Hamilton hoping for “smoother” year in 2011

F1 Fanatic round-up

Posted on

| Written by

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, Montreal, 2010

Lewis Hamilton speak of “personal troubles” that he claims affected his performance in 2010.

Links

Lewis Hamilton aims to put his ‘personal troubles’ behind him (The Daily Telegraph)

“The personal life, the way things have gone have not been as smooth and as happy as they could have been in the past and to do what I do is a combination of many, many things that are surrounding you.”

Alonso: I don’t fear Vettel (Autosport)

“I’m not afraid at all of Vettel. Should he come to Ferrari one day it won’t be a problem, I have nothing to say on that.”

Comment of the day

Maciek has an interesting suggestion regarding F1 commentary:

A few years ago there was a strike at the Canadian national broadcaster that left the hockey games with nothing but the sounds of the arena and zero commentary – it was fantastic. Not sure that would work as well for F1, but some silent bits with nothing but race sounds would be good.
Maciek

From the forum

Had an F1 gift recently? Share what you got here.

Site updates

I’ve had emails from a few people asking how you change your account password. You can find this option in your forum profile page under ‘edit’.

Voting reminder

Voting for the Driver of the Year and Pass of the Year closes soon. If you’ve not already done so, cast your votes here:

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Lazzar!

Image © www.mclaren.com

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

88 comments on “Hamilton hoping for “smoother” year in 2011”

  1. I am going to hazard a guess and say that this ‘major sponsor’ is either Telefonica, who like to sponsor minnows such as minardi who the sponsored a few years ago or Repsol who do not curently have any major F1 sponsorship, but are quite big in lower formulae.

    1. sorry, just realised this wasnt in the round up and that I saw it elsewhere but, heres a link;

      http://bit.ly/gP7N2U

      1. Oooo, I’ll take either of ’em! All Repsol sponsored cars look amazing, and the Telefonica Renault was one of my favorite cars of all time! This might be good.

      2. “Big sponsor” alright. Perhaps a … gigantic sponsor:
        http://bit.ly/e1nzgt

    2. That’s not entirely true. I remember Telefonica being featured quite prominently on Renault cars in 2005-06.

      Repsol livery would be interesting, especially if they make it look anything like the works Honda team in Moto GP.

    3. My vote to Telefonica. Repsol and RedBull share sponsorships in other sports (Marc Marquez, 125 cc World Champion)

  2. I aint a fan of either Alonso or Vettel, but if the World Champ went to Ferrari i fell he would get a kicking by Alonso!

    Webber was giving Vettel a hard time for most of the season, and i wouldnt ever rate him as high as Alonso or Hamilton, going up against Alonso would probably be a challenge too big for Vettel..

    .. would like to see it though, but agree with the eyebrow man, he doesnt need to be scared of Vettel.

    1. Kinda like Hamilton and Button

      1. But no one thought Hamilton would compare like he did to Alonso did they? And then look what happened.

        I think it would be very very brave to write off Vettel in comparison to Alonso. I mean, a lot of people would rate Kimi as a top driver, but don’t forget Massa out raced him in 2008 and 2009.

      2. Looking at how, in a Toro Rosso, Vettel overtook Hamilton, in a McLaren, in the 2008 Brazilian GP, I’d easily say that Vettel is on the same level as Alonso, or a little more/less.
        Remember that if Vettel hadn’t had all those problems this year he’d have won by Japan.

        1. If you are not allowed to drive at full risk for obvious reasons (P5 will be enough for the Championship), you will not take unnecessary risks would you?

          McLaren had put LH in a very conservative tactic and we know him as an aggressive driver. Remember also Kubica re-overtook him too. So, your example has no basis as both were on a different mission.

        2. jimscreechy (@)
          28th December 2010, 14:30

          And submissions from the school of ‘If’and the academy of ‘buts’ are not accepted either Mr Fixy

    2. Most people would rate Webber similar to Button, and yet in his first season at McLaren he was by no means second to Hamilton. Sure by the end, Hamiltons speed -despite erratic form – showed through, but the bloke who gave Alonso the s**** when they were in the same team by no means dominated his team mate. So I wouldnt be so sure that Vettel would be blown away by Alonso.

