Music interests Hamilton more than racing – Moss

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: Stirling Moss questions whether Lewis Hamilton has become a ‘great’ F1 driver yet, and suggests he is more interested in pursuing a music career.

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Lewis Hamilton not yet one of the great F1 drivers, says Stirling Moss (The Guardian)

"The thing Lewis is really interested in is music, not driving."

Race so deadly it killed 60 in 30 years, and I’m the only Brit to win it! (Daily Mail)

"If you ask the real racers now, people like Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, they want a challenge. Any driver worth his salt wants that, old boy."

Fernando Alonso retirement hint understandable - Piquet Jr (BBC)

"I'd understand if he wants to retire. I wouldn't discount him doing that for a year or two, then returning."

Williams doesn’t need Ferrari resource - Smedley (F1i)

"I came from a team which had a massive resource and I don’t believe that we need that level of resource, either fiscally or in terms of the number of people."

Ferrari F1 boss says team must stay 'aggressive' with strategy (Autosport)

"We recognise the gap we have with Mercedes so the only way is to be aggressive."

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Comment of the day

Is the modern era of tyre-saving really all that different from what has gone before?

Thats what F1 has always been about, There has never been a time when F1 drivers were flat out on the edge all race.

Granted the tyre management is a lot more extreme now than it ever has been before but there has always been an element of tyre, fuel and car management involved.

There were the odd race where 1-2 drivers were flat out throughout a race (Hungary ’98, Suzuka ’00 to name 2), But those races were the exception & not the rule & thats why those races stand out above the rest.

Niki Lauda once said “The secret is to win going as slowly as possible” and other greats like Jackie Stewart, Juan Fangio, Stirling Moss and Alain Prost all said similar.
PeterG

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141 comments on “Music interests Hamilton more than racing – Moss”

  1. Hamilton more interested in music than racing?

    Surely he is kidding? He is one of the most motivated racers out there right now. If he is more interested in music I reckon he wouldn’t consider a new contract, and would leave F1 at the end of the year.

    1. ColdFly F1 (@)
      1st May 2015, 0:15

      @strontium, and quite impressive at racing if that is not his main interest.

      1. BJ (@beejis60)
        1st May 2015, 1:31

        Kind of reminds me of Bo Jackson when he said baseball was his main sport and football would be his off season ‘hobby’ @coldfly @strontium

      2. haha..Thats exactly what I was going to say! Can you imagine how good he would if Racing was his main thing?

    2. Daniel (@dstaplet13)
      1st May 2015, 2:55

      Of course he can love music more than racing (it is entirely probable), but it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t love racing. I would bet that he loves it very much and who says he can’t do both!

    3. It could easily be true. My wife is a pro badminton player and doesnt even like badminton… to her its just her job. Its good for people to have interests outside of their job no matter what you do for a living.

      1. Is there really that much money in badminton that you can make a living of it?

        1. In some Asian countries like China and Indonesia, presumably you live on endorsements and advertisements once you’re famous (last time I check, the prize money is not enough for a middle-class lifestyle even here in Indonesia).

          I’ve always been curious as to how Europeans manage to become professionals in it though. Especially the Danes. Surely badminton is even less lucrative compared to the much higher average salary there… national sports authority funding, perhaps?

          1. We live in Denmark :-) she does fine, player pay is ok and then there’s coaching on top. If she had the same ranking in tennis I wouldn’t even have to work but sadly there’s less money in badminton! Haha

    4. @strontium I agree, I imagine that money is not the issue so he could as well end his racing career now and dedicate his life to music if he wanted to. F1 requires complete dedication. You have to sacrifice a lot to be successful there, your life consists of training, travelling, sponsor events and racing and there is very little time left for other stuff. I cannot imagine that someone would do it if he was not “really interested”.

    5. Its very easy. Hes a good driver and a bad musician. You do what you are good at but everyone have hobbies and dreams besides what they are good at. Even if Hamilton is a successful brat hes no different than others in this.

      1. In a way it’s human nature. The amount of commitment and investment of time and energy to reach the level of an F1 driver let alone a world champion is staggering and there could be an element of familiarity breeds maybe not contempt but a certain jadedness in comparison to something done in spare time of is own free will (I am not saying anyone is forcing him to be a racing driver but he will have commitments to meet as part of his job for Mercedes and other sponsors and simply to maintain his level of performance). And that doesn’t mean to say he doesn’t love racing either.

    6. The tiresome discussion about how Hamiltons other interests somehow impact him ever being considered amongst the best is utter silliness. I nothing nothing of the IQ level of people like Moss, but he apparently is unaware of the excessive negative press that some drivers receive about their personal lives. Lewis is a stellar driver, enough said. If he wants do aspire to be an astronaut or anything else in live it is purely his choice. Mercedes still believes in him as a top driver, and so too does his fans, and that includes many that don’t know Moss, and don’t even like racing.

      1. Spell check took over, and I was too hurried to edit, hope you got my points.

    7. @strontium Michael Jordan said the same. It’s fashionable to say these things, besides the fact that ever since Lewis entered F1 his safety in the sport is more than secured and currently the likeliness of him winning is extremely high so it isn’t strange to have other prime ambitions, who doesn’t make their job their dream job…everyone.

    8. What an Ungrateful Git! His dad worked so hard to keep him racing racing and is now effectively putting 2 fingers up at him and saying I want to do singing now. Ridiculous! I used to like him until last year.
      I always wanted that chance to go back racing again but I couldn’t afford it. I would still love to race, I had consistency and a few wins under my belt. I was nothing special but I can always dream. I’ll watch the WEC this weekend and not watch some dramatized trash they call F1 I think.

