Hamilton aims to learn from last year’s mistakes

F1 Fanatic round-up

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Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, Barcelona, 2012
In the round-up: Lewis Hamilton explains the steps he’s taken to avoid repeating the costly mistakes he made in 2011.

Links

Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:

Lewis Hamilton does his homework as he seeks to rescale F1 heights (The Guardian)

“In Malaysia, for example, I flat-spotted a tyre which then led to me having to use the wrong set of tyres which then led to me running seventh which then led to me having a penalty with Fernando [Alonso]. It’s just trying to avoid those pitfalls.”

Ferrari: customer car could aid Italians (Autosport)

Luca di Montezemolo: “I have an idea: giving a minor team a Ferrari from the previous year and forcing them to field a young Italian. That would be fantastic…”

Vitaly Petrov has point to prove in Formula One (The Independent)

“It was a difficult winter because I was told quite late they no longer wanted me because I was quite sure before [Lotus, formerly Renault] had said they did. But my head never dropped. I always thought something would happen. I was quite clear in my mind to prepare for this year.”

Schumacher claims he is still one of the best… but is he taking the Michael? (Daily Mail)

“I was out for three years, I’m now 43 and I don’t know if I can compare myself to when I was 30.”

F1 ready to roar with no Italian in the cockpit (The Guardian)

“At least, unlike so many of his compatriots of earlier eras, [Jarno Trulli] has lived to tell the tale. But Formula One needs an Italian driver more than Italy needs another winemaker.”

Why I will never cheer for Fernando Alonso (Mag’s Musings)

“Fernando Alonso is an amazing driver. It’s because he is so talented that it makes me so angry to see him resort to such silly behaviour sometimes.”

Comment of the day

Aetost says there is more to Marussia’s problems than just their approach to design:

Everyone keeps blaming [Nick] Wirth’s all-CFD approach for Virgin’s misfortunes. Still, I fear the blame for their poor form is mostly down to money, or -more accurately- down to the complete lack of money.

Virgin made no secret of the fact that they had the smallest budget of the whole grid, and it showed.

According to Racecar, Wirth spend 17.6m for CFD, a budget that, according to Scarbs, and I’m quoting here, is “well below other mifdield teams”. So not only did Wirth have fewer tools, the ones that he had were not good enough. Had Virgin had enough money to burn, they wouldn’t have contested the world championship with shopping carts, CFD-only or not.

So, their prospects for 2012 boil down to this: whether they have enough cash, or not. And judging by the sponsor-less MR01 and the the fact that Marussia is just a (very) small-time car manufacturer, I’m not that optimistic.

And another thing: according to an Autosport interview Pat Symonds gave a couple of months ago, the wind tunnel model for the MR01 was going to be ready by March, so it’s safe to assume that the MR01 is also an all-CFD affair.
Aetost

From the forum

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Sebastian Vettel got his 2010 championship campaign off to a perfect start with pole position for the season-opening race at Bahrain:

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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...

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89 comments on “Hamilton aims to learn from last year’s mistakes”

  1. Someone forgot to tell Luca idea idea is to help new teams enter the sport, not give Ferrari more power.

    1. Actually, that’s the strongest reason not to go back to customer cars I’ve seen yet, it’d be like the days When Ferrari effectively controlled half the grid, and sadly, Luca has shown that he would take advantage of that.

      1. If customer cars were to be introduced, I think things could be structured to stop one constructor from gathering too much power. That’s why I suggested the idea that a customer team could get the “basic model” of a chassis – ie the car as it was run at the first race of the previous season – and all the data used to develop it, and nothing else. They have a strong platform to start with, but they have to develop the car themselves. They get no further contact with the team they bought it from, and the whole transaction is carried out through the FIA to limit contact between the buyer and the seller. And once a team buys a chassis, there may be a set amount of time (ie two years) before they can buy another (but if they develop the chassis on their own, then they can use that as the basis to develop the next season’s car).

        1. I agree, but another layer of control I would want is the teams benig limited to only use the chassis that performed worst last season (or one of the bottom 3 chassis, for example). Also, a team has to develop its own chassis after a few years in the sport. The trouble is what happens when the regualtions change.