      1. He didnt? Let me see, ALL dry races were both cars finished Hamilton was ahead of Button, except for Suzuka where his gearbox failed and he let him past.

        1. Dominated would be Button performing as badly as Kovalainen in 2008-9, or Massa 2010.

          Give Button credit, he did well against Hamilton despite lacking raw pace.

          1. jimscreechy (@)
            28th December 2010, 8:49

            Sorry Have to agree with Anthony here, he was clearly dominated in qually and races. He won his two races when wet conditions prompted good tactical choices, but he did not win them on race pace.

            Dipak T, I would rate Webber above Button. He is far more consistent and doesnt’t suffer from Buttons sensitivity to a car that lacks complete stability, or setup perfection. He gave Vettel a good run for his money. I don’t think many people (other than Martin Whitmarsh) and die hard Button fans ever really thought Button was going to test Hamilton, especially once those two wet races were out of the way and the true stature of their driving capabilities became evident.

          2. Yes, as a demonstration of this Button lost the 2010 Championship in Brazil, just one race before the last, whilst Kovalainen must have been out of contention much earlier.

          3. If you look at most of the pace comparisons, Button was as close to Hamilton as Massa was to Alonso in 2010.

            But unlike Massa, Button was able to more often compensate for his relatively poor pace and outsmart his team-mate on three notable occasions (Melbourne, Shanghai, Monza).

          4. @ jimscreechy – It is never as black and white as saying “Hamilton dominated Button” or “Button dominated Hamilton”.

            I’m aware that Button lacked the pace to beat Hamilton, but as anyone knows, there are other factors in F1 such as strategy. Button tried to make up for his lack of speed by concentrating on other areas. This (plus Button at least having the pace to finish 1-2 places behind Hamilton almost every race) ensured that although he was beaten, he certainly wasn’t dominated like Kovalainen was.

      2. Funny you would make such a comparison. If one wants evidence of Hamilton being head and shoulders above the rest. Look back at clips of his battles with Webber in 2009 and 2010.
        Webber being clearly in a better car in both those years.

        Youtube the following battles:

        Webber vs Hambone Malaysian GP 2009.
        Webber vs Hambone Hungarian GP 2009.
        Webber vs Hambone Australian GP 2010 EPIC HAMI makes him look foolish
        Webber vs Hambone Chinese GP 2010 making both Vettel and Webber look foolish.

        No one else can offer up such performances.

  3. One theory I read on the autosport forums is that Lewis and his dad fell out because Anthony wanted Lewis to dump Scherzinger. They separated at the start of the year, but then got back together a few weeks later, so maybe Anthony got angry with him and resigned as his manager. That’s only a theory though so it could be total BS.

    1. That “theory” sounds reasonable to me. You know as a Dad I can imagine the pressure Anthony must have put on Lewis but he wanted to play the “big-boy” and now realising that taking a girl 5yrs older is just like taking a woman who is 10yrs older than you mentally. I always advise young men NEVER to take a girl at the same age as them, talk-more of older, as a man needs at least! a 5-yr gap in order to compete with a woman mentally.

    2. jimscreechy (@)
      28th December 2010, 14:35

      I heard it was because MARS wanted to sponsor him and Lewis’s fondness for sweets really lies with SNICKERS!

      My mate at ASDA reckons its because Anthony when to Lewis’s place in Switzerland and Lewis was late picking him up from the airport

      Autosport FORUMS! oh please. Endless useless speculation.

      1. No actually it was because Lewis turned down a sponsorship deal with Levis (jeans). Anthony thought its the smartest idea since sliced bread, but Lewis didn’t feel it.
        Later Lewis apologized to his dad and wanted to accept the deal, but meanwhile Levis discovered his twitter account and decided that he is way too gangster for them, they are afraid of him and don’t want him anymore.

        1. Never heard any of that before – where did you read it?

  4. “I’m not afraid at all of Vettel.”

    You were paying attention in Turkey, right, Fernando?