      1. Chris Phillips
        2nd May 2015, 18:31

        Your angry at Hamilton because Moss says he’s more interested in music?????
        Lewis’s dad told him to do his talking on the track which he has done admirably, as a reminder he almost won WDC in his rookie year (despite fernando’s determination to ruin home), won in his second year (minus fernando), won last year and has won numerous races in between. As accomplishments go he’s significantly ahead of moss.
        In short Lewis has not said he prefers music, Moss is saying that, deliberately making Lewis look bad, again, for no reason, jealousy?
        If you want to be angry with anyone be angry at Moss for spreading lies and rumours.

        1. @Chris Phillips

          I’m not angry just a bit shocked. I didn’t need you to post the comment twice thanks.
          And I will say one thing, you cannot compare moss and hamilton. They are different era’s of F1. Moss drovein a time when you can die, Hamilton drives in an era where it’s too easy. Incomparable.

      2. Your angry at Hamilton because Moss says he’s more interested in music?????
        Lewis’s dad told him to do his talking on the track which he has done admirably, as a reminder he almost won WDC in his rookie year (despite fernando’s determination to ruin home), won in his second year (minus fernando), won last year and has won numerous races in between. As accomplishments go he’s significantly ahead of moss.
        In short Lewis has not said he prefers music, Moss is saying that, deliberately making Lewis look bad, again, for no reason, jealousy?
        If you want to be angry with anyone be angry at Moss for spreading lies and rumours.

    9. Of course this is true. All jobs becomes jobs. It is not the same thing as he doesn’t have passion for his job but I’m sure most days he would rather do his music than get up and do phys training and sim work. Endless meetings and sponsor work…

      Even during race weekends I’m sure that most of his days are filled with mundane tasks that is just work without passion.
      Then of course comes the time in the car, and as sure as I am that all this other stuff is something’s that just needs to be endured, this is what he lookes forward to and that he still is passionate about.

  2. As much as I think Hamilton is a muppet when it comes to his personality, it doesn’t seem like music is having any negative influence on his racing, so I don’t see a problem with his interests outside of F1.

    1. I second the “muppet” comment. I’d be thrilled if he pursued his ‘music’ career. I use that term loosely.

      1. You’d be thrilled if one of, if not the greatest drivers of the current generation packed it in?

        1. BWHAHAHA. Oh wait, your serious? No I DO NOT think LH is the greatest driver of this generation.

          1. petebaldwin (@)
            1st May 2015, 10:13

            Is it half term already? Out of interest, who do you think is the greatest driver of this generation?

            I assume by your previous response, you’re going to say the one who Hamilton beat in his debut season in the same car….

          2. @petebaldwin – Hamilton did not beat Alonso in 2007, they were equal on points. Live with it.

          3. @slava Hamilton fans can live with the fact that he finished tied with then 2xWDC en titre in the same car, in his first season. Can Alonso fans live with the fact that he couldn’t better a rookie?

          4. @slava Actually, he beat him on count back.

          5. Count back is a thing and is used to differentiate drivers in the championship.

            That is like saying Arsenal didn’t win the league in 1989 as they had the same points as Liverpool or a boxer who wins by decision doesn’t actually win. Lame.

          6. petebaldwin (@)
            1st May 2015, 13:36

            @slava as Phil said, the record books say he came 2nd and Alonso 3rd.

            Having said that, I don’t think Alonso is better or worse than Hamilton. They are very different people but are both excellent drivers.

          7. @petebaldwin Oh for goodness sake, stop with the 2007 arguments already! That was then, and since then Alonso has improved a lot too.

          8. @petebaldwin
            I’m not a fan of either Lewis or Alonso. I do think they are great racing drivers but not rooting for them. With that said, arguments such as “they had the same car”, are not proof of much when it comes to comparing drivers. It might have been the same car but it wasn’t the car that one or the other driver wanted. They have different driving styles and certain designs suit them better. That’s a known fact and it shouldn’t be difficult to comprehend the situation. Also, I recall Alonso being docked points because in one race he held Lewis waiting in the pit lane. And till today Ron D. claims Alonso was told to stay, so it was a bit unfair that he practically lost the title in that race. And if Lewis won that title, so what? The machine suited him, he spent hundreds of hours in simulator learning the machine and tracks , and he had phenomenal talent. It’s not like he was a rookie when it came to racing. When one looks at top tier drivers it’s very difficult to differentiate. Unless you give them each a car that suits their driving style and put them in equal spec engines, you can’t really call one better than the other.

      2. I for one am getting sick of comments like these and the constant judgements in the media. I am a Hamilton fan, in the sense that I’m a fan of his driving. I couldn’t care less about what he does or says outside of the car.

        We, as F1 fans, should just appreciate that we have drivers of his talent in the sport we enjoy. It doesn’t matter what his or any other drivers personality is like outside of the car, that’s not why we watch F1. We watch it for the racing. The more talented drivers the better. If their personalities are what you care about, perhaps you should spend more time reading Hello magazine and less time watching the sport.

        Football fans don’t spend their whole time criticising players outside of the sport, and half of the players couldn’t even spell their own name without checking what it says on their shirt. Football fans praise and appreciate the players for their skill on pitch, that’s the only thing that matters.

        Why do Formula One fans insist on the negative attitude towards the drivers? Most of them are there on merit, and we should be thankful that they are, for our entertainment.

        Also, we could argue for forever and a day about who is a better driver than who, but it doesn’t matter. We have an array of quality drivers in the sport. Let’s just appreciate that.

        1. I don’t see how people can dispute Hamilton being one of the greatest drivers of his generation.

          Only one driver currently has more championships, only one year was he beaten by a team mate, he’s the only driver to win in a none constructors championship winning car, the only driver to win a race every year he’s competed and he’s the only champion to win for two teams.

          There’s only one current driver you can quantifiably rate above him. Final opinion is always subjective but there’s no rational argument he’s not one of the best.

          1. Here here +1

          2. There’s only one current driver you can quantifiably rate above him.

            No doubt, and yet there are legions of people (a great many of them Hamilton fans) who will tell you that the “one current driver” in question can’t even drive properly, never mind admit that he’s a “great driver”.

