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[bud]

i wouldnt change his style not when groove tyres have only 7 races before they are retired, as Lewis' aggressive late turn in and trail braking will excel on slicks.

[McLaren Fan]

i wouldnt change his style not when groove tyres have only 7 races before they are retired, as Lewis' aggressive late turn in and trail braking will excel on slicks.

Yeah, I didn't consider that. Still, maybe there is some things he can try on the simulator that may make a slight difference.

[darwin dali]

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"?

Most of the positions he gained after the puncture were because drivers in front of him pealed off for their pit stops - he was lucky it happened just around his pit window, so the puncture didn't have the catastrophic effect (in terms of his race outcome) that it otherwise could have had.

[bud]

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"?

Most of the positions he gained after the puncture were because drivers in front of him pealed off for their pit stops - he was lucky it happened just around his pit window, so the puncture didn't have the catastrophic effect (in terms of his race outcome) that it otherwise could have had.

id call his tyre failure catastrophic , and it wasnt around his pit window, he was running a long second stint and then he had to do 10 extra laps on the super softs.

[darwin dali]

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"?

Most of the positions he gained after the puncture were because drivers in front of him pealed off for their pit stops - he was lucky it happened just around his pit window, so the puncture didn't have the catastrophic effect (in terms of his race outcome) that it otherwise could have had.

id call his tyre failure catastrophic , and it wasnt around his pit window, he was running a long second stint and then he had to do 10 extra laps on the super softs.

I know he had to extend his stint, but it was still in his window, i.e., he could fill her up to the finish, basically a regular pit stop. Imagine it had happened after his last pit stop and he would have had to come in for a third time just to change tires rather than a regular pit stop.

[Hanwombat]

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.

Hey whats becomes of Hamiltons bad luck must turn to good luck for Heikki

[McLaren Fan]

I know he had to extend his stint, but it was still in his window, i.e., he could fill her up to the finish, basically a regular pit stop. Imagine it had happened after his last pit stop and he would have had to come in for a third time just to change tires rather than a regular pit stop.

If he picked up the puncture after his final scheduled stop it would have been a catastrophe, but what happened to him was still pretty bad. It was not 'basically a regular pitstop' because he lost time behind Massa because his car was substantially heavier and when he was on the prime tyre. The puncture meant he could not close the gap to Massa, take first position in his final stop and then have a much shorter distance to do on the option tyre. Yes, things could have been worse, but they could have been a lot better.

[onelapdown]

I don't know about Hamilton "folding under pressure", I think that's bull, but it's interesting that while Bridgestone have blamed Hamilton's puncture on debris they haven't totally absolved him from blame. I think if Hamilton aspires to be as good as Schumacher and some of the other greats he's going to have to learn to adjust his style a bit more, and this is where today's drivers miss out in my opinion. Schumacher and many of his contemporaries like Hill, Herbert, Brundle, Blundell and so on had experience in Sportscars, DTM, Touring Cars and the like whereas today only I think Bourdais and possibly Webber can really claim to have that crucial breadth of experience. Hamilton has only ever raced karts and single-seaters and most other F1 drivers are the same.

Here's the non-single seater* experience of ALL the current F1 drivers:
Bourdais: 5 Le Mans 24 Hours races, 5 seasons of Champcars, some FIA GT, ALMS, FIA Sportscars, Porsche Carrera Cup, IROC, Grand Am. He's probably even raced lawnmowers...
Webber: 2 seasons of Sportscars including 1 Le Mans 24 Hours
Glock: 1 season of Champcars
Coulthard: 1 Le Mans 24 Hours race and some BTCC races
Massa: 4 ETCC races
Piquet: 1 Le Mans 24 Hours
Fisichella: a handful of DTM and ETCC races

*yes, I know champcars are single-seaters but I think it's sufficiently different to be mentioned...

[McLaren Fan]

Hamilton has adjusted his style slightly this season. Anna posted an article from Autosport a week or so ago about the work Hamilton was doing on his style at McLaren's simulator. bud rightly says that slicks are coming back next season so Hamilton's current style of driving could work pretty well, so he doesn't need to completely change how he does things. A few small tweaks this season should do the job. In terms of adjusting one's driving style, Kubica has impressed me most this season. People were saying in March that he would really struggle this season without traction control. Well, in Australia he looked as though he'd been driving Formula 1 cars without traction control for years!

[texasmr2]

(from autosport)

Former world champion Damon Hill fears that Ferrari's return to form in the Hungarian Grand Prix could mark the start of a fresh period of difficulties for Lewis Hamilton and McLaren.

On the back of Hamilton's wobble at the end of last season, when he failed to score just the handful of points he needed in the final two races to secure the championship, Hill is worried that the young McLaren driver could be poised to hit trouble again.

And Hill now reckons Kimi Raikkonen is the favourite for the title.

"I'm sure Lewis wasn't happy about being pipped at the start in Hungary and I think there was a point when he thought, 'hang on, this is now looking a little bit worrying' because on qualifying pace he should have been able to hound the Ferrari, but he couldn't get close," Hill told the Daily Express.

"You start to get worried when things are not going according to plan and then, of course, he got the puncture.

"He said before the race 'I'm not counting any chickens and getting ahead of myself'. But I'm absolutely certain he thought it was in the bag.

"Ferrari's pace is the real danger. We're getting to Ferrari territory at the races from now on. If you had asked me before the race in Hungary who I would put money on (for the title), I would have said Lewis, but I have to say I would want my bet back now.

"Ferrari look strong so, as an outside bet, I would put my money on Raikkonen."

[EwanM]

Pressure pushing down on me
Pressing down on LEW... no man ask for

I still believe Hamilton is favourite for the title, in a few races time, it'll be his to lose... just like last year.