    1. ha ha! LOL

    2. NewBoyLewisFan
      28th December 2010, 1:09

      best comment iv heard for a while now hahaha

    3. I doubt it, he couldn’t pass Petrov properly himself.

    4. LOL!! That made me laugh :D

      Hamilton can’t afford to allow his personal problems to affect his racing :/ Ferrari & Alonso seem very hungry for the championship – hope he’s able to give them a nice challenge

      I think it’s too soon for Vettel to leave RedBull he’s been doing really well with them and the team love him.. And yeah if he does go to Ferrari I agree with Harv’s Alonso wouldn’t have to worry..

    5. Nice one PM

    6. Haha, classic :)

  5. Alonso only fears rookies with equal opportunity and equal car…

    1. Indeed. He seems to forget that although Hamilton didn’t score more points than him, he was ranked higher at the end of the 2007 season…thats being beaten by your team mate in my book.

      1. Trulli also scored more points than Alonso before Jarno was sacked towards the end of 2004.

        1. That’s a very good point that many people seem to forget. Trulli was on fire in the first half of 2004… the less said about the second half, the better…

          1. jimscreechy (@)
            28th December 2010, 14:41

            I think Flav in all is deviousness put a stop to Trulli and his hopes, to ensure that his wonderboy Alonoso was not challenged by anyone.

      2. I think he remembers it very well – that’s why he said that none of his team mates has ever had MORE POINTS than him (they were equal on points with Hamilton) and NOT that he’s always been above his team mate in the standings. I think it was a clever answer – not lying, but not denying that Hamilton was higher than him in the standings and at the same time showing his strength and playing some mind games with Vettel already. Very smart IMHO.

      3. if youre going to get technical over this, perhaps actually read what he said? he didnt say he had never been beaten by a team mate he said a team mate had never scored a single point more than him, slight difference but getting picky about can work both ways.

      4. P.S. to my previous answer to your comment. According to Autosport he said: “None of my team-mates have ever done a single point more than I have, so I don’t see why I should be afraid of anyone.”

        He stressed number of points and not position in the standings, so that confirms my theory that he remembers Hamilton very well and he used reference to points and not WDC position deliberately.

  6. The only thing he may say that ” Baby Schumi I am faster then you”

  7. all I ever wish for during F1 transmissions (and most sports as well), is that I could turn off the commentary and just listen to the actual sounds being made by the cars or players…

    1. I watch practice streams online cos we dont get them here in Australia and some of them had no sound, i think they were speed tv stream, and damn they were good. all you here is the cars and its perfect :)

      But i do enjoy the BBC feeds during practice just to hear crofty talk his magic

      1. yeah, theres something about listening to commentary during practice; its more chill.. Crofty’s talking, they’re answering tweets, they’re discussing all the teams…
        with onehd all we get is a quick 30sec intro, then straight into legard yelling about qualifying (which isn’t 100% a bad thing).

        It’s like at the cricket.. SBS doesn’t put adbreaks during the end of over breaks, It allows the commentary team to explain the game to new viewers, and how it all works. With F1 we just jump in half way through a heated qualifying session with no explanation as to whats going on

    2. in italy we had some races without commentary due to some journalists’ strikes and Pope’s death in 2005. it is a pleasure only for the first 10 minutes, then it becomes boring.
      The same is for football. At least a broadcaster offered the so called “Stadium mode”, without commentary, but it was dropped last year.
      The fact is that if you don’t have some kind of powerful Dolby Surround 5.1, you don’t get involved at all.

    3. If you’re in the UK, you can do that using the red button coverage. But, I’m guessing you’re not?

    4. If you are in the UK the red button used to have a in-car view with only car sounds, but some spud decided we needed the driver tracker instead….

  8. Oops, that was a major fail! Anyways you have to take under consideration that Alonso is much better than he was in previous seasons and that his move to mclaren ment that he was going from michelins to bridgestones. That means that he has to “unlearn” the michelin driving style. I am not saying he’s better than Hamilton because that is debatable after these few years but hes not the same.

  9. Keith I really need your help. This is really peeing me off now! On my iPhone all I can view is the mobile version of the site and there is no option to see the full website. Please give us the option to change the layout. The comments in the threads make no sense because they are out of sync with each other and it just looks dull. Just add a button at the bottom of the page to switch to the desktop version. PLEASE!!