  3. ColdFly F1 (@)
    1st May 2015, 0:13

    That BBC article on Alonso retiring is total crap.
    – it is Piquet JR talking about what he thinks Alonso might think/do.
    – it refers to Alonso ‘looking at other things’ , which was actually an recent statement that Alonso is committed to McLaren Honda, and wants it to be his final team.
    – it tries to reignite a rift between Alonso/McLaren which is the old story about different views about the cause of the testing crash.

    But they are right in one thing: Alonso will retire! (but when?)

    1. Nathan (@il-ferrarista)
      1st May 2015, 1:23

      + 1 well said mister!

    2. Daniel (@dstaplet13)
      1st May 2015, 2:43

      Yeah, the article was total garbage. It just seems like the media is trying to find tensions between members of a team when none exist.

    3. That article really was dreadful. There are many things that I would say about Piquet Jr- but I don’t want to violate this website’s policies. So I will just refer to him as a spiteful, spoiled brat.

      1. What else can you expect from Benson?

    4. @coldfly Piquet Jr is missing the point. I do not believe that Alonso is considering a retirement because he is “driving ninth, 10th” or not scoring points at the moment. For sure, every driver wants to score as many points as possible but Alonso is a double world champion and he returned to McLaren to win another championship, not just to have a more competitive car than Ferrari was. He was fully aware that McLaren were not going to produce a winning car for this season so it was always a long-term project. Alonso will not leave F1 just because McLaren are struggling this year. If he comes to conclusion that the team has no future, then it is possible but that is a different story.

    5. @coldfly I agree. Regardless of the article anything that’s spewed out of a Piquet mouth is surely a load of crap.

  4. Michal (@michal2009b)
    1st May 2015, 0:19

    Although I agree about less spectacular formula since V6 introducing while there is so much negativity on this site about the sport? Everyone round-up features what is wrong etc. But the fact is in every season there were problems so instead of being happy that Ferrari is going Mercedes a run for their money and a tremendous WEC fight, people are moaning about DRS, Pirellis, fuel-flow, double points all the time. Ironically in 2011-2012 only few people complained about DRS and tyres :D I don’t know whether that is chasing perfection but for me looks like this.

      1. You can be concerned without every single article condemning the sport, the people who run it, the people who drive in it, the tracks where it’s run, the cars that are driven in it, the people who manage it, and the organization that regulates it.

        When was the last time this site had a positive article about modern F1, without reference to how great F1 used to be and how screwed up it is now?

        The desire for negative stories (Rosberg Hates Hamilton! Alonso Hates Dennis! Conspiracy at McLaren! Mercedes helps Ferrari beat Red Bull! Red Bull is taking it’s toys home! !) has overwhelmed any positive aspects of the sport.

        F1 bashing has become a media habit. This site is particularly negative about F1, but it occasionally has interesting discussions about F1, so I still follow it.

        Otherwise, I’d have given up at the end of last season when a driver who won 11 races was considered the 3rd best driver on the grid, behind a driver who qualified 5th more than any other driver, and a driver who won 3 races by being in the right place when Mercedes screwed up.

  5. I really don’t like when former F1 drivers are questioning the skill of current drivers. There were images uploaded on the interwebb few days ago where Lewis Hamilton is driving S.Moss racing car without a helmet, looked like he was driving to the local shop.. very relaxed. I suspect this has made S.Moss upset because why else would he say such things about L.Hamilton?

    1. Lewis wasn’t driving that car like Moss did for a start off ,he wasn’t in a race was he ? Those cars were driven by drivers purely on skill without the aid of all the electronics and rubbish they have on them now. The drivers can’t even get off the start line nowadays without their engineers telling them what settings to put the car in to move it.
      It’s like driving todays modern cars with all their technology ,they are totally different to drive from cars 20+ years old and I know as i’ve driven/drive new and old. Todays cars way easier to drive so yes I agree with the questioning of todays drivers.

  6. That’s a great story about the Mille Miglia in the Daily Mail. The full account, by navigator Denis Jenkinson, is here.

    http://www.foodman123.com/moss.htm

    1. Everybody should read Jenks account of the race.
      Especially all those people who keep saying GP drivers were all ways driving less than flat out to manage their tyres. I don’t think so.

      1. It really is gripping stuff. They were quite mad back then.

  7. Hmm, so whats Hamilton done to upset Moss then ?

    Taken from 2014 :

    “I can’t see any reason why he can’t get four or five or six championships,” Moss told BBC Radio 5 live.

    “He is as good as we’ve got, and we’re very lucky to have him.”

    Moss added: “Hamilton looks to be unassailable, quite frankly. He’s up with Jimmy Clark, and people like that.”

    “He is that good,” he said. “The cars are that reliable these days, therefore one can judge a man by his talent – his enormous talent. He’s exciting to watch.”

    1. Maybe Ham performed a rap song titled “Moss is da man” for him.

      But really it was a judgement on public perception rather than on Lewis’ talent.

    2. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      1st May 2015, 2:05

      Spot on – Lewis is so much fun to watch drive.

    3. Hamilton probably greeted him with “Hey ma man, how you doin?” and he didn’t like it. lol

      But Moss is a old fashioned man, and said some crap himself on the past, so is not like his opinion counts that much.

    4. Yep, good question and good find on the article

    5. Well, I guess its as simple as the two just not getting along all that well @f190. They spent some time together again recently for Mercedes foto shoots and I guess the chit chat either wasn’t there, or just that Hamilton did not feel inclined to talk about subjects Moss was interested in but more about his love for music (as a hobby).

  8. COTD : People keep making this point about winning at the slowest possible speed as a justification for these ridiculous tyres that inhibit racing, the point being missed is that it is only the winner in front who could afford not to drive flat out, the winner only had to drive faster than the 2nd place driver, but with these tyres all the drivers are driving slow enough to not wear out their tyres too early.

