Comments on: Massa proves his critics wrong; Hamilton proves his critics right

By: F1Wolf

F1Wolf — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 16:58:23 +0000

This may be a bit of topic but someone above already mentioned the British media so I add my bit …

here I need to wait for the F1 Racing magazine for quite a bit longer than if I were in Europe so I only got my hands on the last issue few days ago. There was one article title that I could not believe I am seeing…

“Lewis set to be champ after Australia win”

Then yesterday the ITV their immediate take on the Alonso Hamilton incident …

hmm… we have one very incompetent commentator on Star TV here but at least the station is not biased and we can enjoy neutral (although incompetent when certain guy talks ) commentary

back to the handsignals – Davidson seem to have let Hamilton go, as if he thought he is being lapped. Hamilton clearly expected Sato to do the same… well Sato is Sato for a reason

By: Samuel

Samuel — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 08:07:33 +0000

Regarding the incident, I remember I thought “poor silly boy!” when it happened(I know it isn’t polite, but hey, it’s hard to think in a politically correct way).

Later I read on internet that Alonso could have test-braked Hamilton and rewatched the incident. What I thought then was “poor silly fanboys!!!”.

The whole “Hamilton vs Alonso” is out control. Some journalists truly believe that Alonso is a supervillain, and he hates Hamilton to the point of ruining his reputation and risking his life only to avoid Hamilton being Champion. It’s ridiculous, Alonso couldn’t care more about Hamilton. If he has a problem with someone is with Ron Dennis. I don’t remember him saying anything offensive about Hamilton, but that stupid guys need a supervillain for his superhero…

By: Ponzonha

Ponzonha — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 07:13:08 +0000

I really love your analysis. I have to say that I use this blog as an example of fair play with my friends, who don’t believe that such objectiveness can be found in Albion.
I am starting to feel sorry for Hamilton. I see a young man under a huge ammount of pressure, and I starting to see small cracks in his surface. Choosing the wrong engine map at the start, trying to pass through Alonso or waving at Fisi (!!) are some of them. It’s not the first time I see this phenomenon in sport. You may have your favourites, but I can remember a few sportsmen that made it too soon to the top only to fall before 25 (Yago Lamela, Ivan Campo, Ivan De la Peña to name a few). And that’s sad, really sad. It’s not too late, however. British media should concentrate elsewhere, Ron Dennis should pat him in the back for every achievement… and warn him for every mistake, also Hamilton Sr. must stop thinking that he’s made a new Senna. Furthermore, I think that HAM needs a youtube video à la Spears (Leave Lewis alone!). Otherwise he will become no more than a champion project.
BTW, I downloaded ITV broadcast of the race and I have to say that enjoyed it a lot. Spanish commentators are blamed for their bias, but they would never call Hamilton Arch-enemy…

By: doctorvee

doctorvee — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 22:49:32 +0000

As far as the gestures go, my feeling is that he just did that to say to himself, "Yes, I've passed him, now on to the next guy." I doubt there was much malicious intent there. This is all an excellent excuse to post one of my favourite F1 videos though. I love Murray Walker's reaction!

By: Scott

Scott — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 22:25:04 +0000

Excellent race report, summed up my own opinions on the Grand Prix. I particularly liked your take on the Hamilton/Alonso incident. A number of journalists have confirmed they’ve seen the Renault data, the replay seems to show that it’s anything but a brake test, and Hamilton himself has come out and admitted responsibility.

I really can’t make out what the intentions behind Hamilton’s gestures towards other drivers were. He was either indicate he thought they were wankers, shaking his fist or saying ‘thank you’. The TV footage makes it hard to establish the true meaning behind his actions.

By: doctorvee

doctorvee — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 21:34:45 +0000

That is a tantalising prospect Ollie. However, I foresee Massa winning in Turkey as well. Historically he is unusually good at that circuit, just like Bahrain.

Spain could be more open. Ron Dennis has said that we should wait until Spain to judge McLaren (a request that I have broken!). I think of the next few races, Spain is the one McLaren are most likely to do well in.

By: Ollie

Ollie — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 20:45:58 +0000

Good write-up. You don’t think though that the nature of circuits coming up after the break will suit McLaren better? Massa won in Spain last time around, but McLaren have spent a fair amount of time in Barcelona pre-season. Turkey was a bit of a lucky win for Massa simply because his nearest rivals all had problems of one sort or ver the weekend and Monaco was a dominant McLaren race in 2007.

My crystal ball suggest a win each for Ferrari and McLaren in Spain and Turkey and a BMW for Monaco, thus keeping the championship fairly steady.