How many people are left who still think that Lewis Hamilton can't drive?

Question

Thanks wiggysan. I was asking a question, not making a statement, unlike you.

Don't assume that I am your mate. I don't suffer certain types of people gladly.

Answer 1

Lewis Hamilton ran a brilliant race today.  That start was something else.

Answer 2

he is a good driver. but a pretender

Answer 3

The HH's (Hamilton Haters) are like talking to brick walls. I can imagine they watched the race wandering what negative spin to put on his victory. Absolutely astounding.

To come back from his shocking (and quite silly) mistake in qualifying to win in quite a dominant fashion was a joy to watch. oh and to have the day topped off by Nadal winning Wimbledon, its been a great sunday in July!

Answer 4

He can drive.

Better and faster than anyone else on the grid.

Rosbif, for someone who rates Alonso so highly, it's rather strange that you keep saying his rookie season wasn't as good as Villeneve's.

Hamilton clearly outpaced Alonso, do you rate Hill as highly?, and he didn't do it in as dominant a car as that Williams.

And he wasn't a champion in a high profile series with some good racing experience under his belt either.

Hamilton is not my favorite driver but I can see his brilliance, yes, exactly that.

I will admit to hoping he spun off and Heidfeld got the win, or Vettel, or Sutil, or Rubens, or Nakajima, I have a soft spot for all of them, no matter how stupid that may sound.

Montreal cannot wipe out his other performances for the simple fact that he made a mistake, he was not slow, quite the contrary, that would have counted against him as far as I'm concerned, not the fact he ignored the pit light.

Since I race too, I'd rather be the fastest everyday on the week and throw it away due to inexperience or exuberance than anything else.

Mind you he'll make more mistakes but they won't be coming this often from now on.

Unless of course they keep getting blown out of proportion.

Am I the only one to see Raikonen and Alonso, both rated so highly making more mistakes on the track?

Can someone count how many times they both have spun off and dropped the ball this season alone?

I've read no serious criticism of Hamilton, no matter where it has come from.

He's either liked or disliked but he's the only driver on this grid that can become one of the greats in F1.

Hasn't done it yet but he's more likely to, than not to.

I knew Alonso was something special before he reached F1, now I'm telling you it's this guy, he's even better, much better.

EDIT:Rosbif , I would never consider Villeneve's first season more impressive because he scored whatever average of points etc.

I was watching F1 that year and was impressed indeed, but nothing like last year.

Lets not forget a few facts, the importance of which is up to you and all others to judge for themselves.

His only serious contender was his teammate, Hill.

Like I said, Hamilton, with no previous experience of racing at top level, clearly outpaced the double world champion Alonso .He also outpaced the Ferraris on numerous occasions, and he did not have the sort of car advantage over the opposition that Villeneve enjoyed.

It strikes me as obvious that the driver you think so highly of, suffered in the hands of a rookie that nearly clinched the world championship, and still...

There's no better way to compare two drivers than pitch them against each other in the same car in a top team.

I don't want people telling me Hamilton is not one of the greats yet, he's not, he hasn't achieved enough.

I'm saying I consider him one of the truly great talents and he has the potential to do things Alonso couldn't dream off.

That's my asessment and prediction for the future.

By the way your mention of mistakes that can't be erased sounds like a clever attempt to discredit my asessments regardless of what he does in the future.

As you can understand , I do not agree with that, and I don't seriously believe his mistakes made in the first season and a half will come back to haunt him should he achieve greatness, unless of course he never wins the world championship.

If he does it and numerous times as well, none of this will matter much, people will remember these for sure, but they won't be what he will be judged upon.

By the way thanks to everyone for a big bunch of thumbs downs, maybe I'm losing my mind and being irrational after all, you can't argue with the majority in Democracy can you?

EDIT2:I always enjoy a good argument and since none can force the other into changing their views (and I can see yours are as strong as mine) I'll leave it at that, enough said, for now at least.