    1. Exactly @hohum ‘The secret is to win going as slowly as possible.’ These words have been coined by massive icons of F1. I highly doubt they meant by having, through the regs, a situation where slowly as possible isn’t still blindingly fast, on the edge racing, and artful defending. They didn’t decree the drivers should be forced through the regs to literally go slowly on intentional bananas for tires.

      1. You feel you have free rein on moaning just because on the only front limited circuit of the year Rosberg was happy to settle for second and had a stupid tantrum about his tyres going off whilst EVERYBODY from 6th position downwards was pushing hard and passing each other!Do the midfield teams have a secret?Are their drivers better?Are they more gentle on their tyres?NO!They are simply more motivated!You two and Rosberg should quit the moaning and actually watch the Saubers,Force Indias,Lotuses,Toro Rossos and tell me if they aren’t pushing;the tyres suck but your repeating of the same moan over and over again without a valid point or elaboration sucks more

        1. Didn’t Perez just at the last race drive to a delta and avoid getting close to rear wings to preserve the tyres? Did you actually watch the midfield?

          1. Wow so you are going to nitpick and bring out the case of the only driver that had to do a super long stint on his tyres?Besides it is rather thanks to his thoughtful approach that he bagged an 8th place in dog of a car..See the bigger picture here!Weren’t Nasr,Ericsson,Verstappen,Sainz,Maldonado,Button,Hulkenberg and Kvyat battling it out in China and everywhere else?Rosberg did a really good job of convincing everyone that if he can’t battle then no one can’t

          2. petebaldwin (@)
            1st May 2015, 10:39

            It’s easy to argue either side – you can pick out examples of people racing and you can pick out examples of people driving to delta times.

            The fact is, there should be more flat out driving from the driver – at least 50% of the race as a target. Managing cars fuel and tyres can be interesting but there’s currently no payout. If they saved their tyres so that they could attack someone, (like they did to a slight extent with KERS), it can be exciting but when they are just saving tyres all race simply to stay out another few laps, it’s just dull.

          3. Increase fuel capacity, flow and mandate minimum start fuel load so they have enough juice to go flat out all race and an extra stop us quicker than not.

        2. @Lenny First of all, no I’m not that enthralled in the mid-field battles as a way of settling for that to be the most exciting part of F1 as you seem to claim. Their battles are just as affected by tire discrepancies and are no more about driver skill than the top runners.

          Secondly, did you not notice that at the same time Nico was complaining about losing his tires if he got within 2 seconds of LH, so too was SV complaining about the same phenomena when he was getting closer to LH?

          Maybe you should take a step back and realize that us smart long-term fans find a lot to moan about these days because the product has become inferior and it is frustratingly unnecessary. You want to settle for mid-field battles by somehow justifying that they define what you consider a good formula these days…knock yourself out. I want to see racers actually able to race in the pinnacle of racing. You want to convince yourself that any battle you do see on the track means those drivers are pushing. They’re not.

          1. So because i’m not a negative old fart like yourself i’m not a real fan?Ooook…I haven’t read asingle proposal of solution from you yet!Let’s assume the drivers could actually push every single lap without a worry in the world,no tyre degradation,no DRS,no dirty air,no ensuring everything is optimally working you know what would happen?A Noah’s ark grid: teammates paired from first position to last.

          2. In fact let’s just cut to the chase: when was F1 last like you want it to be?I don’t want one single overtake,moment or race isolated from everything,i actually want a whole season or era…Go on!I’m all ears

          3. @Lenny You are being ridiculous and I’ve already stated my position including proposals that you obviously didn’t read or retain. I’ll not waste my time repeating myself.

    2. Peppermint-Lemon (@)
      1st May 2015, 8:30

      I recall the two best drivers in the history of the sport (1. Schumacher, 2. Senna… In that order) always driving the races ad fast as they could to totally dominate their teammates and peers. Schumacher 1998 in Hungary, and his wet races are examples of this). I remember a quote by Norbert Haug saying “Let me tell you a think about Schumacher: He is a man who spends every walking good thinking about ways to destroy the others”. No current drivers seem to be so strong in their approach anymore, and its reflected in the way they have to drive and the formula is generally these days.

      1. Peppermint-Lemon (@)
        1st May 2015, 8:32

        Bah autocorrect. Should have said “every waking hour” lol!

        1. But at least it got the accent right.

    3. I remember the end of the Bridgestone era being pretty much that the tyres were bullet proof (with the exception of the last race at Canada – which in my opinion prompted the whole “lets have tyres that don’t last and we will have awesome races like that every week” that we have today). Drivers doing one stop races only because the rules stipulated the use of both compounds. Only fuel and brakes were limiting factors iirc.

      1. And it is worth noting that the reason why Bridgestone made the tyres so ultra durable was because of the 2009 Australian GP, where the super soft tyres they brought had huge drop off – Brundle compared them to the qualifying spec tyres from the 1980’s, because the performance drop off after the first hard lap was huge (remember Rosberg bolted a set of those tyres on, set the fastest lap of the race and then started losing about 3s a lap afterwards).

        After the drivers complained, Bridgestone made it clear that they went for ultra conservative tyres to shut the drivers up – they couldn’t care less about the impact it had on the racing, so long as it meant that the drivers couldn’t complain and therefore wouldn’t give Bridgestone any negative headlines.

        To the public, the Canadian GP was fascinating because it opened up strategic possibilities – Bridgestone, however, thought it was a disaster and spent the rest of the season producing even more conservative tyres, to the point where some teams privately complained that Bridgestone was actually hindering some teams by forcing everybody onto the same strategies, thereby making it harder for them to pass anybody.

