FORUMula1.com

[headless]

He drove sensibly but so did/do many other drivers.

[Denthúl]

He drove sensibly but so did/do many other drivers.

Yes, but if you compare it to drives in France and Bahrain, it shows a different level of maturity from him. Instead of overdriving like he has done in a number of races in his career so far, locking up at every corner, running wide etc. he kept it on track, kept his head level and got on with the job. That, to me, is handling pressure quite well.

[headless]

He drove sensibly but so did/do many other drivers.

Yes, but if you compare it to drives in France and Bahrain, it shows a different level of maturity from him. Instead of overdriving like he has done in a number of races in his career so far, locking up at every corner, running wide etc. he kept it on track, kept his head level and got on with the job. That, to me, is handling pressure quite well.

Fair point. You are right.

[Mikep99]

I thought it was a mature drive from the hammeroide.
He did not go out like a bull at a gate after Massa on loosing the lead.
Not sure he could have done anything about it

But I think he now realizes he does not have to win everything to be a WDC

[billindenver]

It's no secret that I'm not a Hamilton fan, but short of getting smoked on the start and being outpaced by a Ferrari which he assured everyone in the quali press conference that he had speed in hand on....he drove a mature race. The puncture was probably not his fault, though I admit I might have cheered him through that entire flat tire lap.

His end of race was nothing spectacular...everyone in front of him needed to pit. He was what, 35 seconds behind the leaders after his flat tire stop and his lap times were at least a second off the pace for the rest of the race. He wasn't catching the leaders, he wasn't dominating the field and suffering bad luck....but he wasn't overdriving the car or beaching it in the pit lane either. An improvement for Hammy I think....typically when he is behind he melts down. This time at least he took his defeat in stride.

With that said, the self appointed driver as good as Schumy......wasn't today.

[F1racer]

He badly flat spotted his right front...that is what caused the "puncture"...

[bud]

He badly flat spotted his right front...that is what caused the "puncture"...

he did? wow its amazing then that his front left got the puncture...... now run along champ

[EwanM]

He badly flat spotted his right front...that is what caused the "puncture"...

he did? wow its amazing then that his front left got the puncture...... now run along champ

Now now...
... depends wt side u look at the car.
hahaha, drivers left. front on right hehe
Id call it left though.

[IceManpjn]

Any doubt now that wonder boy folds under pressure more often then not?

This was a completely baseless accusation. I saw nothing during the entire race that suggested this, and in fact he did a remarkable job of regaining lost positions after his tire was replaced. He had to limp into pit lane with a worthless tire and still finished in fifth. It's awful difficult not to respect that.

How was any of that "folding under pressure"?

[bud]

He badly flat spotted his right front...that is what caused the "puncture"...

he did? wow its amazing then that his front left got the puncture...... now run along champ

Now now...
... depends wt side u look at the car.
hahaha, drivers left. front on right hehe
Id call it left though.

its called the front left doesnt matter if you look at it upside down through a periscope its still the front left

[Matkins]

There's quite a lot of Hamilton hatred. Not just on this forum, absolutely everywhere. And i understand it, ITV worship him and i can see it makes people sick. It even makes me sick, and I'm a fan. He seemed to be really under tons of pressure just before the Silverstone race where he turned it around. Today there was certainly a lot of pressure from Massa, and pressure from the puncture incident. And I'll say he kept his cool, at least in the car. He only looks comfortable in front of the media when he's won.

There's always comparisons drawn between Hamilton and Senna, or Hamilton and Schumy. It's early days to compare him to such geniuses, but one thing is certain, he's the most adored/hated driver since Schumy, and it's only his 2nd season.

[KyrosV]

The puncture is probably cause of the one weekness in the mclaren. We all know the mclaren is hard on its tyres, especially those at the front. So when Lewis combined with pressure and his eratic driving style and pushing harder. its always gonna end up in tears. its not the first time its happened. and it wont be the last. Hamiltons not such a great driver when he hasnt got the better performing car. I felt sorry for Massa when his car blew up because he deserved to win. the ferrari is not the best car at the momment but he somehow got it to perform better than the mclaren on sunday, And he is my preference to win the championship over Kimi and Lewis.

[EwanM]

He badly flat spotted his right front...that is what caused the "puncture"...

he did? wow its amazing then that his front left got the puncture...... now run along champ

Now now...
... depends wt side u look at the car.
hahaha, drivers left. front on right hehe
Id call it left though.

its called the front left doesnt matter if you look at it upside down through a periscope its still the front left

Right.

[McLaren Fan]

The puncture is probably cause of the one weekness in the mclaren. We all know the mclaren is hard on its tyres, especially those at the front. So when Lewis combined with pressure and his eratic driving style and pushing harder. its always gonna end up in tears. its not the first time its happened. and it wont be the last. Hamiltons not such a great driver when he hasnt got the better performing car. I felt sorry for Massa when his car blew up because he deserved to win. the ferrari is not the best car at the momment but he somehow got it to perform better than the mclaren on sunday, And he is my preference to win the championship over Kimi and Lewis.

To be honest, whilst the Ferrari is not as sharp in qualifying, it's race pace is good because the track tends to come to the F2008 and it looks after its tyres better than the MP4-23. Whilst Massa did very well, I don't think he did anything extraordinary to keep a reasonable gap between himself and Hamilton.

[McLaren Fan]

From F1 Live:

Lewis Hamilton exposed himself to a greater risk of getting a puncture by flat-spotting his tyre during the Hungarian Grand Prix.

That was the analysis at the Hungaroring of Bridgestone's racing boss Hirohide Hamashima, who said immediately after the race that the McLaren driver's problem was probably the result of hitting debris rather than a failure.

"A flat spot makes you more vulnerable to a puncture," the Japanese told the Telegraph, "because it makes the tyre thinner in that area and therefore you have less protection against debris damage."

Hamilton had three tyre problems in his rookie title challenge last year, leading some to suggest his notably aggressive driving style may be contributing to the problem.

He told reporters in Budapest: "I was the one to get a puncture and it was a case of 'Oh no, not again'."

"I had it three times last year and that's what really lost me the championship," Hamilton added.

Source: GMM
© CAPSIS International

It seems them that it was a case of both bad luck that Hamilton hit a piece of debris and that it was partly down to his driving style. Hamilton will have to work on driving style somewhat. There is only so much McLaren can do to improve the situation in terms of car design and setup. Hamilton needs to tweak how he drives.