He tried to win the race in China when he just needed to bring the car to the finish and get a top three finish. He also got into a pointless battle on track with Raikkonen when his tyres were basically worn out. That was pure racer's ego.
In Brazil he tried an impossible overtaking move on Alonso when he just needed to stay behind in fourth.
When he was under real pressure in Japan he responded with a great qualifying lap and the best race of his career. If ever there was a time to bottle it, it was Japan. But Alonso is the one who bottled it in Japan, not Hamilton.
Alonso also bottled it in Brazil. If his qualifying lap had been better who knows what he could have achieved in the race. Funny how no-one talks about Alonso's rubbish performance in Brazil
Hamilton just needs to work on his racing intelligence but I'm sure that will come with experience. Alonso is the one who needs to work on his ability to handle pressure.
2007-12-20 03:21:26 · 23 answers · asked by Anonymous in Sports ➔ Auto Racing ➔ Formula One
I agree!
Merry Christmas
I.M.P
2007-12-22 22:10:00 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think that he's a very good driver for someone who's just had his F1 debut, but he does make mistakes that are avoidable.
There are people who say that it's good he went for the win instead of settling for anything less than that. I agree, but if he was smart and took everything into consideration, he could've won the title earlier. He didn't have to battle with Kimi because Alonso was his main rival at that time and because he did, that costed him greatly.
Lewis is still new, and so it's not hard to see why he makes such mistakes that some more experienced drivers wouldn't. Hopefully he learnt his lesson and comes back stronger next year. Winning the title will definitely be really tough.
2007-12-21 04:19:33 · answer #2 · answered by , 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hahaha. 2008 is an election year in America. Perhaps some of the campaigns need a spin master. I've been watching F1 for a long, long time. When a driver has a 12 pt. and 17 pt. lead with two races to go and loses, he's a choker in my book. No amount of spin will change that.
You might not want to call him a choker, but the statistical fact is that he had a 17 pt. lead over Raikkonen with 20 pts. to play for and lost!
2007-12-22 22:58:50 · answer #3 · answered by Three Putt 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hamilton is just experiencing his first year in F1 and has received so much press coverage about how great he is. The British papers are especially pinning lots of hopes on him. It can be really overwhelming and I think the pressure got to him. That was why he was making mistakes that cost him the title towards the end of the season. This year will have given him more experience and in future, he will be able to deal with the pressure better.
As for Alonso, people don't really pay attention to his mistakes as the focus was then on his teammate.
2007-12-21 22:24:41 · answer #4 · answered by purpleCat 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's funny you saying that Hamilton needs to learn to sit back and be patient just before you criticise Alonso for doing exactly that in Brazil...I don't disagree with the assessment of Hamilton, but you need to judge both drivers by the same criteria rather than pursuing an agenda against one of them.
As Alonso said in his Brazil post-race interview, he couldn't keep up with the Ferraris so he just had to make sure of 3rd place and hope that one or both of the Ferraris had some unforeseen problems that he could profit from. He did just what you would have wanted Hamilton to do in the same situation...
2007-12-20 13:44:13 · answer #5 · answered by piggingheck 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Hamilton didnt choke, he just had no experience in winning a championship of that magnitude, Raikkonen on the other hand has been at the pointy-end of the championship for a while now.
Now that Hamilton has seen and felt what its like under extreme pressure he will cope better next year and will win the championship with ease.
2007-12-20 22:39:00 · answer #6 · answered by michaelvt147 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Hamiltons day will come soon enough...it was a combination of racers ego and inexperience that cost him the championship. For me I think the attempted pass on Alonso in the last race was his weakest moment - too impatient.
Edit: Alonso seemed to have no fire in the last race, a ho-hum performance, unlike Kimi who fought for what he wanted.
2007-12-20 13:48:58 · answer #7 · answered by Dawg 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
as a wise, experienced old man once said:
"All gp drivers are full of themselves. You have to have an un-realistic confidence in your own abilities to be able to drive that fast."
When you have that unrealistic view on things, you can sometimes push it too far, hamilton is just inexperienced at the moment and needs to learn his boundries.
He will only get better as his career goes on, This stuff happens.
Also, this "team" buisiness is a little miss-leading. Of course all the teams would like to think they're drivers are driving for each other, but to be frank.. not one of them is. they are all out there for themselves, this isnt a team sport. "once the flag drops, the b*llsh*t stops."
If a driver thinks he has a chance of winning, or bettering his postition, it doesnt matter what colour the car in front of him is painted, he is going to take that opportunity.
2007-12-21 04:21:02 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
As most people know, I'm not a Hamilton fan and yes he should have done all these things but you have to understand that to be a race driver, you have to want to beat the man in front of you!
Second is still the first loser to these people.
2007-12-21 08:54:06 · answer #9 · answered by Robb the B.D.C. 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
He's a racer, wanting to win races. When he gets a bit older then maybe he will play the point scoring game, but at the moments he's young and full of enthusiasm. He treats every race as a race, not an exercise in coming 4th or whatever to win the championship. I think it is quite refreshing and I hope a lot more of the younger drivers have the same mentality. It would be really good to see them all going for the win instead of playing safe.
2007-12-20 12:04:25 · answer #10 · answered by val f1 nutter 7 · 3⤊ 4⤋
He's young. He wants to push it and he;s a risk taker. If her didn't take those risks everyone'd be moaning that he was a no-hoper.
You;re right her just needs to work out when to hold back a little. But he handles pressure just fine
2007-12-20 17:02:14 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