More recently, I think it has been MENCAP.

Do british drivers have some kind of curse,when they win the WDC? Damon Hill after he won drove in midfield,occasionally better and Hamilton is now in a shit car.I almost forgot Mansell who was pushed out by FW.

Yes that must be it. It's a curse to be a WDC. Sorry, it's a curse to be a British WDC. It's about Britishness. And about WDC's. Being cursed.

You dont have to be a dick.Three of your last champions have had terrible seasons after their win,so just wondering.But continue to be a prick if you like

Nah, Mansell went on and won the Indycar championship in '93. Hill was in a sh*t car, and Hamilton arguably is too.

Well, for people to whom "britishness" is important, as long as a different brit WDC comes up every year, what's the problem as long as he's british?

Is it already time to look for Buttons successor?

Actually after '93 Mansell looked his most brilliant ever, winning consecutive titles in different series. But most people don't know when to stop....

A little decorum if you please....

Bash the Brits as much as you like, but afford them the correct capitalization.....

Mansell went on and won an Indycar championship, Hill was in a different car because the team principal had an unusual driver selection philosophy, and Hamilton is just in the same position many drivers have been in throughout their careers. Mursuka's 'just wondering', without even the slightest of effort to think about the situation, created a 'curse'.

Not quite sure what you're saying? Button will have my support as he always has done, as will any driver of whatever nationality who drives for Williams.

...except Nakajima...

Oh sorry. Apart from me not having anything against anything British, I assume you have no idea how confusing capitalization is in german. So I tend to handle it a bit loosely in other languages...

But misteriously those drivers tend to lean heavily towards being Brits, don't they? Pure coincidence, I'm sure.... Or maybe I simply missed your numerous posts supporting Montoya...

This is what I don't get. What if your not meant to like Lewis? Why are you supposed to like Lewis? What has he got to do with you? Have you ever considered that he is used as a weapon against the likes of you, along with Button, Brawn, McLaren, Williams etc.

Seriously have you ever considerd that? What these drivers and teams mean to the Brits? Drivers with the same nationality as the teams for which they drive winning world championships. Can you even begin to imagine?

It's another world. You should consider it sometimes. Your approval isn't required anywhere along the way, infact quite the opposite. Makes it more fun.

Damn those British world champions eh? Count them up I say!

Anyway really what alternative is the world offering us to Jenson and Lewis, We've got a meglomaniac rabid Alonso who is basically watching the years pass by, comatose kimi who at 27 nicks a title by a point from a rookie, Massa with his 'mind games'(often played against himself) and Vettel walking round looking like a full sized dwarf and pretending he's James hunt or something with his cool 'sex' life.

This against super smooth iron man triathlete Jenson (did you see the colour of his face compared to kimi's on the podium) Button and a once in a lifetime prodigy genius in Hamilton.

Not really a contest is it?

The parallel in paths between Lewis Hamilton’s career and that of Jacques Villeneuve is astonishing!

Will Lewis start a team for himself in the future!

Let's just hope for Lewis' sake that Honda isn't watching him too closely right now....

Sorry? He is a very good driver, but isn't that a little bit like what is called a 'fanboy' thing to say like Undersquare would say?

In my lifetime there has been Senna and Schumacher too. Is Lewis *already* better than those guys? I think it is a little bit strong to say that.

It's mysterious with a 'y' not an 'i'. So I take it you don't know what point you're making after all?

Oh a spelling joke. My sides are breaking....

Come on, you started with the b-word (or capital B, as you please).

Why so touchy now? I'm not spanish, you know...

I was thinking to myself tonight how lucky Hamilton was to win the title last year.. had he lost it on the last lap, and knowing what we know about how this year is going.. it would have destroyed him. But then perhaps with no title, this year would have been easier to handle, just another year on the way to his first title. Would it have made this year easier to handle had he not won the title? Would it have just been another year. I hope he is taking at least some relief from the fact Ferrari are not winning either. His main rival (Massa) isn't going to win it this year either, and for Massa that must be equally as painful as this year is for Hamilton. In a way Hamilton should perhaps feel greatful, at least he already has a title. For Massa, this year has gotta suck.

Anyway.. F1 is fickle. When you're winning you're everyones favourite driver and you can do no wrong. When you're losing, no one wants to know. Although with Hamilton, he is still the focus, even when he doesn't want to be. Button may be the man everyone wants to win this year but few can say they felt that way last year. Swings and roundabouts. When you're winning, you're the best. When you're losing, you're the worst.