    4. I agree 100% with this post, and I would not be able to disagree more with the COTD (the second or the third this week that supports the same view). Nobody ever said that at one point all drivers and all cars in F1 were racing a full limit all the time, because that is not even true. Taking care of your tires is a central part of motor racing to be able to take to the limit to apply a strategy.
      But when you see THE WHOLE FIELD adopting tire management as a strategy, when lapping inside the delta is more important than attacking the car ahead, then there is a big, big problem.
      Lauda never ever said that the key is to win managing tires or respecting the delta. To win a race you need to go fast, and faster than all the others, in particular faster than the car placed second. To suggest that this phrase supports the idea of a slower F1 is a farce, it’s a mistake.

      1. The refuelling days was the last time we saw raceing from start to finish. We see something similar when we have a late lengthy safety car all out raceing as they have plenty of fuel and tyre life.

  9. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sir Sterling’s dialogue was just made up. That’s so out of character for him, he’s always been a big fan of Lewis. He wouldn’t say that about his enemies let alone his friends.

    I challenge Alonso to learn how to do reliable soldering joints for his CE :)

    1. Sorry, *Stirling.

  10. mike james
    1st May 2015, 0:58

    Vettel better than Hamilton?? Dream on… not even a Hamilton fan but considering Vettel vs Raikkonen that’s laughable.

    If you include Vettel you HAVE to include Ricciardo as well.

    1. Do you actually follow F1? After four GP’s Vettel has beaten Raikkonen four times out of four in qualifying and beaten him in the race three times out of four. The only thing which is laughable is your peculiar thinking.

      1. Ahh but of course, Vettel’s cyber warrior has come to his defence, batting away any fact or opinion that goes against his undisputable champ. Your comments are indeed in fact pretty laughable.

        1. Vettel’s cyber-warrior? Like he needs any? Proof is in the pudding I’m afraid. Know your stars oh laughable one.

          1. *stats

      2. Well we all know Kimi has never been strong in qualy.

        In Australia Kimi’s race was ruined by 2 horrible pit stops from Ferrari. In Malaysia he had an unfortunate qualy and an early puncture. In China he was closing in to Vettel at the end when a safety car ended his chance. He did beat Vettel in Bahrain but that was because Ferrari risked Vettel’s strategy for 2nd and gave him the better strategy.

        What I’m saying is, there hasn’t been a race this season where both Ferraris were problem free and on the same strategy. So it’s hard to compare the two currently, lets wait for a few more races

        1. Exactly what I was thinking

      3. petebaldwin (@)
        1st May 2015, 10:42

        Not sure what you’re defending there…. Vettel is beating Kimi at the moment but that doesn’t make either of them as good as Alonso or Lewis.

    2. Lewisham Milton
      1st May 2015, 8:37

      Vettel’s a better singer than Hamilton.

    3. If you include Vettel you HAVE to include Ricciardo as well.

      Why?

  11. I still miss you Ayrton.

    #sennasempre

  12. Neil (@neilosjames)
    1st May 2015, 3:10

    Agree with what Moss said – Hamilton isn’t one of the greats yet. But he said Vettel is, so I have to disagree with him on that one.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      1st May 2015, 10:44

      Why is Hamilton not one of the greats? What would he have to do to qualify for that honour?

      1. Neil (@neilosjames)
        1st May 2015, 12:56

        I couldn’t say what exactly he has to do. For me it’s a ‘feeling’ thing. Whether or not I feel comfortable reeling his name off in a list with the universally accepted guys like Fangio, Clark, Senna. At the moment (though it doesn’t sound as wrong as it did a few years ago) I don’t.

        Maybe I will when his time in F1 is coming to an end we have a whole career to look back on. Same for Vettel, though I consider Hamilton to have a touch more ‘natural’ talent than him.

        1. What is ‘natural’ talent? And what sort of talent do the drivers other than Hamilton possess – unnatural talent? Supernatural talent?

    2. The Blade Runner (@)
      1st May 2015, 10:59

      God forbid that it should ever happen but if we were to lose Lewis Hamilton like we did Ayrton Senna (21 years ago today) I am 100% certain that he would forever be considered one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time.

      Human nature is a strange thing. When someone is alive we look for their worst characteristics and criticise them for these. When they die we do the opposite.

      I’m not a Lewis fan but I have to concede that his talent is off the chart.

      1. I wouldn’t mourn him like Senna

  13. if your worried about tires reducing the racing spectacle ask yourself how did Kimi make it to 2nd the last race?
    also how did Bota hold up Vet for unteen laps with a slower car?
    people are quick to forget how tires are giving them exceptional racing when it just happened 2 weeks ago,
    come on F1 is looking better right now than it ever has been, there is more to come this season as well…

    1. THANK YOU!!!Nobody brings up the instances where engineers tell the drivers “push” or “it’s gonna get tasty ahead” or “we are in for some fun” but just bring up the things that favour their point of view…No one here is stupid and we perfectly know what is said where and when!The on track action isn’t completely like I want it but it is damn good so far this season!Top two fighting,super crowded midfield,updates coming for Red Bull and McLaren to bring them out of misery,heck we even had an engine blow out after crossing the line…All this moaners are just depressed loaners with no friends lol

    2. So, do I understand that drivers are no longer being advised not to drop back to preserve their tyres, nor to not defend, nor to drive to delta time. Kimi, yes glad for him, he drove very well but mostly in clear air on his own, without tyre changes and pit stops I reckon Kimi and Rosberg would have had a battle royal for that 2nd. place, too bad we never got to see it.

      1. I get where you are coming from but you have expectations waaay over the top!A race is 90-100 minutes long and averages 40 pit stops for the whole grid so how on earth do you expect cars to be constantly glued to each other exchanging position?It’s the kind of thing everyone hopes to see but never happens and when it does it is isolated which makes it even more interesting.Pointing out Kimi driving in clean air is really nitpicking as it is not his fault and it is part of F1 to charge from a long way back,the only series where cars are glued together is where cars are all exactly the same. A driver can push as hard as he wants but if the car in front is 0.5 secs faster then over 4 laps he’s already a long way back so what he does is THINK, keep a bit more in the tank for a lap or two and attack on a flying lap,it’s all part of the game man,don’t be delusional and see the bigger picture.No driver worth his salt drives like on a methamphetamine high for 90 minutes, only in your world

        1. Yes sorry, but I should warn you that before these tyres came along I was moaning about having pit stops at all, they are just another one of Bernies gimmicks, they never had them when I first took an interest in F1 they were an American thing or a Le Mans problem, the tyres lasted the race distance and were probably made from real natural rubber so not impossible to do today.