          1. Maybe they should be allowed to slowly build a chassis out of the broken parts from the cars of the top teams!!!! Quick someone give me Bernies number!!!

          2. I agree, but another layer of control I would want is the teams benig limited to only use the chassis that performed worst last season (or one of the bottom 3 chassis, for example).

            Why would anyone agree to that? If that rule was in effect for 2012, then one of the chassis on offer would be the FW33 …

          3. Why wouldn’t anybody agree to that? It means they don’t have chassis good enough to jump some of the hard-working midfield without merit. It gets them used to developing the chassis still, but keeps them at the back, where they would be if they were developing their own anyway. But this method is cheaper, and a more gradual step to becoming a full constructor.

          4. It means they don’t have chassis good enough to jump some of the hard-working midfield without merit.
            All you would be doing is selling them a lemon. The idea behind customer chassis is that smaller teams can get their hands on better equipment. Selling the low-ranked cars would only be a waste of time and money – no team is going to buy them because it would be easier in the long run to build their own car and develop it.

            The easiest way to do it would be to take the top six cars and offer them to the bottom six teams. The top six teams are competitive enough to build a decent car; the bottom six only need a bit of a push to get themselves started.

          5. And that leaves the potential for only 6 true constructors, which to me would be very sad.

            Selling them crap chassis is a good idea, because that way it is only to help them for the first year or so. It acts as a jump-start, and quickly gets them to develop their own chassis, without immediately and unfairly putting them above some midfield teams.

  2. “I have an idea: giving a minor team a Ferrari from the previous year and forcing them to field a young Italian. That would be fantastic…”

    There is a reason why there are no Italian drivers in the sport at the moment, Luca: none of them are good enough to be in Formula 1. So, who, exactly, is this idea fantastic for? The sport, which would be forced to put up with an underperforming and undertalented driver? The team, who are forced to run him because Ferrari say so? Ferrari, who have to have their name dragged through the mud because it was there bright idea to force an Italian into the sport?

    1. Luca is being a car salesman again. Every now and then, he will come by and say “If we could run a 3rd Ferrari, we could use it to field [enter name of a prominent non-F1 driver]”. Before it was Danica Patrick, then it was Valentino Rossi, now it is The Unnamed Next Italian Superstar. More like an excuse to sell overpriced & under-performing Ferraris than a serious talent development proposition…

      1. Pretty much that @aetost, just look at what his answer is when asked why he didn’t bring any Italians into the sport

        Asked if Ferrari could be interested in promoting Italian drivers, di Montezemolo replied: “It’s a long story – let’s see what comes out of the Ferrari Driver Academy.
        “The real problem is that there’s no opportunity for young drivers. Let’s say I come up with three super strong Italians coming from minor formulas. What is next?

        Carefully ignoring the fact that Ferrari don’t have any promising Italians currently in the program, because that is not something Ferrari even thrives to achieve.

        Off course he is partly right that its hard to develop younger drivers without testing and a limited amount of seats in cars on the grid. But I am sure that is not something he really worries about.

      2. Hey @ateost, you missed Schumacher! :P

          1. @fixy you’re right! I did miss him!
            I’m curious, as soon as the Italian driver affair dies out, who is gonna be the next “prime candidate” for the 3rd Ferrari seat…

    2. @prisoner-monkeys You took the words out of my mouth. You think he would respect himself and the team enough to value talent over nationality. The man is an idiot.

      1. And to think that he was considered to be a beacon of common sense during the Mosley years … either things were so far gone that we were all willing to look to a madman for advice on how to be sane, or Luca has started down the slippery slope. I’m guessing the latter, since Ferrari got rid of talented people like Chris Dyer and Aldo Costa without hesitation, but they keep lunatics like Luca around. I wonder – between the F2012 underwhelming in testing, Mercedes’ desire to “annoy” the top teams, Lotus proclaiming that they’re ready to go back to the front, and Vijay Mallya stating that he won’t settle for anything less than third, perhaps we could see Ferrari slip even further down the order …

        1. I’d say that was the case

          things were so far gone that we were all willing to look to a madman for advice on how to be sane

          , although Luca also seems to have been blooming these kind of thoughts more since he had no real opposition to “fight” after Mosley was gone.

