drivers of past eras (1960s onwards) I can't help but question his ethics on the track. Obviously he'll be popular with team bosses because he gets results ~ that's all they're interested in.
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I am amazed that no one has thought it worth posting in this thread
Could that be because the boy's genius can be praised only so many times? After a while, one runs out of superlatives to describe Lewis's ability.
But what about The Doctor's win over Casey Stoner at Laguna Seca?
Unfortunately, I tuned in just after they had entered parc ferme. But the few replay clips they showed demonstrated that Lewis and Rossi are made of the same stuff when it comes to overtaking. Absolutely brilliant.
The way Hamilton forced Massa and Piquet to drive off the track to avoid contact when he overtook them is nothing less than bully boy tactics.
There is only one polite answer to that comment. Not a single person in the Formula 1 paddock, not even a single Ferrari employee, thinks the way you do. The rumour is Ferrari want to sign Hamilton and may be willing to pay Vodafone Mercedes McLaren a buy-out fee. Lewis has a 5 year contract allegedly worth £75 million with VMM.
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>> I am amazed that no one has thought it worth posting in this thread
When I posted that, I was thinking of the whole F1 & motorsport world, not specifically of Lewis Hamilton.
In other words, for eight days nobody had a single thing to say about the world of mororsport - in total - this is not a complaint; just an observation.
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In other words for eight days nobody had a single thing to say about the world of mororsport - in total - this is not a complaint; just an observation.
Apparently everyone was busy talking about light bulbs.
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The Moto GP was just breathtaking, real heart in the mouth stuff!
Stunning displays of skill, tenacity and courage by the two main protagonists that had me whooping at the tv in a most undignified manner. Laguna Seca looks hairy enough when they are lapping on their own but to see two such out and out racers riding on one another's footpegs was truely awesome. Lap afer lap of give and take, the lead changing hands again and again until Stoner, possibly with a little "assistance" from Rossi, went too deep and paddled into the gravel. Even so he still managed to get back on and finish second!
Kind of puts the much vaunted Mr Hamilton's "exciting" overtakes into perspective.
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When I posted that, I was thinking of the whole F1 & motorsport world ... In other words, for eight days nobody had a single thing to say about the world of mororsport
OK, see what you meant. However, if you go back, you will see many other similar periods of silence. Those who are fans of these sports tend to comment on their specialist forums and blogs. The blog at the newspaper one cannot mention is usualy very active, sometimes with rude and crude comments about the FIA, the teams and individuals.
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In this race Lewis proved he is a good driver and his car was setup the best for the day. Ferrari should never have been in a position where he could catch up to Massa let alone get the chance to pass. And where was Raikonnen?
If there had been no safety car Lewis (assuming no problems or mistakes) was going to romp away with the win. After about 5 laps or so I think he was already 30 seconds ahead of 20th place so would have lapped them early in the race.
As for "rumour is Ferrari want to sign Hamilton and may be willing to pay Vodafone Mercedes McLaren a buy-out fee"... yeh it will be interesting if Hamilton would sell out. Remember Mclaren have backed him financially for about 10 years now and nurtured him through to become an F1 driver. It would be ironic if Ferrari did pay for Hamilton bearing in mind what happened last year - Ferrari giving Mclaren millions of pounds ;-)
One amusing bit of the coverage for me was Brundle's walkabout. Two Italian journalists and the female thought Lewis would win because it was difficult to overtake... but Lewis only won because he did overtake ;-)
And the sad tale of Mika Häkkinen's tortoise.
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It would be ironic if Ferrari did pay for Hamilton bearing in mind what happened last year - Ferrari giving Mclaren millions of pounds ;-)
Ferrari have just recently dropped their action against McLaren and accepted an out-of-court settlement. In effect they would be buying Lewis out with McLaren's money!
One amusing bit of the coverage for
The other week Ron Dennis had a moan about "armchair experts" being critical of McLaren tactics. Well, race after race , all the armchair experts [including Brundle and Allen] can see the McLaren strategy going wrong but Dennis just does not get it.
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>> One amusing bit of the coverage for The other week Ron Dennis had a moan about "armchair experts" being critical of McLaren tactics. Well race after race all the armchair experts [including Brundle and Allen] can see the McLaren strategy going wrong but Dennis just does not get it.
I would say their tactics worked, Lewis did win after all. Who knows what "might" have happened had they got him in during the safety car, he may well not have been able to keep the pace up on softer tyres and so might have lost places - we will never know!
