So what? The damage was minimal. It was no big deal. This is what happens when you have close racing. We've seen far worse from other drivers in terms of contact and damage and for it to pass without comment. Alonso & Massa 2008? Kubica & Massa 2008?

You have to take risks on a narrow track when you need to make up positions. You could say that the damage was so minimal because of Hamilton's skill.


Equally, you could ay that Sutil had to take avoiding action because he thought he could strong-arm Hamilton into not passing and saw at the last minute that it wasn't going to work. Too much of an attack or overly aggressive defending?


I will stick my hand up here and say that you are completely 100% correct. I misread what you had written. Probably on purpose. So with that said, I'm very very sorry for being a prat.


I really don't see a problem with his attitude at all. Honestly, I don't. Just as I don't see an issue with Vettel, Alonso, Kimi et al. They are competitive people. I expect them to not be 100% sane all the time and to have flaws. Just like normal people. I do wish he'd shut up a little when talking to the press is all.

Maybe it's because I'm pretty hot headed and so I have a wealth of character flaws. So when I see somebody like Hamilton, I just recon that it's "par for the course" when he's honest, speaks his mind or goes into what others see as a bit of a mood.

Must say, this it the thing that stops me really warming to Jenson Button.

It always seems like he's trying awfully hard to be the "nice bloke" when, as his actions in 2010 Turkish race demonstrated, he's certainly not averse to being slippery if the opportunity arises.

He strikes me as the sort of bloke who'd do his best to backstab a team-mate and then be full of smiles and banter to the other guy's face and, of all the different personalities around, that's the sort of person who I have the least time for.


That's the way I see it too.
I find that part of the reason why I like Hamilton is because he puts enough of himself out there that you feel like you can actually relate to him, even if he's being a bit of a cock at the time.

I can respect drivers like Alonso and, erm... some others for their skill but very few drivers seem to say anything which offers enough of an insight into them, as a person, for me to ever really get behind them.

I remember, back in the 1970's, the drivers all used to give very unguarded interviews where they'd moan about stuff, criticise each other and complain about perceived injustices.
Then, towards the end of the 1980's, drivers started getting more "professional" and they'd spend their interviews thanking their team and sponsors and spouting inane shite about "maximising opportunities" etc.

Seems like Hamilton is the one driver who can be relied upon to give more "old-fashioned" style, personal, interviews and I think that surprises a lot of people who've grown up listening to more modern "Ron-speak" interviews.

Maybe you have seen a different interview to the one i saw which was at the tail end of the paddock show, in it he was petulant to the point of being rude. Trust me when i say i want drivers to be open, to speak their minds and be confrontational, its what we loved about the sport back then.

I criticise Lewis for not being himself, as do others. Lewis came into the sport and was all the things i described, appeared to be enjoying his time in the paddock and showing Alonso the way. At some point, he decided he wanted to be cool, Lewis isnt cool in the way he wants to be and just ends up looking like a bit of knob. Anyone with half a brain can see the machinations of a confused mind.

To me, when he was being himself, he was cool. He got a bit of flak from the stewards, ran away from his paternal guidance into to the arms of equally confused celebrities and we havent seen him since. As one F1 Journalist waged, if Ron asked him to be himself, he probably wouldnt know who that was anymore..

A happy Lewis is a fast Lewis, i cant help feel that if he stopped trying to be something he is not, the championship would be a formality.

Regarding Alonso, heres Sewards take on his situation for 2015.

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2014/...-for-fernando/

It doesnt matter if the damage was minimal or not. The amount of damage caused was pure luck. nothing to do with skill from either driver. Claiming it as Hamiltons skill is a bit of a stretch, as he locked the wheels of his car, and had little control of where he was heading. Magnusson after the first lap was last, yet he made his way through the grid with no contact. Maybe Hamilton could watch how he managed to overtake without making contact. He may well learn something.