          1. Yeah, but how many of Luca’s ideas have become realised since Mosley was outsed?

  3. Forecast for Melbourne this week: lowering temperatures between now and Sunday, with strong southerly breezes all weekend. Intermittent rain from Thursday onwards.

    1. The forecast can be viewed here

      And if it does rain and you want to spot the rain radar, you can do it here..

    2. oh oh! i get all excited by the (potential rain) weather forecasts. ;)

      1. Dam weather! It has been so nice up until this coming weekend. 34 here in Adelaide today, but as of tomorrow it all changes. Looks like Melbourne is getting the same rain that we will be getting a day later. If its just the odd shower, then that is not so bad. The field is going to be mixed up this weekend without rain, so with rain, who knows what to expect!

        1. thx for the radar img @vho

          so with rain, who knows what to expect!

          @ivz 2010 pops to mind :D I should wait til friday, and if theres a good chance of rain on sunday, place a bet on JB. :)

    3. Gah! If it stays dry for qualifying that’s all I ask. I want to know where everyone stands!

  4. I have to say, I do agree with that post on Alonso. There’s no denying that he’s immensely talented, but his attitude stinks. He has an air of entitlement which is horribly offputting and, sadly, it means that it’s difficult to truly appreciate him for the talent he is.

    1. So what do you make of Michael Schumacher then?

      1. Well, first time round I think I thought of him much as I do Alonso today. His need to have a team mate who would never get in his way was a particular gripe. Now, though, I feel sorry for him, almost, and I’d be more than happy to see him on the podium, or even, with a great deal of luck, taking his 92nd win.

        1. what has alonso done lately? nothing.

          its the other side of the garage that has done the most talking in the last 2 years.

      2. The difference between Alonso and Schumacher is that schumacher didn’t whinge. He was utterly ruthless, but I don’t recall him complaining the way Alonso does.

        1. Absolutely agree on the “utterly ruthless” comment, but MS certainly did complain. Remember Spa, 1998? Schumacher saying “I wish to make a complaint” to Coulthard – lots of YouTube footage.

          Actually, that was a great race even without the DC/MS showdown; Jordan’s only win, Damon Hill’s final win, intermittently bad weather… What a show – them were t’ days.

          (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_Belgian_Grand_Prix)

          1. Given what happened at Spa in ’98, “I wish to make a complaint” is actually quite a gentlemanly thing to say. Schumacher might have complained about the accident, but it was a pretty legitimate grievance. And – years later – Coulthard admitted that he made a mistake by lifting off while on the racing line. So you can perhaps understand why Schumacher reacted the way he did. Unlike, say, Alonso complaining that his team-mate was not moving over when he expected him to.

          2. I think a complaint in that situation was completely understandable. I don’t think that classifies as whinging.

          3. @toothpickbandit – you’re right of course, my bad – I meant Jordan’s FIRST win.

            @p-m – the “I wish to make a complaint” is a Python reference, of course. And I was trying to underline the difference between MS complaints (often justified, sometimes over the top) and FA complaints (often whinging and playing the “entitlement” game, sometimes thoughtful, justified and overlooked).

            As for DC admitting to his error… that’s the mark of a racer who never became a champion. Self belief is everything.

        2. I seem to remember Schumacher complaining about Senna a few times during the 1992 season.

          The first was after the Brazilian GP, where the two swapped positions a number of times. Senna’s McLaren had an intermittent engine problem and Schumacher was able to pass when it cut out, but the more powerful Honda put Senna back ahead across the start/finish straight. This happened about 2-3 times before the Honda eventually died completely. After the race, Schumacher complained to the press about Senna playing games with him, not knowing there had been a mechanical fault. Senna’s response was that they should have spoken in private before Schumacher vented his spleen in public. I also seem to recall the two nearly coming to blows during a mid-season test the same year and at the French GP, but may be wrong.

          But either way, surely the undisputed champion of the F1 whinge is Nigel Mansell? Neither Alonso or Schumacher has ever, to my knowledge, sat out pre-season testing because their new car was a tight fit, demanded their team construct an entirely new, larger chassis, watched while the similarly sized reserve driver managed just fine in the old chassis and then walked away from F1 a couple of races later because they couldn’t be bothered?