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It looked like both Piquet & Massa made the same mistake - on the straight approaching that hairpin their tactic was to stop LH slip-streaming (both moved left), result being LH out-broke them & forced his way inside & made them go longer on the outside. Not bad sportsmanship in my view - once your wheels are ahead (as LH's were at the corner..) the other driver yields or tries to get past on available track. Both tried driving round him & failed. It's good to see LH driving close to the 'rules' - the last person to do that can now only look on from the Ferrari pit wall.
I thought the commentators were about to give up & get a cup of tea after the 5th consecutive minute of Heidfeld (sp?) doing nothing in particular in 8th or 9th was broadcast. The German coverage managed to miss LH being overtaken after the pits by (can't remember..) - never shown on replay either.
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"Piquet & Massa made the same mistake"
I agree. They went left and LH kept the racing line and got ahead. If there was then any contact it would have been their fault IMO. They should never have moved over. And Massa went off the track big style and will not have done him any favours with the team.... who will be the Ferrari drivers for 2009??
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I fell asleep (uncharacteristically) during the GP2 races. Are they becoming that boring?
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"bully boy"
Er, no. They had the choice of backing-off or a nice wide run-off area
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"Piquet & Massa made the same mistake" I agree. They went left and LH kept the racing line and got ahead.
I agree too. But was anyone else somewhat disappointed? When Hamilton came out of the pits in 3rd, but clearly faster than the two ahead, I was hoping for at least a little bit of "will he/won't he get past" excitement in the closing stages of the race. But no - with both of them he just caught up and they got out of the way.
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Yep a little disappointed. He was racing away before the accident and then it was back to the start when they unlapped themselves. Then when all apart from Hamilton and Heidfeld came in you thought okay race could be interesting. Then he joined "fifth" and you realised it was either a disaster or he'd prove his worth, and I say "fifth" because Heidfeld had to put and team mate would let him pass.
But the thought of him having to catch Massa and pass him... and then he got past so easily. Once ahead of Massa then Piquet was going to be easier.
Well done Lewis but the others were push overs in the end. Or was Lewis and car that could this weekend?
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L'es, have you ever raced a car? I suspect if you had you would not have posted what you said - as others have said the two moves were perfectly legit, and what would be expected at any level of motor racing when a car overtakes another... in your days of gentlemen racers (I assume you mean the 50s and 60s) the top drivers applied exactly the same tactic - in fact Moss and Stewart both rate Hamilton highly, as a true "racer" in fact, if they thought he was a bully boy I'm sure they'd have said so! ;)
It was a good race, and it makes a change to see proper overtaking making a comeback, something F1 has sadly lacked over the past few years... well done Lewis!
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Massa didnt appear to even be trying, he looked ever so slow and no offense to Lewis, but I think Ferrari lacked pace rather than McLaren have moved forwards massively.
Cant see Lewis jumping to Ferrari as he is doing just fine where he is and Im sure the money is well worth his while.
Kimi was nowhere and he really does need to find out why he was out to sea. The next race will be very interesting.
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What about Jenson coming in 17th and last, he really does need another drive next year doesn`t he? Is he free to leave at the end of this year?
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Yes, its a real shame with Jenson, his loyalty has cost him a great deal - No2 to Hamilton? (only joking, though it would be an interesting pairing!)...
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Im not a Lewis Hamilton fan, but can't say he did anything wrong. He stuck his car there and then Massa had a choice, he gets through or we both go off. Michael Schumacher did this with Damon Hill and I don't believe that was cheating either. The Shuey move on Villeneuve however is undefendable.
As for Lewis leaving McLaren, I get the impression F1 is getting like football, no loyalty. The Hamiltons approached BMW a few years back when Ron suggested Lewis should remain another year in the formula he was in, which hardly shows gratitude to the bankrolling they had provided him
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Both the Hamilton overtakes in the last few laps were perfectly legitimate racing overtakes. You may think Massa and Piquet rather boringly didn't resist, but what were they supposed to do? Hamilton didn't run into them, and they quite rightly returned the compliment by not running into him.
The stewards might want a word if you took off the race leader in a car a second a lap quicker than yours on a last-stint charge for the win. And why would you want to anyway?
In the days when a lot of racing drivers had private means things were no different. The Bentley boys were 'gentlemen', or rich anyway, and some of them weren't averse to punting the adversary into the weeds.
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