    1. Be patient some of us are asking Keith to do something long time ago…

    2. I’ll add a request: I have no problem changing my password, but the system refuses to change the email address attached to my account (it just simply ignores any changes I make to it and just comes back with the old one)…

  10. Keith I really need your help. This is really annoying me off now! On my iPhone all I can view is the mobile version of the site and there is no option to see the full website. Please give us the option to change the layout. The comments in the threads make no sense because they are out of sync with each other and it just looks dull. Just add a button at the bottom of the page to switch to the desktop version. PLEASE!!

    1. jimscreechy (@)
      28th December 2010, 14:43

      A double post! Keith you had better get on it or she’ll blow a gasket!

  11. An interesting COTD, for sure, because it WOULD be interesting, but (pardon the ignorance, I’m American) don’t most of you Europeans have access to Premiere, which has a silent telecast mode?

    1. I’ve watched races on the BBC. There is a Red Button option for alternate commentators (why would you want it when you have Brundle?) but no option for no commentary.

    2. Dunno about the Europeans, But in Australia, we’re just happy that it’s being shown on TV.

      A few years back, we got our feed via smoke signals…. Still, at least then we didn’t have to listen to Legard.

      On a serious note, does anyone know about radio stations in Aus that broadcast the race?

      1. Here in the Netherlands, I like the commentator, although I know that some (a lot?) of people don’t. But he’s just part of F1 racing as long as I watch. And sometimes he does keep his mouth shut, so we can enjoy the sound (and I love that he makes mistakes, which I can correct for my non-F1-loving spouse)

        However, back in the day when Eurosport also brought F1 with a dutch commentator, now that was someone who really didn’t have much to say. He could be silent for ages. For that we loved him, because boy he was bad! (understandable, because you could hear this very same man with hockey, curling, tennis etc etc).

        Oh this remainds me of the day when there was one (paid) film channel (Filmnet) who had different views then the regular broadcaster. we always watched at our friend who had this channel. On two TV’s, in the Hakkinen / Schumacher era.

        Those were the days!

      2. Surely you could just tune into BBC five live over the internet? i do not know this for sure, just all I can think of!

  12. It did seem like Lewis’s mind was occupied during the early part of the season…though his race performances didnt bare that out much!!
    Im hoping Lewis can refocus and dominate 2011.

    1. This is the difference between Hamilton and Webber. Hamilton says ‘personal troubles’ had an effect on his performance, Webber claims a fractured shoulder had no impact on his.

      1. And they could be both be wrong.

        Hamilton just making up an excuse for his bad radiobehaviour and other mistakes…

        And Webber in complete denial of his physical problems…

        Personally, I think Webber is wrong here. What Hamilton says is absolutely right: everything has to be perfect. A fractured shoulder is not perfect

        1. I tend to agree. My comment was more about owning your performance – good or bad – and the degree to which each driver does it.

        2. Verstappen…Hamilton’s so-called bad radio behavior? I surely would have loved to have heard other rantings from Alonso at Germany, other than ” This is Ridiculous “, because I guarantee you that they must have been classics.

      2. I got a Lewis autobiograhy for Christmas – and it seemed as though he is completely absorbed by a Mclaren principle about energy – good and bad – and about not wasting your energy by arguing ect. So if he believes in all that then it does seem plausible that falling out with his father – who he also seems to adore completely – would have a adverse affect on his racing;

  13. Seeing Vettel and Alonso in Ferrari would be very interesting considering how Ferrari love to use team orders.

    Somehow i cannot imagine neither Vet or Alo letting each other pass.

  14. Thanks for picking up on that Keith (though I was picking up on a post by clerkofthecourse: “I wish the BBC would have the balls to allow a bit of dead-air during the TV broadcast; we don’t need to be talked at continuously). Less commentary might become an even more viable option now that there will be more radio feeds available. I could very well imagine having two ten-minute breaks from commentary with racetrack sounds and radio transmissions from all teams.

    1. Hear hear! It’s on television after all. We can see what’s happening on track, we don’t need to be told each and every thing. And it’s always fun to hear the engines roar for a short period of time. Though anything longer than 10 minutes would get annoying.