          1. I think the difference between MS and FA or any other driver is that MS had the biggest effort behind him to compile record smashing numbers in the history of F1, and he has arguably been among the most if not THE most unethical on the track to boot. ie. MS has had little to complain about and it has usually been his behaviour on the track that others have found solid reasons to have issues with.

            I also blame the MS/Ferrari era of having one driver favoured so much vs. everyone else on the grid, with examples of Austria 02 of RB moving over for MS with metres to go, as a reason why the likes of FA might sometimes also feel entitled to the odd car moving out of his way. Not excusing it, and I agree FA has done some whinging, but to me as I say this pales in comparison to what others have had to complain about visa vie MS. The MS/Ferrari era set a terrible precedent of driver entitlement.

  5. Luca di Montezemolo: “I have an idea: giving a minor team a Ferrari from the previous year and forcing them to field a young Italian. That would be fantastic…”

    If they keep changing the rules every year, such thing would never work properly. It’s ridiculous… Whitmarsh said it, it’d kill the midfield if the small teams can grab an old Red Bull (not a Ferrari, as they’ve been horrible lately).

  6. I agree with MG 100% about Alonso. I respect his ability. I do not respect the man and for that I have a great dislike for him on and off the track. What’s even more disappointing, was I had no idea of the events listed pre-2009.

    1. I agree with MAG’s comments too, but the water has begun to flow under the bridge for me, mainly because of his ability and excitement when he’s behind the wheel. Not every champ we’ve got racing this year is a saint – but out of the the lot I would say Jenson’s the most well behaved of them. Even he too had an episode of being more of a playboy than a racer and Kimi’s lacklustre 2009 at Ferrari tainted him as being lazy and more interested in the icre-creams than the car. Nevertheless,so far it seems this year it’s going to be an awesome season with the cars being a lot closer and now with 6 world champs. Here’s hoping Kimi, Fernando and Michael have the cars to mix it with the Red Bulls and McLarens.

      1. I couldn’t agree with MG more about Alonso. I firmly believe that if he could have found a way past Felipe on his own, or just sucked it up and finished second that Ferrari would have fared much better over the past season and a half. Felipe’s confidence would have been up and he could have taken more points of their rivals, and even helped Alonso win the WDC. But Alonso’s childish actions undermined him yet again. I hope Ferrari can improve and fight at the front this year, but I could care less if Alonso ever won another race, let alone another title in F1.

        1. @joey-poey @vho @adam-tate

          I think part of the blame rests with Flavio Briatore. It was Briatore who held Alonso’s hand through his formative years as a Formula 1 driver, Briatore who deliberately hired inferior drivers who would not threaten Alonso, and Braitore who favoured him early on each year. When Alonso was racing for Renault in 2009, I got the distinct impression that Nelson Piquet was only there because Flav needed to run two cars – if, given the choice, he could just have the one, then I think he would have gladly run Alonso and Alonso alone.

          It was Braitore who taught Fred that whatever Alonso wants, Alonso gets, and that has showed up in Alonso’s behavior ever since.

          1. I’m sure Flavio was happy to field 2 cars. After all, he wouldn’t have been able to rig Singapore without Piquet.

          2. Excellent point @Prisoner Monkeys
            and good one liner @US_Peter
            Your insight shows just how destructive a force Briatore has been for F1 over the past decade. Far more than the crashgate scandal, he has overinflated Alonso, damaged the careers of numerous drivers and tried to run a Formula One team like a mob boss.

  7. mighty_mouse
    13th March 2012, 3:00

    Lewis hamilton will never learn from his own mistake. every year is the same lewis. 2011 he said he learn a lesson from 2010, but still did the same mistake as 2010 in 2011. I bet he still the same last year person this year. LOL.

    1. I do not see it that way, mighty_mouse. In my experience everyone changes over time and it was pretty clear that Hamilton was less focused solely on F1 last year and slipped up on several occasions. Who knows, maybe he needed that year to come back stronger and get into thinking about the whole race a bit more, instead of having to rely on his team telling him what to do.