Answer 5

I'm not all that keen on Hamilton but one has to admit he did brilliantly today. Best of luck to him...

Answer 6

One in the eye for all the Hamilton doubters and haters. The rain seperates real racers from the pretenders and today Lewis proved beyond any doubt he is the real deal. He is going be a legend. Senna, Schumacher, Mansell were all rainmasters and Hamilton is up there with all of them.

Answer 7

Probably the entire Spanish population lollololol and Alonzo lololol

Answer 8

I'm Spanish and in my opinion Lewis Hamilton is sometimes to aggresive driving. That's why he sometimes make mistakes. Today he demonstrate he's a great driver. Me made an amazing start in the race getting 1st from the 4th place. Maybe his behaviour out of the races is what makes many people hate him.

Answer 9

I never said he couldn't drive, I just said he wasn't nearly as good as everybody was saying. At the moment, for every Silverstone there is a Montreal to balance things out. Plenty of talent, but a large number of mistakes too (which are NEVER his fault, note), and some off-days into the bargain. He has an immensely quick and reliable car too, which makes comparisons with other good rookies fairly pointless (imo his rookie season wasn't as good as Villeneuve's, for example).

Today was a top effort, but he did have a dominant car and a teammate who appeared determined to make things as difficult for himself as possible. I'd love to see what he would have done with the Renault or Ferrari today, it would be a truer indication of his worth.

@Marti, I'll correct you: Heidfeld kept himself out of trouble all day too, while wonderboy Kubica was busy doing the gardening at every opportunity...whereas Hamilton had at least 2 excursions that I saw, and judging by some of his lap times he had some others we didn't see.

EDIT...Christos, Christos...

1. Hamilton did not outpace Alonso "clearly", without such a fast car (ensuring an absolute minimum of 4th place at every single race if he didn't make any mistakes) and the silly scoring system in place at the moment things wouldn't have looked so easy.

2. Hill was one of the weakest F1 champions in history, but Villeneuve had most of the reliability problems in the team and would have won on his debut in Australia but for them. He also had a year of attracting other cars, getting hit by other drivers in 3 races. Villeneuve only had 11 scoring finishes from 16 races in 1996, with 4 wins, 3 poles and 6 FLs...and 78 points at an average of 7.09pts per finish...compare that to Hamilton's 15 scoring finishes from 17 races, 4 wins, 6 poles and 2 FLs...average points per finish 7.26, but under the old scoring system he would only have had 88 points at an average of 5.86 points per finish. So yes, Villeneuve was more impressive.

3. Villeneuve had experience from the states, but Hamilton had over a decade of McLaren shaping and financing his career...he never had the pressure of having to find the money to pay for his career. While Hamilton was in his early years as a McLaren driver, Villeneuve was trudging about Europe in a camper van following his Dad's career.

4. Races like Montreal and France can and will continue to balance out (NOT wipe out, note) his Silverstones. Look at history, people don't forget the mistakes just because there were more good days than bad. Piquet crashing out of the lead at Monaco in 1981, Prost losing it under pressure at Zandvoort in 1983, Lauda's spin at Dallas in 1984, Senna just driving into the wall at Monaco in 1988; Mansell there are too many to name, my favourite still being Canada 1991. People will talk about the 2007 Chinese GP decades from now.

5. Alonso is performing miracles in a pig of a car...did you not see how much trouble he was in with his tyres at the end of the race? Raikkonen is not a driver I rate in the very top bracket anyway...he's merely very, very good, the same category that I would put Hamilton in at the moment.

6. You've read no serious criticism of Hamilton because he's the poster-boy of the British and English-speaking media worldwide...almost every other country in the world, with the exceptions of France, Italy, Germany and the USA, take their lead from what the British media say when it comes to F1.

7. Alonso can join the greats - a third title in the next 2 years would do it for me. Hamilton needs to concentrate on getting his first title (and to MATCH Villeneuve, he needs to do it this year) before we talk about him in those terms...plenty of drivers who never fulfilled their potential over the years despite all the early hype. Ronnie Peterson and Gerhard Berger to name but two.