          1. So you are against pitstops because when you started following F1 there were none?And the tyres of the past were made of “natural” rubber?And it was Bernie Ecclestone’s gimmicky idea to bring pitstops to ruin the sport for you?…WOW!Pitstops have been a fixture in F1 since the 1950s!Anyway i’m done arguing with you,have a good day

      2. Also let me correct you and point put that it thanks to the 2.5 seconds pit stop from Ferrari and good strategy than Kim got so close to Rosberg!Withouth tyre changes and pit stops (like you say) Rosberg would have cruised to the flag as his car at least 0.2 secs faster than the ferrari so guess what, over the course of only 5 laps he would have been over 1 second ahead. F1 isn’t a one-make series and even pit-crew members can help towards victory

        1. I am not going to say you are wrong, but are you saying kimi had less pit stops or that Ros had a really bad one ?

          1. The had the same number of stops but both ferrari stops were in the 2.5-2.8 seconds range whilst mercedes had stops of 3.0-3.6 seconds and no, they weren’t bad, just that little bit slower. Did you not see Hamilton see his 5 seconds lead obliterated thanks to good outlaps, and fast pitstops from the ferrari boys?You say that without tyre changes or pitstops the race would have been better whilst i’m correcting you by saying that the cars aren’t all the same so it is rather thanks to pitstops and strategy that the races are good.

          2. But I seem to remember Kimi setting fast lap in his middle stint, Rosberg can’t have been 0.2 sec faster then, and if he had been he’d have quickly made up those those .5-.8 secs pit stop differences, I think it would have been more exciting without the pitstops, providing of course that the cars could run close together without the tyres going off.

          3. Wow you are really thick in the head aren’t you?What i’m telling you is that the Mercedes is marginally quicker than the Ferrari because of chassis and engine design (in the region of roughly0.1-0.2 secs in qualy trim)!Just like how a Ferrari is quicker than a Sauber and a Mclaren is quicker than a Manor so without pitstops and/or strategy Rosberg would pull away a little bit each lap from a Ferrari.Even the weather is a freaking variable and thank God for that!

    3. petebaldwin (@)
      1st May 2015, 10:52

      @lethalnz – I was reading that comment thinking “ok fair enough, there are some valid points… Not sure if I totally agree but I can see where he’s coming from” and then I got stopped in my tracks by the last paragraph.

      come on F1 is looking better right now than it ever has been

      I don’t know how to respond to that. Do you really think that? F1 has never been better than it has this season?

      1. Was it better when half the grid would break down and the leader pulled away at 5 seconds per lap?Or when Senna and Prost won 15 out of 16 grands prix?Or when Ferrari won championship after championship?In the past 8 years we had championships won by SINGLE DIGIT points (2007,2008,2010,2012) and plenty of drama in the midfield;this year Ferrari looks good,the midfield is packed and RedBull and Mclaren can only go up from where they are now.Now a victory by more than 5 seconds is considered crushing and the competition is fierce.There are MANY things i would change but i just gave you basic FACTS to prove that F1 hasn’t been disgustingly horrible by any means lately,i could further elaborate but would be too long a comment.I’m open minded and up for discussion so word to you feel free to prove me wrong

        1. @Lenny For me the point is that I was never asking for passing, or variety, or a better F1, at any cost. You are selling the point about midfield battles, or Kimi stretching out his tires, or even F1 never being better etc etc, but when it is only because of banana tires, extreme conservation, and DRS, the shine comes off the apple. Example…will any DRS pass ever be memorable and talked about for decades afterwards for some driver’s bravery and skill at pulling said pass off? No…never. There are a hundred ways they could create a mix of tires and aero, some conservation but also the ability to actually genuinely push for half the stints, that would create real genuine action via driver vs. driver, not drivers as passengers monitoring systems while F1 and you try to pass that off as the pinnacle of Motorsport. Perhaps there have actually been a few driver vs driver moments this year that weren’t actually driver vs other driver on vastly different tire stages, but then these days that driver vs driver interaction may have costed one or both drivers their tires and forced them and their team to change strategies. There’s too great a penalty for drivers to actually race and push, so they don’t. In the pinnacle of racing. It may look like they are, but we know they are too constrained. It’s not just a few of us that think so either. It is those within F1 too. Stop moaning about moaners who know the product could and should be way better. Lol, if we get our way you’ll be thanking us.

          1. Unless the races are races are shortened to 10 laps or the cars made equal your idea of F1 racing is utopia,something has to challenge the guys otherwise we should pack up and move on after qualy

          2. Robbie i find it hard your still even watching F1?
            what has changed is computer power, everything on the car these days is monitored,
            a driver would never know if his car had problem until it broke,
            you cant compare yesterdays cars with today’s they are way more sophisticated, they know how much wear and tear is happening to the tires, they know how much a driver can push through a corner even the right line and which gear it is so different now days everything is computerized to the point we only have strategy/tires/pit stops/weather/safety car to change the outcome..

          3. @Lenny and @lethalnz I am not asking for utopia, nor perfection, nor have I claimed there was a time when it was perfect, but it has certainly been better. I simply expect the racing to be much more in the hands of the drivers so the racers can race in the pinnacle of racing, not be monitoring systems to the extreme degree they have to these days. I am fully aware to what degree you can and cannot compare eras in F1, but one common denominator IMHO should be good close racing that is borne by drivers being gladiators out there on the track while we observers can know that they are being pushed to their limits as well as the cars. That is not the case today. Hasn’t always been either, but even when it was a procession the drivers and cars were pushed to the limit so much more.

