Hamilton praises Sutil… why?
Lewis Hamilton is either a very charitable soul, or the McLaren driver has taken a psychological swipe at Spyker pilot Christijan Albers for some reason.
Hamilton’s old Formula Three Euroseries team mate Adrian Sutil recently landed the race seat alongside Albers for 2007. In this week’s Autosport Hamilton warned Albers, “it’s going to be like Robert Kubica joining Nick Heidfeld at BMW and giving him a big wake-up call. Adrian will do the same to Albers.
“In fact, I expect him to be quicker. He’s a really good driver who taught me a lot when we were together.”
I don’t doubt that Hamilton has given the compliment in good faith or that Sutil isn’t deserving of it – but it struck me as being a rather odd, unjustified and unprompted remark.
It’s hard to take the quote at face value and imagine exactly what Hamilton learnt from Sutil, given that he thrashed the German during their time as team-mates.
While together at the ASM F3 team in 2005 Hamilton beat Sutil by the sort of margin that Fernando Alonso dominated Giancarlo Fisichella over the last two years.
Hamilton won 15 races to Sutil’s 2, taking the championship with almost twice the number of points his team mate scored.
Perhaps I’m being unduly cynical. If Hamilton still rates Sutil after beating him so comprehensively, it will be worth keeping an eye on how Sutil gets on at Spyker this year.
Related links
- Fisichella no faster in 2006
- F1 in the news 16
- Who’s Who: Lewis Hamilton, Adrian Sutil
- Autosport.com – Watch out for Sutil, Hamilton tells Alners (external)
Tags: f1 / formula one / grand prix / motor sport
Hrm, pumping up the abilities of teammates you’ve beaten makes you sound better – perhaps that’s what’s going on “Sutil is amazing, a really great driver…oh and I thrashed him”
All the more reason to talk Sutil up
Hamilton an Sutil have been close and personal friends for a couple of years now. When they meet off-track they hang out.
” LoudHoward Says:
Hrm, pumping up the abilities of teammates you’ve beaten makes you sound better – perhaps that’s what’s going on “Sutil is amazing, a really great driver…oh and I thrashed himâ€
January 5th, 2007 at 3:13 pm ”
Exacttly! Either that or Hamilton used team orders or sabotaged his team mates while they raced together. Neither of the three scenario’s really make Hamilton look good.
oceanic..LOL ahhh funny bro