      1. I agree @BasCB, there were different issues surrounding Lewis’s problems last season, and their is no reason to believe that he can’t turn around his fortunes, but although I rate Lewis highly I think Jensons experience will once again see him leading the points at McLaren. For Lewis it is make or break time in some ways, he must kerb his emotions and try to stay focussed on the WDC both on and off the track. he is in danger of becoming regarded as a wasted talent, and if he doesn’t get it together now he may look back on these years as wasted opportunities.

        1. Yes, I also see Button could well beat Hamilton this year again. Actually, in Keith’s poll I tipped him to do so.

      2. I agree that everyone is capable of change. Reputations are earned though. If Hamilton wants us to believe he is a changed man then he has to show us rather than tell us.

  8. Alonso is a confusing one for me. There is too much of the scandal about that man.

    Though last year I really liked the comments he made, he seemed sincere and humble and very gracious and concerned about Lewis. It was as if he knew what Lewis was going through because he had been through it himself. Makes me think there might be hope for Lewis to get his head together.

  9. Poor Hamilton, trying to HARD SAD re

  10. Mag’s Musings. That’s a new one, didn’t know our Kobayashi-cheering goldfish had a blog. :P

  11. “At least, unlike so many of his compatriots of earlier eras, [Jarno Trulli] has lived to tell the tale. But Formula One needs an Italian driver more than Italy needs another winemaker.”

    I’m not sure this is correct. I don’t accept this view that “F1 must have drivers from certain countries.” The best drivers currently available have (on the whole) made it onto the 2012 grid, the fact that none of them are Italian makes no difference at all. The last time an Italian had a real impact on a race was (and I stand corrected on this) was Spa 2009 when Fisico took pole and nearly won for Force India. Italy has only managed to produce 2 drivers world champions, and if producing world champions is the criteria for having drivers in the sport, Argentina, Austria and South Africa “need” to have drivers on the grid this year too! I honestly think that F1 is no worse off for not having an Italian driver than it was for not having a French driver in 2011.

    1. I agree with that @geemac, the real issue is not that F1 fails an Italian (or whatever nationality) driver, but that Italy fails to get the talented drivers they without doubt have to get up to this level.

    2. You really think Italy needs another wine maker more?

  12. Not a fan of the new style at all, felt like I had to zoom it down to 90% straight away.

    Good to see Lewis admitting his failings. Some say the Vettel-Schumacher comparison is overplayed, but like his compatriot Vettel is re-defining what it means to be a F1 driver. The attention to detail and effort he put into the 2011 season, like visiting the Pirelli factory, was immense even by F1 standards. It think the days of being able to rely on instinctive driving are gone and Lewis needs to catch up fast in that respect.

    1. @Icthyes Sorry to hear that. It would be useful if you could give a bit more feedback here, including what device you’re using:

      https://www.racefans.net/groups/f1-fanatic-site-development/forum/topic/known-problems/

      1. Oh it’s purely aesthetics, I liked the margins. Zooming it down brings them back (Google Chrome). And the whole thing looks a lot tidier when I come here on my Blackberry. So it’s all okay really, just wanted a small whinge at 7 in the morning :-P

        1. Err…oops

          1. Ah, well, early morning. Right @icthyes ;-)

      2. Oh it’s purely aesthetics, I liked the margins. Zooming it down brings them back (Google Chrome). And the whole thing looks a lot tidier when I come here on my Blackberry, I see. So it’s all okay really, just wanted a small whinge at 7 in the morning :-P

  13. Holy straw-man overload, Batman!

    1. for a comment that’s now deleted…would’ve been funny :(

  14. I wish a Happy Birthday to Armen, @starosta and Pabs, or should that be a “vsechno nejlepsi k tvem narozeniny Starosto“?

    1. Cheers!
      Close… but it should be more like “Wszystkiego najlepszego starosta” or “Sto lat starosta” ;)
      anyhow… happy birthday to Armen, Pabs and me!

      1. Ah, Polish then, @starosta, (I tried Czech on you – does the name mean the same in Polish?)

        1. Indeed, I believe it means the same, unless it has a second meaning in Check ;)

  15. Customer cars is a terrible idea. It doesnt solve anything.

    It would either have to be permanent, which would mean the top teams would just have a B team each (i doubt thats what we want). Or it would have to be temporary, which means that after the designated period the backamarkers would have to start building their own car from scratch anyway. They would be back at square one. Why not just suspend all this and leave it as it is then?