            That does not mean I am wholely disappointed about every aspect of F1 these days. There is much room for improvement and I do not agree with the current format of extreme conservation to the point of not racing for fear of ruining one’s tires, all the while fully understanding some degree of conservation has always been part of the game. I will just never agree with this much conservation to the point where the racers can barely race. That makes no sense to me for the pinnacle of racing. It is supposed to be a sprint. There is no need for you to interpret that as meaning I think they need to do quali laps every lap, or not need to change tires at all, or any of these extremes that people like to jump to to try to make their point. Please F1 just give us a better ratio of cars-in-the-drivers’-hands racing vs. babying tires, and fuel, and PUs, and trannies, and ruining tires by getting within 2 seconds of the car ahead. I also completely disagree with DRS, as do many. You need to stop trying to castigate me for wanting a better series than it is now and that F1 itself acknowledges has issues. I simply disagree with the current direction and they are already talking about changes, so they agree with me and many others too. This direction has not added viewership. I say time to simplify and get back to basics and get those cars back into the drivers’ hands where they belong.

            When we have seen this year that at times (won’t be at every track I’m sure) drivers cannot get within 2 seconds of the car ahead without ruining their tires, and a procession results (and that’s not just my opinion…the word procession is being used this year) then I have to ask what the point is in DRS and banana tires. I say if we are going back to processional running, then might as well get rid of the gimmicky tires and DRS and get the drivers back on the limit with tires they can work with and no push-to-easy-pass button. At least we’ll know then they’re working for it and doing what they know best…racing…not monitoring. I don’t admire drivers for their ability to monitor. Ability to monitor is not the standard we use to rank our favourite drivers and elevate some of them to Greatness. There’s no bravery or element of dare-devil in running to delta times, sometimes 10 seconds slower than they were a decade ago. The only thing at risk these days is a driver may ruin his tires and his whole race…his whole computer modeled strategy…by…racing. Racing is not currently the fastest way to the checkered flag…pacing is.

  14. Craig Sipple
    1st May 2015, 5:48

    When Moss drove F1 was an exclusive racing club among the very richest of men. Today F1 headhunts talent throughout the world. Its not the same sport.

  15. Perhaps just everyone should stop talking about who is the greatest or who definelty isn’t. We can’t even agree on drivers from 60 years ago let alone of drivers right now. Our grandchildren will still argue who was better; Vettel or Hamilton. Fact is they have both had the very luxury to have good cars, had very good seasons with it and took everything out of them. That is exactly what Schumacher, Prost, Senna, Stewart, Lauda, all the way back to Fangio did.

    If you had to make a top three of todays drivers everyone, if he were to be objective, would say Vettel, Hamilton and Alonso. In what order though is entirely up to the man. Most likely depending on country, likeability, and other reasons that have nothing to do with racing.

    1. Everyone?

    2. lockup (@)
      1st May 2015, 7:47

      Well we can still watch these three @xtwl, luckily, so to some extent we can compare. I don’t see how we can compare between different eras though.

      I don’t know about what Moss said. Lewis is still achieving, is a difference perhaps, but I don’t believe it was meant to be derogatory even though it turned out that way. And a bit gormless frankly, but he is 88 and people are always looking for something interesting to say about Lewis.

    3. petebaldwin (@)
      1st May 2015, 11:05

      I’m not sure you’d find Vettel in the top 3 of that many. Hamilton and Alonso have never been comprehensively beaten by a team mate over a season.

      The only drivers they failed to beat were each other when they finished level on points!

      Vettel is very good but he didn’t look better than Ricciardo last year so I’d find it hard to say he deserves a place in the top 3 with Lewis and Fernando…

      1. They play in another league. There seems to be a gap between them and everyone else.

      2. Hamilton was beaten by Button in 2011.

      3. Hamilton and Alonso have never been comprehensively beaten by a team mate over a season.

        Hamilton was comprehensively beaten by Button in 2011.

        I’m not sure you’d find Vettel in the top 3 of that many.

        That many what? If you mean “that many of the type of people who leave comments on internet forums” then perhaps you’re right. Most fans are biased and proud of it. But he’s clearly in the top three as far as the people who know and make decisions about F1 are concerned, which is why he’s currently the highest paid (and winningest) driver in F1.

      4. if he were to be objective

        @petebaldwin – That’s why I added that in the comment because obviously some simply can’t as you just showed.

  16. It seems that Sir Moss measures greatness by how many titles you can get, going by what he said. The funny thing is that so many people consider him as one of the greats of the sport despite not winning a single championship. I just find that odd.

    1. HAM and ALO have the same number of titles, isn’t?

    2. Read the 55 Mille Miglia report by Jenks, and understand his career was cut short by an accident.

  17. Wow, what a load of…

    1. ColdFly F1 (@)
      1st May 2015, 10:15

      @countrygent, I guess every 3-week break will be a ‘silly season’.

      Maybe that’s why FOM is planning only one 3-week break next year!

  18. Re Moss’s comment…

    I guess it depends on which publication you read, but if you go to James Allen’s page, then you’ll see Moss saying something else. So it seems each publication took particular pieces of that interview to suit their own needs.

    http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2015/04/stirling-moss-admires-hamilton-the-late-braker-and-expects-third-world-title-win/#comment-3253592

    Just like Alonso uses his passion for cycling to get away, Jenson triathlon as his way to get away from F1, so does Lewis uses music. I don’t see what the problem is. We can’t expect F1 to occupy every single day of his life.

    Also, I saw somewhere that Lewis wrote the opening for this book, any truth to that?