We may have seen worse from other drivers, however we have also seen no contact between drivers as well, just look at Alonso/Vettel this race. Perez also managed a couple of overtakes and made no contact.


If thats how you see it, fair enough. Of course your view had nothing to do with any bias.



Thats ok, just dont make a habit of it.



Again fair enough. Thats your stance on the matter, then alls good. However others may have a different take on it.

[quote=Si_Crewe;73855631]Must say, this it the thing that stops me really warming to Jenson Button.

It always seems like he's trying awfully hard to be the "nice bloke" when, as his actions in 2010 Turkish race demonstrated, he's certainly not averse to being slippery if the opportunity arises.

He strikes me as the sort of bloke who'd do his best to backstab a team-mate and then be full of smiles and banter to the other guy's face and, of all the different personalities around, that's the sort of person who I have the least time for.



Or he could just be a genuinely nice guy. You don't have to be a complete tool to drive in F1, do you? Or do you!

I think you are being a bit harsh about Kimi. He does have raw talent, and is very fast. As with all drivers, they need a car to be right for them. The Ferrari has been made for Alonso, so any any driver whos style is different from Alonso is going to struggle. One criticism I would have of kimi, is that he can lose interest rather quickly. Which gives the impression that he isnt good enough. IMHO Alonso and Kimi are better than the rest of the current field.



Fine, I dont have an issue with people that dont have a problem with Hamiltons attitude, or support him. In the same way I expect people not to have an issue with me and my views with regards to Hamilton.

The majority of poster in this thread are Hamilton supporters, so the ones that arent pro-Hamilton do get a lot more stick, unfarily IMO. We are just expressing our view. Of course when the views go as extreme as a certain ex-poster, they do deserve stick. I dont think other non-Hamilton supporters and I have such extreme views.

Either way, I can take the stick, its not as extreme as it was a couple of season ago, when I left the thread. But to new posters, that arent pro-Hamilton, it may well be of putting adding their thoughts to the thread.

The fact that he's done stuff like what he did in Turkey demonstrates the fallacy of that.

[quote=Si_Crewe;73863700]The fact that he's done stuff like what he did in Turkey demonstrates the fallacy of that.[/QUOTE

Rubbish. If he was a two faced sly backstabber as you seem to be inferring, I think we would have seen more evidence in his fairly long career. The fact that he seems to have a reputation as a nice guy suggests to me that he is actually a nice guy.

Pretty much every driver out there is a "nice guy" for the most part.

It doesn't stop them being temperamental, egotistical, obsessive, over-achievers as well.

I think you have forgotten the time when he signed a contract with BAR (I think), then backed out. He then did the same again a year or two later. Nice guys, dont go back on a contract they have signed.

At the moment he tends to moan a lot, I think hes taken over the DiResta role. Its kind of funny how he moans about the car, yet his young inexperienced team mate seems to cope with the car a lot better than Button.

It looks like we will have a Mexican GP again. A 5 year deal has been signed, starting next year.

Interestingly there is also talk of a GP in Azerbaijan next year as well.

With the extra GPs added to the calendar, it does look like F1 wont return to India. Looks like all the farmers that were kicked of their land, via a "compulsory purchase order" so they could build the circuit will be over the moon. It was always a stupid place to go, glad its of the calendar.

Hmmm...

Still be fairly surprised if it happens.

You need people through the gate to make it worthwhile. 2 years ago, with Perez signing for the great & powerful McLaren, there was a lot of buzz about F1 in Mexico. Now, maybe not so much.

Sounds like yet another case of Bernie letting people spend millions just so he has more leverage with the existing circuits.

An Azeri F1 race would be funny. All the tyres would get nicked and you'd see taxi's driving around Baku with F1 wheels on them.

In other news, I see Mercedes have broken their Terminator in a bicycling accident too.

You only need people through the gate if you want to make a profit. If you look at the Middle Eastern GPs, I dont think profit is their main aim. Its more about getting their country/emirate on the map. You can offer a silly price on tickets, just to get people through the door and pack the stands, which will please Bernie. He does like to see packed stands.