    I still believe a budget cap is a better solution. A byproduct of it could be less restrictive technical regulations and freeing up in season testing, allowing young drivers many opportunities to get used to an F1 car. It would all depend on what the team wants to spend their money on. If Ferrari want to pound round Fiorano all day, rather than spending millions on new CFD supercomputers and simulation, then go ahead. Others might take the opposite road. I think this would result in a much more varied and interesting grid.

    I think if you limit testing, engine development, etc, teams will always find other ways of spending money to find performance. This is not the right way to regulate costs. If we instead regulate costs directly by a budget cap and let the teams do whatever they want with it, then we achieve the goal and get a level playing field, and above all, great racing.

    1. Or it would have to be temporary, which means that after the designated period the backamarkers would have to start building their own car from scratch anyway. They would be back at square one.

      Nope – a customer team could buy a chassis, develop it, and use it as the basis for the next year’s chassis the way teams already do.

  16. Re: comment of the day…
    You mean HRT had more money than Virgin? I don’t believe that for one moment.

    The reason Virgin and HRT didn’t get to the level of Green Lotus, was because they had designers with little F1 experience.
    Wirth designed the Simtek of 1994 and see how far that team went. What had he done in F1 in 15 years?

    HRT got a GP2 constructor to design their cars. And it barely exceeded the speed of a GP2 car most times.

    Gascoyne had the experience to deliver a car with modest performance. Even if his team was lacking in some basic fascilities, he had a design philosophy that only required fine tunning.

    Wind tunnels help refine a design they don’t create the design. Had Wirth a well grouunded approach to designing an F1 car, the lack of a wind tunnel would probably have cost his cars maybe 2 or 3 seconds not the 5 – 9 we were seeing at the races,

  17. http://www.mykart.it/UserFiles/Images/News/30/P1030037.JPG

    Robert Kubica was karting on Sunday, March 11th. The comeback is close. Driving rally car took place in February.

  18. Hi keith I just wanted to ask when will you post the race results on sunday is it straight after the race or after the highlights im guessing the majority will watch the bbc but i would like to visit the site in the morning but dont want to see the result so what will you do?

    1. @m0nzaman The broadcasting situation in the UK will not make any difference to when articles appear on F1 Fanatic.

      I can’t make an exception just because a proportion of UK visitors (which itself constitutes around 35% of site traffic) won’t be seeing the races live.

      If you don’t want to discover the results of a race, I’d stay away from news sources, Twitter, Facebook, the lot.

      However as of today we now have a dedicated area on the site aimed at helping F1 fans in the UK find places to watch the races live. Have a look here:

      F1 in Pubs

      1. I think that is the right policy to take, It’s the same as when races used to be delayed in Aus (and sometimes still are.). Just stay away from news sites etc…

        I suppose it’s harder to do that in the UK because here, none of the major Newspapers have it as anything but a side story in the sports section.

        1. Imagine my chagrin when in the USA the live coverage on SPEED was transferred to a delayed coverage on FOX and before the FOX program I was watching MotoGP or WSB on SPEED and a banner popped up with the F1GP result.

          1. I’m hoping that next year with at least 4 races in timezone friendly locations those will be the races on Fox and we don’t have to deal with the delays here going forward.

  19. Congrats on featuring on the round-up @magnificent-geoffrey Brilliant read, I enjoyed it! It gave me an insight into Alonso’s pre 2009 history so thanks.

  20. Lewis Hamilton’s biggest achilles heel last year was the number of penalties he racked up, compounded by his comments after the Monaco Grands Prix in which he suggested the stewards did not like him because he ‘was black’.
    At the time I felt those words would come back to haunt him, and whether you agree with Lewis or not, the bottom line is the stewards enforce the rules and not the drivers. From now on, every time Hamilton is involved in a 50/50 incident with a rival I wonder what side the stewards will fall?
    In short, Hamilton has a reputation just like certain footballers do for making bad tackles or being red carded. They simply don’t get the benefit of the doubt by the officials due what has gone on before, and that is a real problem that Hamilton is going to have to overcome.
    Its one thing falling out with fellow racing drivers but to make enemies out of the officials is certainly not a wise move, even if its justified. Personally, I do feel that Lewis has made alot of enemies in the sport and not all of them are on the racetrack.
    However, whatever one thinks of Lewis Hamilton nobody can deny that the sport needs and has always needed drivers of his ilk that take risks and make the sport great to watch. Even if you hate Lewis, and many do, you can’t say that he is there just to make up the numbers or that he is boring.