Instead of getting all defensive and trying to second guess motives, I'd like you to make yours clear by explaining your reply to my post (#1253). You keep avoiding that for some reason and I simply do not understand the point you are trying to make. For the record, it is mursuka who first brought up the 'b' word.

It's also clear you're not Spanish because a proud Spaniard would capitalise too.

Oh come on, there is no real point, I was just prolonging what I thought to be your lighthearted response to Mursuka's post. If you were somehow serious than I would have to ask what was your point in #1253

Let's just rest it, okay? Along with that utterly irrelevant capitalization stuff, preferably.

Ok we'll drop it, I didn't (and still don't) see the joke in your reply and I guess that's probably as much down to me as anything else.

Oh, and I just noticed 'mursuka' doesn't capitalise his name ;)

I agree that Lewis would have been destroyed mentally this year had he not won the title last year. I think he would have suffered far worse from the poor car and the events at Melbourne...although Lewis does come across as over-confident, I actually think that deep down he is rather fragile. I would have been seriously worried that he would never win the title. No doubt he is grateful that he won last year, although I don't imagine that he is deriving any pleasure from this year's dramas. Lewis wants to win, and the car is just not capable of that. It's Lewis's desire to win that makes me such a fan of his...he reminds me of Senna. I used to be so fed up with DC and his "couldn't care less if I win or lose" attitude. I watch F1 to see winners, not losers.

As for Massa...well I do feel sorry for him in a way because he came so close to winning a title and let's face it he is highly unlikely to win it now...not only is he not really WDC material, but if Alonso is indeed bound for Ferrari then Massa will never be allowed to challenge him. I think Massa's best bet is to leave Ferrari after this year.

I always thought the common thought on BB was that the drivers that were winning were overrated and it was all car and any of the guys from the midfield would do a much better job if they had said fast cars.

How fast would the mclaren be without the KERS? Could the team balance the car better?

Hamilton's Hilton Crib

Interesting video, Lewis is very natural and likeable in front of the camera.

Agree with you but not that part about Alonso 2 great victories! The win at Singapore was pure damn Luck or was it some team orders?!
At Fuji again Lewis Kamakazie throwing top 4 out of GP in T1. He got really lucky in those 2 races.

Which comes no where near to pure genius drives by Mika in 2001 Indy on merit!
Schumy 1996 Spain , Spa and Monza what great victories on merit!
Hill hungary 1997 or 99? great race on merit.

There was no fcuking stupid SC rule back then which would put a backmarker in race lead within one lap
i would rate Alonso's win in 08 same as Panis 96 Monaco, Trulli 04 Monaco, Alonso 05 Nurbur, Schumy Spain 01 etc etc.

Add to that James Hunt.

Hail Britannia!!!

Never put that unique land in which the sun never sets into lower case. You will get a nice trashing!





Sweet. Especially when he tells us that we have to go.

OK Klyster - I'm a little quick off the mark here - after all - there is every possibility that Lewis could do amazingly well in tomorrow's race. However, we were discussing the idea that Lewis' rubbish performance at Monaco would strengthen him and improve his performance.... your point being that he would (an easy one, given that one wouldn't expect him to do worse than he did at Monaco) improve, my point being that buggering up is simply that - buggering up - with no silver lining implied.

So - if you could explain to me how his bolloxing up at Monaco has left him stronger with regard to his qualifying behind his team-mate and failing to get out of first qualifying in Turkey, - well - I'm all ears....

But I'm sure that Turkey will have taught him a lesson and he'll come back ever so much stronger at Silverstone......


Sorry Klyster - but if Lew were on pole you'd be crowing.... tit for tat and all that......

Well he didn't throw it into the wall during qualifying for the Turkish GP, so technically it is an improvement.

Bloody miracle he didn't the way the rear end of that Mclaren was snapping out of line. He thinks Hamilton is now overdriving through frustration. Whitmarsh is sounding more and more like a tit at each race. The only "step" they'll be making at Silverstone is the one onto the scales in the weighing room at the end of Q1.

I WOULD crow if he were on pole Could you blame me if I did?

But I'll comment after the race Bruce, as for being bettered by Kova in quali? Meh, he was struggling, Kova did better, simple really. Lewis overcooked it, and we all saw the results.

I personally feel he'll do okay in the race, but I might be wrong, but if he finishes better than 13th, maybe you may agree he has improved since Monaco?