8. If we could have seen Hamilton in the modern equivalent of the 2001 Minardi, then comparisons with the young Alonso would be valid too... unfortunately falling straight into a brilliant car means that Hamilton needs to be doing it right immediately - your mistakes are more important when they cost you first place instead of 12th.

EDIT 2

There's none so blind as them's won't see...

"There's no better way to compare two drivers than pitch them against each other in the same car in a top team" is utter rubbish. A team is rarely, if ever, able to give two drivers entirely equal treatment, and Ron Dennis has an abysmal track record in that department, as I have mentioned in numerous answers previously: Watson, Lauda, Prost, Coulthard, Montoya and Alonso can't all be wrong about his man-management skills. A sensitive driver such as Alonso or Montoya would be especially susceptible to feeling out in the cold within his own team, seeing as it affected the machine Lauda. I think that accounts for Alonso's under-performance last season, which is why Hamilton appeared to be fairly closely matched to him.

And I don't consider Villeneuve's debut season more impressive BECAUSE of the points or whatever, I just like to back up my arguments with PROOF, rather than rambling on incoherently and emotionally. Villeneuve had a stunning debut season, not least because so much was expected of him by everybody. That he lived up to the hype made it all the more special. Hamilton was still a bit of an unknown outside of racing circles at the start of last season, and having so little pressure of expectation on him certainly helped him in the first few races. Hamilton's first few races were distinguished by his not making any mistakes and keeping his highly competitive car on the track. Villeneuve's first few races were distinguished by his being the fastest driver on the grid from the very first day.

"By the way your mention of mistakes that can't be erased sounds like a clever attempt to discredit my asessments regardless of what he does in the future." It's not particularly clever, it's just the way these things work. You always remember the bad races of good drivers and the good races of bad drivers, simply because they were unexpected.

EDIT 3

Hi rocketman; "team orders" at Monaco don't mean a great deal...it's hard enough trying to pass a back-marker who has to get out of the way, let alone someone in equal machinery who doesn't want to let you through...it was just McLaren making sure that they didn't chuck away a sure 1-2 by letting the drivers fight each other. Also, Hamilton will have to drive for a lot longer than 1.5 seasons, and (maybe, at some point) without having the best and most reliable car for me to think of him as better than a quite lot of drivers, Alonso included.

Just look at Villeneuve as an example: if I'd placed him in the "all-time-great" category at the end of the 1997 season after he'd just WON the championship (and after two of the most amazing first two seasons ever), I'd have had some pretty serious re-thinking to do, wouldn't I? Putting Hamilton in that category having just blown a championship in the last couple of races of the season would really be premature.

I don't have a fascination for Alonso either, I just consider him to be the best driver in the world at the moment. I'm on record in here as saying that he's the "worst best-of-his-time" in history, that he probably peaked in 2006, and that he will probably have to win the title before the end of 2010 or he won't have the mental toughness to do it again. As to Piquet being right up with Alonso, that was what I was expecting at the start of the season (again, wrote it in here) and I'm surprised it took this long to happen. Piquet is as good as, if not better than, Hamilton; hopefully he will be given the chance to prove it in a competitive Renault next year.

Answer 10

Hamilton is Quality i dont get these Hamilton Haters

Hamilton was 1 of the Only Drivers that Hardly made a Mistake

Alonso

Rubens

Hamilton

Correct me if im wrong but those are the only drivers that did not serverly Go off track

He Lapped 2 Ferrari's ( He lapped the World Champion )

but yh Agreed no1 will change them they are just Jealous

Answer 11

?

Answer 12

Hamilton to me is a racer

He is on the track to win

Ok he makes mistakes, but he doesnt try to keep plodding on .... he trys to push on regardless

He has the fire in his belly

You know if  Mclarens or Ferrarri  muck up,  there are always the BMWs and Red bulls  etc  to mop up some easy points

Answer 13

Today he proved to be a good driver, no doubt about that.  