    1. If you go through Hamilton’s penalties you will find that they are actually quite fair.

      The Stewards I think are above the personal targeting that you are suggesting.

  21. Luca di Montezemolo: “I have an idea: giving a minor team a Ferrari from the previous year and forcing them to field a young Italian. That would be fantastic…”

    Simply. Ridiculous. And this comes from an Italian.
    Which Italian would they “force” them to sign?
    In GP2, F1’s feeder series, we have just seen the departure of the most likely candidate, Luca Filippi, who indeed had a great season, but it was his 5th attempt. He failed even with ART Grand Prix, in my opinion the best of the GP2 teams. He also finished 2nd in Auto GP despite missing two races, and maybe his consistency in 2011 would be the only reason to give him an F1 seat. He was Honda’s 2008 test driver but he didn’t progress from there.
    Valsecchi has done worse last season despite being at newbies AirAsia. In his 4th season he only finished 8th, although he won GP2 Asia in 2010.
    Kevin Ceccon won Auto GP and is very young, but after a deluding experience in GP2 it’s clearly too early to promote him to F1.
    Liuzzi and Trulli would be likely candidates for an F1 seat, but they aren’t exactly “young”, especially Trulli.

    1. That “despite being” should be “although he was” *facepalm*

  22. I think an article such as the one about Alonso can be written about any top driver today.None of them is without flaws.That’s what make them human.

  23. “Why I will never cheer for Fernando Alonso” was the best article what I have read for weeks. I agree with every aspect!

  24. Wow! Getting a COTD is an amazing feeling, but being featured in the round-up is something else altogether! I don’t know what to say, other than thanks a lot Keith.

    Also, many thanks to @jackary @adam-tate @pielighter @joey-poey @andrewtanner and @huhhii for reading it and being so nice about it.

  25. I just hope Hamilton come sharpen his game this season and McLaren have the car to challenge for the title.

  26. This sort of comment from lewis has been a common theme throughout his time in f1.

    in the winter break i have been re-watching a lot of races from the past few years & a common theme in many of the ones from 2007-2011 is hamilton making mistakes & looking to bounce back.
    even going back a year there was discussion over the 2010 offseason about lewis having to make less mistakes & drive more maturely in 2011, a yaer on were having some of the same discussion.

    in 2007 many of his errors were correctly put down to it been his 1st year in f1, yet he made some similar mistakes through 2008 he then made similar errors through 2009, 2010 & 2011.

    i like lewis, ive kinda supported him since i saw him run formula renault, however its frustrating to be constantly saying ‘this year will be better, he’ll make less mistakes, he’ll have learnt from what happened last year’ only to then see him making the same mistakes & get into the same trouble.

    the worrying thing as a lewis fan is that in the time he’s been in f1 i think other drivers like button, alonso & vettel have all improved (vettel especially) while lewis seems to have made far less progress.

    i just hope that in march 2013 were not saying some of the same things while discussing lewis’ chances for the year!

  27. his team also made things difficult for him to with their mistakes

    Australia, broken bondage on the bib
    Malaysia, put on the wrong tyres, slow pit stop
    China floaded the car with fuel, left Lewis out in the dry as Button did not pit
    Turkey very slow pit stop (35 sec)
    Monaco, wrong timing at the Qualy
    Silverstone put used tyres instad of new on the car at Q3, underfuelled the car.
    Barcelona wrong gear ratio ( both drivers did not agree with the short gears)
    Monza short gearing as well
    Singapore unable to refuel the car at Q3
    Hungary, wrong tyre strategy
    Japan sent out too late at Q3
    India slow puncture / wrong tyre pressure

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