    2. It’s got to come surely. It is “internet inevitable baby”.

      I am sure with just a little effort they could even mash something together on their current iPlayer infrastructure. A set of faders underneath the video, letting you choose natural trackside sound, commentary options, and/or choice of team radio (would need FOM to pull their finger out for that last one though).

      Then everyone is happy, you can fade and mix as you choose, a few extra lightweight audio streams coming the down the pipe aint gonna kill anyone.

      1. Yeah, let BE stop blocking internet live feeds!

        FOM and most local TV stations are really undermining the potential of the WWW ….. sad :(

      2. NASCAR’s has had all those online things for years now.. even V8Supercars has it..
        and F1, the most technologically advanced sport in the world.. can only afford standard definition TV

  15. Ukranian GP proposal:

    http://proformula.ua/index.php?id=24&pid=26278

    Doesn’t look too bad. But then, I say that about every circuit. But then, this one looks like it actually goes somewhere. I took some measurements once: from the pits at Spa, it’s about 1500m or so in a straight line to the extremities of the circuit. From the pits at Shanghai, it’s roughly 500m to the extrmeties. This circuit plan looks like it will be closer to the Spa school of thought than Shanghai. And I really like the simplicity of it – 14 corners instead of the usual 25 that we seem to be getting. Some of those corners alos look pretty good.

    1. Looks pretty decent on paper.

    2. I quite like the look of that. There are some nice sweeping corners there from 4 – 10 if I’m reading that right. It has shades of the esses at Suzuka and the rest looks like it flows quite well. No gimmicky chicanes, which can only be a good thing.

      Any idea of the length of the circuit. Google translate won’t work for me >:(

      1. I’ve heard 5.2km, but I can’t be certain.

    3. It looks like a real high speed circuit to me. Especially that 3rd corner. If there is a rise in the landscape there, or a bit of positive camber then it is going to be very very fast.

      1. Circuits don’t need elevation changes to be fast. Sure, it’s nice, but look at Silverstone – Maggotts-Becketts-Chapel is one of the best corner combinations on the calendar and has less change in elevation than the entire Shanghai circuit.

        1. No I know it doesnt have to be, but I tell you Eau Rouge wouldnt be flat out if it wasnt uphill…

    4. Looks pretty decent. And i like that they have used the hammerhead from the top gear track. And it looks like they haven’t made the same mistake that the designers did in abu dhabi by putting a very tight chicane at the end of the straights.

    5. That looks awesome. It’s a hell of a straight too.

  16. People got way too many thoughts on which driver is best, and that is great because it give some great debates on the site. On a side note I myself have a weakness for Vettel. So you guys say he cant overtake. So what? If you are on pole and you’re the fastest guy, it isnt nescessary. :P
    Joke aside:
    Honestly I don’t really think Vettel would say that he fears Alonso either, it is just not the thinking of a racing driver. Racing driver keep telling themselves that they are the fastest. If they stop believing in that, they will never win anything. So this is why guys tend to make excuses for themselves. They dont want to realize that they’re maybe not the fastest.

  17. Thank you very much :)

  18. Don’t know if mentioned.
    But Sky germany (premiere) used to broadcast the f1 with an option without commentary! Very cool!
    I bet they still do.

  19. “Sebastian is faster than you!, can you please confirm you understood the message?”

    (Alonso’s earpiece at the 2012 German grand prix…)

    1. This joke starts to be as old as my granny. Besides, team orders will be allowed again.

  20. Now why would the “Driver of the Year” need to hope for a smoother 2011??

    Perhaps because he has wasted much of his potential? From his first F1 race in 2007 up to Abu Dhabi in 2009, Hamilton had no mechanical retirements… So for one race shy of three full seasons, his car never let him down, yet he just barely won one WDC. A driver of Schumacher’s or Alonso’s caliber, if they were so mechanically fortunate, would have CRUSHED their opposition. If Massa’s Ferrari had the McLaren’s reliability in 2008, he would have easily won the WDC with a much larger cushion than Hamilton’s last lap single point. Hamilton may be a “true racer”, but his many mistakes make him his own worst enemy.

    1. I bet Hamilton would exchange his mechanical reliability for the BENEFITS of being uncontested #1 any day.

  21. Vettel is overrated he is great on a saturday but on Sunday he is a noob.

Comments are closed.