I'd like to see him driving for a team other than Mclaren or Ferrari and we would find out how good he really is.  I'd like to see him pull of what Rubens did today.    

Don't kid yourself...... saying Lewis is so great is about the same as saying that Massa is all this or that.  

Lewis is good just as are the rest of the F1 drivers, yet he still has much to prove.

Answer 14

The guy has more driving talent in his toe nail clipping then you will ever have mate.

If you live in the UK ( or not ) you may have seen the Top Gear episode with Richard Hammond (trying) to drive an F1 car...... Hammond is a " driving God " in his own words and he was first to admit he was usless.

Hamilton could out drive 95 % off normal road based drivers when he was still in school.

Where is your list of championships ?

Answer 15

Anytime an F-1 driver dominates a wet race his greatness is established.  Hamilton delivered today.  From now and for the immediate future he is the best currently-active driver.

Answer 16

I stuck with Hamilton, I listened to what he had to say to his fans and he stuck true to his promises. My loyalty paid off.

I've never doubted his ability, and as Murray said too many responsibilities have been placed on his shoulders and people should lay off.

However, the top answerer is right - because there are so many ranters the fans may never win, but that doesn't matter because Hamilton has risen above the abuse thrown at him as you have all seen today. What a magnificent race!

Answer 17

i congratulate Hamilton for the win... and a good start of which i thank Hekki of which unlike Massa who had a tendency to block his teammate on starts had the mindset to block Kimi...

LH can drive alright but still he was in front compared to others and a mistake in judgment on Ferrari not to change Kimis tire in their first pit-stop...

for me Lewis will always have the chance of a GP win whenever he is in front of the race, there is no doubt about it... this is what i truly believe and i will always say this... LH will always languish whenever he is in midfield because he does not have the guts to overtake... i will only salute him if he would make it to the podium from less than 10 place in the starting grid...

Answer 18

After today, in them conditions, i agree he is a good driver.

I am by no means his biggest fan either but he can drive, and as long as he keeps his head down he will do well, although as a Raikkonen supporter i am kind of speechless today, lol. Nonetheless, welldone lewis. i accept loss.

Answer 19

I dont think many people think he cant drive. I just think a lot of people believe he is a fake, PR robot jackass with zero personality. He's a w*nker and i have no problem saying that but he is a decent driver, no doubt about that.

He still suffers from immense brain fade

Answer 20

The stewards should have taken his car for checking asI'd guess it was illegal.

Hamilton is average at best. An accident waiting to happen.

Answer 21

You (or rather Lewis) will never win over the Hamilton haters - their feelings are not based on logic or fact.

Answer 22

I second Brown bug.

Good result for the lad today eh. even my Brother-in-Law agreed he drove well and he despises him. I think in a few more years when he is more media savvy he won't be such a target.

Answer 23

I think anyone who says Hamilton can't drive is an idiot (and that's putting it nicely).

He's clearly very fast and he can drive in the wet as well. I still don't like him much, and he's prone to mistakes, but he is a good driver. Obviously he hasn't done enough yet to put himself in the all time greats, but time is on his side.

Answer 24

Not me, he is very good, rough edges and a hot head aside.

Some people are stuck in their ways.

I'm not McLarens or indeed Hamilton's biggest fan in the world but I appreciate talent when I see it.

Answer 25

Of coure he can drive, otherwise he wouldn't even be on the roads, let alone in F1. I still don't think hes the best though.

Answer 26

I can only think of one so far.  DanDan that posts here [too often]

Rosbif: you are usually right on point but your fascination with Fred Alonso confounds me' he's very good but . . . . maybe LH is better?  

Lewis performed better than him last year (in a tie break for the WDC, LH would have won, when one considers experience level, issuance of team orders at Monaco etc).

This season, Nelson Piquet Jr. - rumoured to be on the verge of losing his seat - has matched Fred in two successive races.