Formula One ( F1 )

I agree to a certain extent but I don't think he's capable of demonstrating any level of maturity. It's in his nature to be hot-headed, in a similar way to Kimi but not. In a shoot out between them both I'd ALWAYS see Kimi winning. He's more exciting to watch and much funnier when interviewed.

As for Lewis' accent...

And that stroppy Girls Aloud singer of a girlfriend!

And her Heather Locklear ageing process...

Really? In a Formula 1 thread, people are truly interested in how a driver pronounces words, and who he sleeps with? Really?

My accent has changed many times in my life, and even as a adult, because I moved around alot ........that wasn't a crime was it? And, successful people always have people of questionable value attached to them........often from the pelvis.

Of course they are. In case you hadn't noticed, Formula 1 is no longer just about the drivers. It's a lifestyle. All the press shite they contractually involve themselves in means that clear communication is essential. Lewis' accent makes him sound like a nouveau-riche pikey.

I don't give a toss if he hangs out the back of chaps (or has chaps hanging out the back of him) on his weekends off, but the cameras seem to think that we give a shit that his simpering, botox-filled, casting couch gracing, hound of a partner is worthy of our screens when McClaren make a balls-up of (yet) another pit-stop or when a decision goes against him.

Besides, no-one will ever make a docu-film about him like they did his hero.

Lewis Hamilton made the mistake (IMO) of dropping his father as his manger and going with a big American agency who want him to establish "brand lewis" to maximise his their earning potential through promoting a glamorous lifestyle etc. making him fair game. Yes drivers have always been surrounded by glamour but until recently this has been a perk, not a means to making more money.

Isn't he with the same firm as Brand Beckham?

Yep and brand philanderer woods as well.

Interesting.

Brand Beckham has worked well for D&V. Their carefully, almost non-publicized philanthropy and heavy investment into the NSPCC as well as him making good on promises to hospitals etc make them a rather attractive pairing. After all, he's a talented bloke from Loughton and she's a relatively normal girl too.

A former colleague of mine (whose father was a big noise at McLaren) said that of the two drivers they have currently, the one who creates most hassle and ALWAYS asks WIIFM is Lewis.

Sounds like a proper little tosser to me.

After all, he's a talented bloke from Loughton and she's a relatively normal girl too.

Excuse me? Normal? Are you running a fever?

A former colleague of mine (whose father was a big noise at McLaren) said that of the two drivers they have currently, the one who creates most hassle and ALWAYS asks WIIFM is Lewis.

Sounds like a proper little tosser to me.

So they essentially paid for him to gain the necessary experience to gain his FIA Superlicence, as well as forking out for him to go to a good public school (neither of which his family would have been able to afford), and gave him his break in F1 at an age that most teams thought was stupidly young. Yet he continues to bite the hand that feeds and openly criticises his team sounds like they would be well rid of him.

She's a nice girl.

Lewis is a dick.

End of.

Anyway back to proper F1, interesting article on the BBC website by Gary Anderson providing figures to show that Red Bull and Ferrari should have finished above the tanty-meister had they looked at the data available to them and got their strategy sorted.

I really like the insight that he provides as to the inner workings of the teams and the cars, and think that he is much better than Ted Kravitz.

The only good thing about Ted Kravitz is tha he's not related to his namesake and "wannabe Jimi" Lenny.

.....ALWAYS asks WIIFM is Lewis.

Sounds like a proper little tosser to me.

Time is money.

Anyone, but anyone, that knows that value, lives in the real world. All else are naive.

If I were a millionaire racing driver, I would know that people make money out of my time.....and though it may seem mercenary, it is entirely fair in a business sense, to seek payment of some kind for non-racing time. That time, could easily be spent doing things that are of interest personally, than are of benefit to others.

Actors and actresses don't go to film openings for free. There must be something in it for them.

Actors and Actresses certainly don't attend film openings for free - its part of their contract. These press junkets are included in nearly all contracts that people in the public eye sign. However, there aren't many reports of Lewis doing anything other than what he's contracted to do, unlike say David and Victoria Beckham, Brangelina or Madonna etc.

Maybe he's just one of these "silent philanthropists", but I doubt it.

If I paid to see a movie I would be mightily pissed of if it cut to the leading actor's celebrity significant other to show their reaction at how well/badly they thought their other half's performance was going.

I pay, in the form of my licence fee and Sky subscription, to watch F1 on the telly I have no wish whatsoever to see that stroppy boot when the race is on, call me old fashioned but when the race is on I want to see what is going on on the track.