There are two Mexican drivers on the grid and 4 drivers from South America. You can get both the Mexicans will be pretty busy with PR work leading upto the race.

Bernie is a business man, thats what he does. If he didnt, he wouldnt be any good at his job and F1 wouldnt be in the position it is in now. He has brought F1 a long way since he took over. Yes he comes up with some stupid ideas every now and again, however when it comes to business he is far from stupid. He knows what hes doing.

I thought Susie broke Totos arm, as he would give Susie an F1 seat. Even he isnt that stupid.

OK my predictions for this years WC
1st Rosberg by at least 40 points, maybe more
2nd Riccardo just scraping ahead of
3rd Hamilton
4th Vettel
5th Botttas
6th Alonso

Good job I'm not the gambling type

I didn't watch it then at that time I thought it was the third most boring sport known to mankind, marginally ahead of cricket and rugby. The skimpy dressed models lining the way to the podium used to piss me off as well. It all seemed a bit laddish. God knows what changed my mind, and I do recall a couple of years ago that someone dared to mention on here that they didn't see the point of the girlies, and they got slaughtered

We need the Grid Girls (Are they the same ones who line the corridor up from the FIA weighing bay to the pre-podium room? I would like to think they aren't.) as a temporary disctraction from all the testosterone, the hangers on, the VIP's & EJ's interview tactics on the grid!

Early days, of course, but Hamilton seems to have the measure of Rosberg in Hungary.
He's putting in faster times and, apparently, looking after his tyres better.

I think part of Lewis' problem is that there are certain circuits he thinks of as his "trump cards" and, thus far, Rosberg has often been right there with him at those circuits.
If he maintains his advantage over Rosberg throughout this weekend, it might give him a more positive outlook for the 2nd half of the season, given that there are a fair few circuits still to come where Hamilton has done very well in the past.

Interesting piece of radio chatter from Merc/Rosberg;


I wonder if Hamilton or in fact, any other driver is asking for advice on driving like this? Perhaps they do, but I found the exchange a wee bit amusing.

It's an easy target for a bit of mickey-taking but I suppose it's pretty smart for Rosberg to be asking, and shows a lack of arrogance.

Course, OTOH, you've gotta wonder why he feels the need to ask.
I mean, if somebody's looking at the various monitors and notices, say, that it's quicker to charge the KERS in the last sector and Rosberg's charging it in the middle sector, is Rosberg worried that the engineers are going to keep the info' to themselves?

Perhaps it's a sign that he didn't want to wait for the debrief for suggestions cos' he wanted to beat Lewis in the session?
Little bit of frustration showing?

*EDIT*

While I'm at it, I said earlier that Alonso blocked the McLaren pit-box in Monaco.
Apparently, that happened in Budapest, rather than Monaco.
Must be going a bit senile.

Hes probably asking for advice regarding telemetary i,e, where is Hamilton quicker than me. Where is he making up time etc. That kind of advice, rather then driving advice.

Then again, I guess little things amuse little minds

As my rapidly aging grandmother would say; it takes one to know one.

Cheeky sod

No matter what ones prejudices or opinions are, I seriously can't see anyone at the FIA or FOM being callous enough to put the lives of the marshals at so much risk, at the expense of a "good show."

Absolutely agree. There was plenty of overtaking and several mid-running battles which kept everyone entertained. But what everyone wanted to see was a side by side battle between Hamilton and Rosberg, but alas, it wasn't to be.

In my opinion Lewis was the man of the race, coming from twenty-second on the grid, to a third place podium finish made it a classic race. Arguably, almost as good as Bahrain; certainly the best since then.

I can see why some might see it that way, but if you look at Hockenheim and Bahrain, for example, it hasn't been all plain sailing for them both. Either one of them have spent a bit of time in battles, either between themselves, or between other teams.