June 30, 2010
Lewis is flying high!
Hamilton is on a roll. Fresh with the knowledge he's at the moment enjoying the full protection of the FIA and the British press core, he continues to miss wonderful opportunities to keep quiet, ribbing Ferrari and Alonso for getting passed by "a Sauber" and thanking the FIA for the wonderful job they are doing this year. We wonder how he might have reacted had he too been forced to pit behind the safety car and emerged behind both Alonso and Massa, remember he had to change his front wing along with the tires. Anyway... as St. Bernie teaches, controversy is good for F1 sales.
Speaking of safety, the FIA made the case that the safety car had to be launched in the middle of the field to protect the medical car dispatched to help with Webber' potential (but thankfully inexistent) injuries. Would it not be the case then that consciously racing past the safety car in order to drive as fast as possible, including past the accident scene, back to the pits shows a blatant disregard for other racer's safety? Should that not have been a black flag offense, or at the very least deserve probationary status moving forward? I seem to remember Renault being banned for a race because they did not screw a lug nut in properly.... I'm just saying.
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You *really* don't like Lewis, do you?
ReplyDeleteMaybe Todt is just leveling the playing field after all of the Ferrari assistance of the past?
ReplyDeleteI don't think what he did was right, but at the same time I think Ferrari could have been much more dignified in their reaction.
I think F1 really needs to get to grips with the safety car to be honest with you. It's too much of a lottery at the moment. Especially if you're running behind your team mate and have to queue in the pits.
you know, I had almost gotten to the point where I liked the Ham, but after this one it will be very hard. Ironically, it's not what he did on track but his playing the little angel afterwards that makes me lose respect for him as a man. As a racer I think he's great.
ReplyDelete@ Stephen Do you think the FIA would be looking at the safety car is Ferrari had not made the stink it did? Also, its not just Ferrari, but the overwhelming majority of the viewing public who saw this last race as a joke. Let's see how the championship plays out now, because Hamilton got a hell of a boost out of this.
ReplyDeleteAC, it's very hard to know what the FIA are doing!
ReplyDeleteThere's one thing that's abundantly clear about Hamilton and that's how very media aware he has been trained to be. If you look at the turkey red bull incident - after the race the drivers were naturally dying to talk to each other about it, but he quickly reminded JB and Webber that the cameras were around. He's been moulded from such a young age to be "always on" when there's media about. He very rarely lets that guard down. It's hard to see where the McLaren puppet master opinion ends and where his starts.
I don't for one minute think he's so cold and calculated that he knew passing that safety car was worth what it was worth in the end.
Race Control - yes it's a complete joke that it took 20+ laps to give him a penalty. It did pan out in his favour in the end of course, but I don't think Alonso would have won the race, or even finished second or third if Hamilton had been shuffled back earlier. I think if there's one thing Todt needs to get under control it's the race control. Adding a retired driver to the panel is nothing more than a token gesture. Charlie Whiting has been in charge for years, but he needs replaced by some fresh blood who's prepared to make the hard decisions and enforce them properly.
Perhaps my opinion is jaded though. I love Ferrari as a team. I love the history, the brand and the whole ethos behind the company. But for the life of me I just cannot grow to even like Alonso. Sure I rate him as a driver - top 3 of the current crop easily - but other than some Spanish sponsorship I don't think he really offers anything to the sport in the slightest.
This anti LH stance that you are taking is really putting me off this otherwise awesome blog. I totally respect your right to express your opinion but it is distracting from the quality of your blogging.
ReplyDeleteThe anti LH stance draws me to this blog and if anything I feel the evenhanded way you answer your accusers adds to the quality of your blogging. If there are any other quality blogs that discuss F1 free from the veil of union jack tinted glasses, I have yet to find them.
ReplyDeleteYour posts are becoming very anti-Hamilton. Alonso has got away with just as much as Lewis has in the past, overtaken under yellow flags at monaco and got away with it and benefited from illegal in season testing.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the anti-Hamilton comments .. Try to stay more objective or stop claiming to be objective.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a Hamilton fan, but from the video (you posted) I don't see anything wrong with the drive-through penalty from the FIA ...
Congrats to Vettel and Hamilton on the race.
I have said this before on the blog regarding the FIA. Rules are boundries meant to be pushed. Hamilton took advantage of poor rule work at Race Control. Is it his fault that they waited so long to deliver a penalty? Based on the idiots in charge of enforcing the rules - If I was Alonso and saw Hamilton pass the Safety Car - I would have done the same thing!!!
ReplyDeleteIf I were in charge of any F1 team at the moment - I would push every possible limit and take advantage of the idiots that are in charge at the moment. That may violate the "Spirit of the Law" but F1 is not a "Gentlemans Game" - Millions of Dollars are at stake here.
@AC your opinion on alonso passing chandhok under yellow in the tunnel 3 abreast as hulkenberg crashed out at monaco? he could have backed out and didn't. he wasn't penalized.
