FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[bud]

the development freeze areas dont seem to have anything to do with what the problems for McLaren were in the last two races, the tyre wear and getting traction out of corners is the issue this is all rear suspension geometry issue's coupled to the longer wheelbase!
setup issue from Lewis and Heikki ? im not sure on that one. On a rubbered track Heikki showed with some traction the MP4- 23 had pace with his fastest lap. Hopefully from my point of view thay can tweak the rear end to be better on its tyres in Spain!

[EwanM]

Ach, I was just stirring things.

Alonso will come back and beat Hamilton tho.

[EwanM]

There is some evidence to back up some of his claims, though. Of his last five races, only one has really been impressive. I think that it may be a combination of an inexperienced team and also the development freeze on the McLaren due to the spying business from last year. That may also account for some of BMW Sauber's gain on them.

I'll make my own judgement at the end of the season, but I'm expecting Heikki to out-perform Lewis this season. If it wasn't for him being unlucky with the safety car in Australia, he'd be leading the WDC at the moment.

I'd like to point out that I do not think Lewis is a bad driver. He is great, but I don't think he is as great as the media would have us believe.

I agree with that. Hamilton, whilst I think he is clearly very gifted, has some obvious flaws which have been swept under the carpet by the media, especially in Britain. His inexperience has shown at times, as has the fact he can make mistakes like any other driver. (A completely separate issue is his personality, which is and isn't linked to racing. He like to show himself and the media like to show him as some humble little lad, but a few things indicate to me that he will do what it takes to win and can behave inappropriately like others. Some of this was definitely involved in last year's bust-up with Alonso, his possible rant at Ron Dennis - the guy who paid for his career - and his remarks after the Monaco Grand Prix last season, for instance.)

I also feel McLaren have been hindered slightly by being 50 million quid down on what they thought they would be, not allowed to develop several areas of the car, which they had probably done a lot of work on themselves before Ferrari's knowledge came in Coughlan's direction anyway, and Hamilton and Kovalainen don't inspire me with confidence as test drivers (but that will come in time - but probably not in time for the 2008 and 2009 seasons).

Im gonna go for that to. Hamilton's inexperience has already began to show. He got by on Alonso's shared data last year and was able to build a wdc lead up. Then once Alonso stopped doing this, Hamilton's pace dropped. He wouldn't have won in Hungary if you could actually over take and Alonso wasn't penalised. He wouldn't have won in Fuji if Webber had continued. And we know what happened in Spa, Monza, Shanghai and Brazil where he was either not fast enough or out classed. Remember in GP2 he wasn't exactly magnificant in winning, Piquet ran him VERY VERY close and often out qualified him. Hamilton was helped by the reverse grid policies. People go on his Turkey drive in GP2, that was one drive... Look at Kimi winning in Suzuka in 2005 for a real drive .

Kovalainen is getting himself accustomed to Mclaren very nicely, he won't be champion this year, but he will keep his head down and get results. Hopefully win a few races this year. They rely on De La Rosa, who though his experience in racing is large... he wasn't the fastest driver out there, by a long shot.

[texasmr2]

I would also agree that Lewis's inexperience got to him alittle, just a little, but not as much than being just downright flustered with himself for bumbling the start. He is a very talented driver who put's alot of pressure upon himself because he know's he is fast and with each passing seaon he will mature most into F1's most dominant driver.

The pressure for Hamilton to perform come's from many sector's not just from himself. He know's he is in the spotlight and he must learn to just ignore that and get on with his job. Heikki does not have this same pressure and has a different personality so his performance's as of late are proof of that imo.

[Kimi_Hamilton]

You all missed the most important bit...

FA said "for sure".

It didn't pass me by, check my first reply

[onelapdown]

I think Hamilton's at a minor crossroads, because as has been said he's only had 1 good weekend since Fuji. Part of the problem may be that where as last year he could twist the situation with Alonso into added motivation, with a chummy team-mate like Kovalainen any falling out between the two will come from Lewis, not that that's likely. Sunday was quite definitely the low point of Hamilton's F1 career so far, but I can't imagine that talent has simply disappeared between Oz and Malaysia. The question isn't whether Hamilton was just a flash in the pan, the question is whether he will get back to championship form before the gap to the leaders becomes insurmountable.