So, Lewis' bint should act more like Jessica Michibata? Not say anything, ever, and just look quiet? Well............maybe I could agree with that, except that Nicole (I'm truly not a fan by the way), has actually been a star in her own right, long before she met Lewis. So she is accustomed to people wanting to hear what she has to say. Jessica.........no.

Its the race camera director that switches views. so blame him. I equally don't particularly want to see Lewis' brother, when they pan to him, as he has nothing to do with the race. I won't be whinging about that though.

Absolutely it is the directors fault, but they cut to her more often than anyone else because of her celebrity status. IMO the families of drivers should not feature in race coverage doesn't matter who they are celebrity or not.

I'm venting about Nicole whatsherface because I find Lewis Hamilton's attitude fairly off-putting and the more I am exposed to it, and that of his entourage of hangers on, on coverage of F1 the more I find myself wanting his career to spontaneously implode in a dramatic and humiliating fashion as he is ruining a sport that I love, that has given me immense enjoyment over the years.

The man has little or no charisma.
Is clearly not as good as he beleives.
Will blame anyone else (even accusing the governing body of racism) to try and shift the blame from himself.
Was a genuinely exciting prospect until he crawled up his own arse.

Absolutely it is the directors fault, but they cut to her more often than anyone else because of her celebrity status. IMO the families of drivers should not feature in race coverage doesn't matter who they are celebrity or not.

I'm venting about Nicole whatsherface because I find Lewis Hamilton's attitude fairly off-putting and the more I am exposed to it, and that of his entourage of hangers on, on coverage of F1 the more I find myself wanting his career to spontaneously implode in a dramatic and humiliating fashion as he is ruining a sport that I love, that has given me immense enjoyment over the years.

The man has little or no charisma.
Is clearly not as good as he beleives.
Will blame anyone else (even accusing the governing body of racism) to try and shift the blame from himself.
Was a genuinely exciting prospect until he crawled up his own arse.

You're in such a tiny minority there, you probably wouldn't even believe it. Lewis Hamilton is widely considered the fastest driver by everyone.....not just his peers, but commentators and former drivers. Alonso is currently considered the best......even Lewis agrees with that...as do I.

Ferrari urges cost-cutting. That is so funny, because when it was proposed before, they were the biggest opponents. Now that Spain and Italy are heading down the economic tubes, suddenly, they realise that they are extremely vulnerable. That is so rich.....and so ironic.

I miss Epifania on this thread. :-(

To the best of my knowledge, Alonso and Hamilton have both said publicly that they regard each other as their biggest threat. This is a long way from saying that Hamilton is the fastest and that Alonso is the best.

The margins are so fine, and variables so great, in formula one that if you put the top 10 drivers in identical cars with identical set ups they would probably complete 10 laps of a circuit within a half second of each other (if that). If you then went and changed the set up of the cars the spread of times would be the same but the order in which they finished would be different.

Part of being a great driver is being able to work with your mechanics to set up the car for you and the circuit, by the end of last season there were rumours coming out of McLaren that Button could work better with the mechanics than Hamilton, nothing really that special in that, until you consider that the team had been built around Hamilton to the point that Alonso had been kicked out of it after one season because he refused to accept it and had a ma-hooooosive barney with Ron Dennis over it. The fact that there were rumours to that effect coming out of a set-up that is as professional and successful as McLaren means that people were really pissed off, the guy obviously is not a team player, presumably due to his tendency to throw his toys out of his pram and blame other people when things do not go his way, and F1 is a team sport, the days of 1 driver going out and competing with his peers went out the window about fifty years ago. So unless he can sort this shit out he will never be the driver that he believes himself to be or is even capable of.

Lewis Hamilton is a world class sportsman, in order to get to the point where this can be said he needs to think in a certain way; he needs to believe that he has no equals. I have met a number of world class sportsmen over the years, no F1 drivers but many rugby players and athletics stars, and they all shared one thing, a level of self belief that I cannot even begin to describe to you, in other ways they were all very different; some arrogant, some not etc. The simple fact of the matter is that unless you have a truly unshakable belief that you are the best in the world at what you do you will never be the best in the world. As soon as someone starts to doubt this and think that they can be beaten their career is over, end of.

Therefore I stand by my statement that Lewis Hamilton is not as good as he believes he is.

And you are simply wrong.

Care to elaborate?