  19. petebaldwin (@)
    1st May 2015, 9:55

    Re: COTD

    I think you’ve missed what people are complaining about. No-one is saying F1 shouldn’t involve car or tyre management. You actually mention the issue youself – “Granted the tyre management is a lot more extreme now than it ever has been before”

    This is the problem. If drivers had enough to go flat out for 50% of the race but had to manage the rest, I’d still think it was perhaps a bit much but at the moment, I’m not sure they ever get to go flat out!

    1. Indeed. Nico was even “managing the tyres” during qualifying!

  20. I love these tyres! You never know how it’s going to turn out, with the two compounds and different stint lengths and usage. Look at Bahrain – pretty much ALL the interest was as a result of the tyres one way or another. And they’re very demanding on the driver.

    I can see I’m in a minority, but bear in mind that with no refuelling if the tyres didn’t wear the order would just stabilise early on and that would be that. Either the faster cars wouldn’t be able to get past, like Imola 2005/6, or the cars would assemble in speed order and drive to the flag.

    In the Goodyear era they also had to stop for tyres. It’s not a new thing. And now with Mercedes/Hamilton in a class of their own we need tyre wear more than ever.

    1. @lockup But I think you are just isolating 2 ingredients…bad tires and refueling…like the choice is only between those two things. And nobody is saying there needs to be tires that never wear. Nobody is saying there was never conservation in the past. It’s the degree of it. Better tires that allow drivers to genuinely push, and a reduction of the addiction to downforce would go so far in reducing dirty air effect and giving back mechanical grip that the drivers can rely on for half a stint…let’s try that for a change. The current format has not increased viewership. Gadgets in the way of bad tires to create the show along with DRS are obviously not the answer. They’re not bringing in new viewers and are only ticking off us veterans, not to mention the drivers themselves. We don’t need tire wear more than ever. We need an overhaul of the thinking of the tire/downforce mix to bring F1 back to gladiators able to actually battle out there using their skill…and I don’t mean skill at conserving…skill at waiting for a DRS zone to make an easy pass…skill at pouncing on someone with no tires left.

      1. But they can push @robbie. Look at Kimi on the options even, at the end in Bahrain. What was it, 10 laps or something? Taking 3s a lap out of Nico. Electric. Or Lewis in China suddenly sticking in a pair of 1:42.2’s. Seb’s in and outlaps.

        As for the whole mix, well fair enough but it’s complicated. If you take aero off they’re easier to drive. We already have an excess of torque over grip. If you make them too fast passing becomes harder.

        I agree this year’s front wing has made following too difficult, and they ought to look at the process for changing the rules and how these unintended consequences keep creeping in. But Pirelli were asked for 2 stops and IMO they’ve done a great job. It works, given everything else being the way it is, and after getting it wrong in the beginning, 2012 especially I do agree. For now at least we need the variability, and the best drivers are still the best on them.

        1. @lockup I do hear you, but it’s the quality of the push, or the lack of pushing in general, as opposed to isolated incidents, that bothers me. Even when Kimi appeared to be pushing, it’s relative. He was still constrained by the regs in general. He needed to be in clean air. He need the track temps to be right. In general there is not enough pushing overall…not enough driving on the edge…not enough pressure on the drivers…and resultantly not enough to enthrall the audience when in amongst the odd guy being able to push are too many hints that too many drivers wouldn’t dare push for fear of killing their tires etc etc. So yes there may be some shining moments like what Kimi did. I just can’t erase from my mind that the tires are still banana peels and the drivers and everyone else know it. I can’t thnk of these guys as gladiators right now…they’re gladiators-lite having to follow too many instructions on how to run their race, rather than just going out there and doing what they know how to do best.

          1. Yeah I dunno @robbie. I see what you mean, maybe I just like the complexity. I like having lots of factors, more than just a car with X potential all through the race and a driver with Y skill.

            I like them having to think and work out tactics, store up resources of different kinds and deploy them cunningly. Fuel, battery, drs, tyres.

            I wish they’d left the coaching on the radio so we could hear about it (and tbh I don’t think it made much difference really) and I WISH they’d show ES state, its disappearance is ridiculous.

            For me the action on track is as good as ever, I don’t think that’s the problem. In fact I half suspect it’s because it’s so good that everyone’s so motivated about making it perfect.

            For one thing I’d like them to run a website where we can see gps, tyre temperatures, brake temperatures, fuel, ES. Embrace the complexity and flaunt it. Then let all the media condense it for their particular audience.

  21. I don’t think that Alonso will leave ! Not until he wins or at least fight for another Championship! If Hamilton doesnt sign a contract with Mercedes and go to Ferrari as many people say, I can see him go to Mercedes! If Hamilton doesnt leave i think Alonso will take his chances with MacHonda. I believe that Maclaren will be a very tough opponent next year

  22. Moss really starting to sound like it’s time to truly retire from the public gaze.

    “With good looking girls, I think it would be rather nice to give them an embrace rather than cover them in champagne, frankly.”

    I hate to think what he may have done with the not so good looking girls?

    1. I can’t think of words to describe what would have followed if Hamilton had grabbed a girl on the podium and embraced her.

      1. I can think of some words, like, “Well he is single now after all!”

  23. Well Sir Sterling… I’ve never seen Lewis blow kisses to the girls while racing Monaco…

  24. Surely the comments made by Sterling indicate a more personal dislike than a rational comment. Surely music is Lewis’ passion but I see nothing wrong in it.

    Maybe he is suffering from memory loss due to age so he needs to be reminded the way Lewis drove last season.

    Also it makes no sense to compare Lewis with Clarke as they’re from different eras and it ’32’ buttons freak Sterling out than he really can’t compare two different eras.

  25. Moss forgot to take his dementia pills. Hamilton has won more than twice the number of races than Moss and How many championships has Moss won…ZERO.

  26. its funny,coz judging by what moss said about lewis last season,he’s clearly confused.last year he said lewis is on the same level as jim clarke.now he’s saying lewis is below jim clarke.eventhough lewis record has improved since then,and jims(rip)has stayed the same.

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