[madbrad]

Yeah I'm pretty sure Ferrari had something to do with it. First thing that came to mind when I saw it.

[darwin dali]

Yeah I'm pretty sure Ferrari had something to do with it. First thing that came to mind when I saw it.

As in conspiracy?

[Rivelution]

The reason Hamilton ran into the back of Alsonso is because his front wing failed just before he ran into Alonso, which gave him the burst of speed. According to Formula1.com....

McLaren have confirmed that Lewis Hamilton’s front wing broke immediately prior to his running into the rear of Fernando Alonso’s Renault on lap two of Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

The unusual nature of the accident - both drivers were accelerating on a straight section of track - prompted cynics to question whether Alonso had ‘brake tested’ his former team mate. Renault’s telemetry suggested otherwise, and McLaren say they have no suspicion of any wrongdoing on the part of the Spaniard.

“When I went into the engineers’ room and started looking at the details that I realised Lewis’s upper front wing had disappeared about two seconds before the accident, so he suddenly lost downforce,” explained McLaren’s Formula One CEO, Martin Whitmarsh.

“We haven’t analysed why that happened but we suspect the structure had been weakened by previous contact. To be fair to Lewis it could have broken of its own accord, but that has never happened before so contact is the most likely cause. There’s certainly no evidence that Fernando did anything wrong.”

Such a failure would have robbed Hamilton’s car of not only downforce, but also drag, giving it an unexpected burst of acceleration, explaining the unlikely impact

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2008/4/7615.html

[darwin dali]

FA stated already that LH had bumped into his defuser once before the accident happened. So there, LH screwed up, weakened the frontwing mount which then broke off and thus, the accident.

[6thsecondfaster]

People like you should concentrate on a drivers overall performance and not jump onto a new forum to whinge like a twat over one race and ignore every other performance of said driver!
the only loser is you mate

Ok lets look at Hamilton's "every other performance" in 2007:

Hungary: Starting to get very cocky, blocks FA during qualifying. FA probably complained to RD but LH being RD's protege he would hear nothing of it. FA retaliated (but he shouldn't have) by staying ten seconds in the pit with LH behind. Yes, FA should have done his talking on the track.

China: Drives for too long and gets his tyre busted. I think greediness got in the way there.

Japan: LH tries to overtake FA in such a arrogant way that caused him to veer off wide and lose the WDC. You just have to look at the odds that the bookies were giving for the last race for KR to come first and LH to come sixth. All LH had to do was to cruise the car back home.

With the best car in 2007 and a full team behind you, but you still do not win? Imagine what the result would be if Mclaren had fully supported FA? In Bahrain, Alonso shouldn't have raised his hand while still behind Timo. But I think that Alonso still is a fairer and better driver than Hamilton.

[Denthúl]

The only thing I can say about your post really, 6thsecondfaster, is that you mean Brazil, not Japan.

[6thsecondfaster]

The only thing I can say about your post really, 6thsecondfaster, is that you mean Brazil, not Japan.

Sorry everyone. Denthúl, you're right. Japan used to be the last race years ago.

[bud]

People like you should concentrate on a drivers overall performance and not jump onto a new forum to whinge like a twat over one race and ignore every other performance of said driver!
the only loser is you mate

Ok lets look at Hamilton's "every other performance" in 2007:

Hungary: Starting to get very cocky, blocks FA during qualifying. FA probably complained to RD but LH being RD's protege he would hear nothing of it. FA retaliated (but he shouldn't have) by staying ten seconds in the pit with LH behind. Yes, FA should have done his talking on the track.

China: Drives for too long and gets his tyre busted. I think greediness got in the way there.

Japan: LH tries to overtake FA in such a arrogant way that caused him to veer off wide and lose the WDC. You just have to look at the odds that the bookies were giving for the last race for KR to come first and LH to come sixth. All LH had to do was to cruise the car back home.

With the best car in 2007 and a full team behind you, but you still do not win? Imagine what the result would be if Mclaren had fully supported FA? In Bahrain, Alonso shouldn't have raised his hand while still behind Timo. But I think that Alonso still is a fairer and better driver than Hamilton.

funny i thought there were more races in the 2007 season. i mean you just said lets look at ALL his other performances.

Again this is typical hyperwankselectivebullshit

[texasmr2]

Again this is typical hyperwankselectivebullshit

Dude your vicious!!!