Probably not, but it's no big thing to me ;)

Anyway, thanks for remembering me, I feel a little important now.

Cheers Bruce.

Phew!!! he finished 13th! I'm off the hook!

But hey - He beat Kova.... I'm actually beginning to feel a little bad for the guy - I mean - I thought he needed to see a little of life from the other end of the grid, but this is a little much. Can't be much fun for him that the bloke who's cleaning up now is another Brit, either....

In order to do that you would need a pit for fuel, pack a cut lunch and get directions to even reach the wall let alone hit one in Turkey.

Haha Bruce ;)

Lewis is going through a personality transition period at the moment, these hard times will be good for him, and it looks like his PR will be the better for it. IMO of course.

Anyway, he definitely wasn't "stronger" here, so I guess I'll eat humble pie and be done with it, Bruce was right.

He seems to have no problem congratulating Jenson on his wins, it's nice to see really.

Lewis was an impressive interview this weekend at all stages of the process. He seemed very natural and very relaxed, and had none of the 'shit I need to watch my words' attitude that I think his situation forced him to have the last couple of years. Here's his post race interview.

Lewis said that he had fun during the race yesterday despite his finishing position, enjoyed hustling the car around the circuit, and it looked like it. He seemed very genuine in a way that he hasn't since the early days of 2007. Also keen to say something supportive to the team in the factory rather than whining about the car.

Regarding the enjoyment of the race, Brundle said that he enjoyed the feeling when he got out of the car having finished outside of the points, and entirely satisfied that nobody could have possibly done a better job with the same car. He finished in front of Kovi so I guess that may be true.

Regarding the team support, DC criticised the fact that lewis told the team to take their time and bring something positive to the car, not experimental. I agree with DC because as he pointed out everything is experimental these days because of the lack of testing. Nevertheless Lewis was encouraging and not complaining.

I had to smile at that, the Team Principal 50-year-old Martin Whitmarsh says "we must push for Silverstone", 24-year-old driver Lewis Hamilton says "No take your time".

That's my boy

Except I think he was wrong and DC was right. You may as well make the car an experimental test bed for the rest of the season, bring some novel ideas into play (obviously being careful not to reveal your hand too much) and go for broke.

I did have to LOL at Eddie Jordan telling them to go for a second B-spec car. Yeah right Eddie, you should be so rich.

Lewis was, of course, talking from a drivers perspective. He wants a race winning car 'now'.

Well I thought the choice was between bringing the big update to Germany or pushing for Silverstone. TBH I don't know what compromises the push for Silverstone would mean, I was just entertained by Lewis' confidence .

But I suppose now I think about it my instinct is to go with Lewis - what's the rush now, better to get it right. And that's a worry, if young Hammy is thinking more clearly about it than the TP. But who knows really, of course, maybe we'll get some clues later.

Cool clip, I see what you mean ;)

And the UK version worked for me too!

Yes, he's gaining experience, growing up.

I see it's now Vettel's turn to be vilified for being a highly competitive young man who fails to conceal his frustrations - oy vey!

I had to laugh when I read this.

Fans are more fickle than the wind.

I can't see the point of hating on any driver really, unless you get your kicks from pissing off their fans I suppose....

Vettel's so likeable, who could possibly think otherwise?

Then again, nothing surprises me these days........

Well I think it's unfair for vilify either of them, considering their age and their respective circumstances. But I will make one point which is that Vettel has had a year or more of varying performance from his car and coming to terms with what it means to not be competitive. This is what people were saying should have made a difference to Hamilton. "Hamilton should have had a year in a Minardi, like Alonso did" was repeatedly mentioned "and then he would have been more mature".

Of course they are different people so they might each react in a very different way, but I don't see a year of (mostly) humble pie doing Vettel much good. I can't see how it would have made a difference to Hamilton.

I love that little german.He can curse in Finnish

If you take every ounce of criticism towards a singular event as "hating" a driver, then indeed it's a terrible world out there.

Should Vettel really get a free-of-any-criticism ride for life, just because he's so likeable (which I wholeheartedly agree with, BTW).

I mean, that's how undersquare handles Hamilton, but come on, we can't all be like that.

I don't think I've ever called anyone a hater for criticising Lewis for something he's done. For making stuff up, maybe. I may perhaps have called someone negative for spending most of their time in the MP4-24 thread and this one when they actually support another driver