ReplyDeletealonso flipped his lid in his valencia post-race comments. lewis responded to them. alonso has since admitted he reacted emotionally. lewis should have left well enough alone. alonso still obviously has beef with lewis from his stint at mclaren.
but the real issue is race control, the quality of the stewards, the quality and clarity of the regs, & the timely application of the regs. do we really care about drivers sniping at each other? i don't.
You wanna keep your readers?
ReplyDeleteStop with the LH bashing then.
Faggot.
AC - as a loyal reader, I feel that you have the right to pick sides when it comes to personal biases on drivers. But c'mon, you're devolving your great blog with statements like "I've lost respect in Hamilton as a man"
ReplyDeleteAndrea, stop with all the hardcore Lewis bashing, we get it!
ReplyDeleteLOL, I don't think AC has any interest in readers who think he's a "faggot."
ReplyDeleteWhoever said this blog was not an opinion piece? You don't have to read it!
I think AC is right on with this one -- I was just starting to like Lewis as he got a good dose of slow-car humility in '09 (coming off a "Don't you know I'm just as fast as Ayrton?" all-time low), but then he pulls stunts like this one and loses all the respect I had for him. He pulled another kiddie stunt trying to keep Alonso behind the safety car, then ignored the spirit of the rules (the safety car had to come out immediately to keep the injured driver safe, but Hamilton powered through at race pace), then lies about it and says he didn't mean to and takes advantage of the FIA's utter lack of respectability and competence and says it was fair.
Overtaking the safety car and speeding past an accident while the safety car is out should get you meatballed, and it would in almost any other series.
@Faggot: do you really think Axis would be worth reading and much less writing if I gave in to threats from fanboys from one side or the other?
ReplyDelete@all: I thought I made it clear but maybe it was on a comment in a previous post, Hamilton is not to blame for how Race Control applied the penalty. That clear and obvious. What my gripe with him is that the first thing he did (aside from the serious and IN MY OPINION black flag worthy infraction) was lie about it. He said he did not realize the safety car was there..blah blah... Meanwhile if you look at the video it certainly looks like his finger is on the radio button the whole time only to be released when he passes. Now he could have claimed something like he did in Australia I guess....whatever.
Besides, how come when someone criticizes Hamilton, it's "bashing" but nobody complains about Autosport, GrandPrix.com and any number of other prominent f1 sites ALWAYS referring to any comment Alonso makes as "petulat" or "bitter"? Thank god Alonso is latin, as I am as CG is... We like to blow up, let things out and many times things don't translate as they should.
It's interesting there was a statement from Alonso today, yesterday there were many suggestion in the above mentioned sources, that HIs and Ferrari's comments should be considered as casing F1 in disrepute. My guess, Ferrari made a deal, dial down the criticism a Whiting in exchange for a re examination of the SC rules. We'll see.
@Shinronin I remember that, Saward tried to make a bit of a stink about that without having seen the actual video ( he had said that himself if I'm not mistaken), Look at the clip you kindly linked to, in the tunnel the go like 280kph blind and Alonso was already on the inside Chandock when the light comes on as he passes the flag station. These guys are special but they are not superhuman and I think if he had listed there may have been 3 cars in the wall. It was definitively worth the look it got though
Finally, thanks everyone for your continued lengthy comments, it's an honor for me you take the time!
AC, as a loyal reader, a fan and a racer at heart I support your right to voice YOUR opinion on YOUR blog.
ReplyDeleteYou rock big fella!
Also I bet all those complaining about the so called anti-hammy comments are poms who have nothing else to root for in light of England's early exit at the soccer.
Somebody let these islanders know that the empire collapsed over 50 years ago.
Viva España!!
I think it's very amusing and entertaining how fired up you get about the drivers you're not particularly fond of. However, that is the reason I read this blog -- your personality and opinion, regardless of (and to some extent, BECAUSE they) differing from my own. I wholeheartedly enjoy coming here and being able to spout off some passionate comments about my favorite racing series (among the other ones, too :P).
ReplyDeleteThat being said, this is still why I believe this is easily the best roster of drivers in the past decade or more. We finally have some people driving with passion in the sport. Passion is the reason why everyone loved Schumacher -- winning was EVERYTHING. Would it benefit me if you were out of the race? Then I shall just ram you, obviously, because I'm that insanely fierce of a competitor.
This is also why I love Lewis, Vettle, and arguably even Alonso. These guys will all do, and HAVE DONE, shadey racing moves, shoves, bumps, shut the door unsafely, held up and otherwise RACED whenever they can, and make this series entertaining to watch. Someone said it best earlier in the posts -- if you want to watch real racing, go watch a spec series or GT1, if you want a goddamn spectacle, watch F1!
@pradster Well said!
ReplyDelete@Haters AOO can do what they like. If you choose to stop reading, don't let the door hit you on the way out. These guys do it because of the insatiable love of motorsport. That is what binds us together.
AC - the UK based F1 media are pro-Hamilton. They used to be pro-Button before he got shit. Then he got not-shit, but they've kind of left him alone a bit. I think you have a fairly legitimate complaint there though. I don't doubt the Spanish press are the same for Alonso though!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I come for the videos - I stay for the opinion. Keep it up mate :D