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[Frosty]

I think Lewis has some major problems that he needs to overcome to win multiple WDC's his natural talent is not in doubt that is quite clear but I think he is lacking in some other major aspects. The problems I think he has are car development don't think he can develop a car throughout the season like Michael Schumacher or Alonso could though this may come with experience. I don't think he has very good race strategies some of the time. His tyre wear is far to great and consistently costs him in races. The final major problem I think he has is Tyre choices he often makes bad tyre choices in races and qualifying. He's a good driver at the moment but if he sorts his problems out then he will be one of the greats!

[onelapdown]

Hi Frosty, haven't seen you for a while

Firstly on car development I really don't think the McLaren is doing badly against the Ferrari in development terms. There's been little to choose between them all year, and it's not just the drivers that contribute to this.

I don't really see where his strategies have cost him. They may not be the inspired genius that Brawn and Schumacher used to come up with, but they have been solid enough.

I think he DID have big problems with tyre wear early in the season, to the point where his strategy in Turkey was dictated by it, but he worked hard on that and now seems to have sorted it out. He did overheat all three sets of tyres on Sunday a bit, but he was trying to do the impossible so he had to throw caution to the wind to some extent. Raikkonen's tyres quite clearly didn't wear out in the final stint, but Hamilton scored and he didn't.

I don't actually think that, Saturday apart, Hamilton has made many bad choices on tyres. His choices in the race on Sunday may ultimately have cost him in retrospect, but they were the logical choices given the information they had at the time so it was more a case of bad weather reports and bad luck.

So in short, I don't think Hamilton is doing too badly on these counts.

He is still learning but like many people my main issue with him is increasingly that he is rather too prone to letting his confidence get the better of him in interviews, and I think other drivers and teams are getting rather tired of him. That's not good.

Another thing I didn't like is that he was rather too aggressive when overtaking Glock and holding off Webber. I was surprised he wasn't called before the beak for that, and I would have no complaints if he had been. Fingers crossed it was a one-off because I don't think Hamilton is an unfair racer at heart.

[FLAT_OUT]

To my opinion, Hamilton is a remarkable driver - Imagine storming to the top seven of the field from fifteenth under tricky and difficult situations. Not only that, but he has proved last year as a rookie that he is at par with the current world champion (at that time) who happens to be his teammate, Fernando Alonso.

The way I see it, the problem with Lewis is really not so much on the technical side, but on the psychological aspect. In the past, I have seen Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello (when he was still with Ferrari) blasting from the back of the grid to the front without deliberately "cutting" someone's path when overtaking, like Lewis did with Alonso. This aggressive show of force comes across to me as a sign of revenge, or possibly he likes to send the message, "I am a lot better than you", or "compared to me, you are nothing" or maybe "I hate you". He did a similar move too with Mark Webber by boxing him out on the closing stages of the race, which I find very arrogant and unprofessional.

I think Lewis still has a lot of room for maturity, considering he's a young man after all.

I wish no war with the Lewis and McLaren fans, but peace...

[welshie]

I think that the reason Lewis is forceful when overtaking is more to do with not wanting to give the opposition a chance of fighting back. He always leaves JUST enough room for the other car to be there, but leaves them with no option but to back of as he moves to the racing line. Is simple but very effective.

[Kiwi_Chris]

the bigest issue for Lewis is that he over uses his tyres. Mclaren have excellent test drivers in De la Rosa and Paffett so that they can give Lewis and Heikki time to develop the skills needed to develop a car through the season.
He is aggressive out on the circuit but hey that is motor racing and at the end of the day if he is moving to defend his position as long as he doesnt hit the other car its legal - it might not be pretty or 'sporting' but Senna and Shumacher have done a lot worse things to win a championship

[McLaren Fan]

Hi Frosty, haven't seen you for a while

Firstly on car development I really don't think the McLaren is doing badly against the Ferrari in development terms. There's been little to choose between them all year, and it's not just the drivers that contribute to this.

I don't really see where his strategies have cost him. They may not be the inspired genius that Brawn and Schumacher used to come up with, but they have been solid enough.

I think he DID have big problems with tyre wear early in the season, to the point where his strategy in Turkey was dictated by it, but he worked hard on that and now seems to have sorted it out. He did overheat all three sets of tyres on Sunday a bit, but he was trying to do the impossible so he had to throw caution to the wind to some extent. Raikkonen's tyres quite clearly didn't wear out in the final stint, but Hamilton scored and he didn't.

I don't actually think that, Saturday apart, Hamilton has made many bad choices on tyres. His choices in the race on Sunday may ultimately have cost him in retrospect, but they were the logical choices given the information they had at the time so it was more a case of bad weather reports and bad luck.

So in short, I don't think Hamilton is doing too badly on these counts.

He is still learning but like many people my main issue with him is increasingly that he is rather too prone to letting his confidence get the better of him in interviews, and I think other drivers and teams are getting rather tired of him. That's not good.

Another thing I didn't like is that he was rather too aggressive when overtaking Glock and holding off Webber. I was surprised he wasn't called before the beak for that, and I would have no complaints if he had been. Fingers crossed it was a one-off because I don't think Hamilton is an unfair racer at heart.

I agree. Tyre wear is an issue for Hamilton, but this has improved a fair bit recently, as he was able to adjust his driving style slightly as McLaren's boffins worked out there were performance gains to be hand by lessening the MP4-23's reliance on a good front end. Hence, the new, smaller radiator grills were needed. It can still creep up, however, and Hamilton needs to tweak this slightly. That said, with slicks coming back next year, his aggressive driving style should be rewarded. Also, look at Raikkonen and Heidfeld's tyre problems. It's something not exclusive to Hamilton and that can take a while to sort out. Hamilton changing his style as quickly and as effectively as he has done is a testament to his talent.

[cap-dude]

He's arrogant really. He should be thanking multiple gods he's in the situation that he's in right now. Joining a race winning team in your first year. You don't get much more luck than that. Look at Massa Kimi Alonso, and Schuy, all of which started in a lower team.

Also, he tends to be completely over the top and disrespectful on the track. Thus destroying his tyre's, and pushing his luck under overtaking. Look at Bahrain France and Canada, all 3 he made stupid mistakes.

[McLaren Fan]

Hamilton's driving has matured a lot since then. Yeah, he's arrogant alright, and I do have a problem with some of his remarks, but as a driver, he is a class act and can only get better. It's unusual to see a rookie being parachuted into a winning team like McLaren, and part of this has probably blown up the size of his head even more, but, to be fair to him, he had the balls to ask Ron Dennis for a drive when he was knee high - something no other young gun has done. For that, he deserves some credit.

[Frosty]

I see a lot of valid points here i would like to clarify that i do think that hamilton is a very skilled driver and he does seem to be maturing but if he wants to be the best then he needs more than just talent he needs everything to be right. He needs to clean up his act make some better choices and he will win many many championships if he does not do those things then he will just win the odd title here and there when he gets a bit lucky! I would say that the McLaren seem to have done a lot better in developing the car this second half of the season, i think that Lewis has been learning how to develop a car this year because last year i think Alonso was doing a lot of development. I think if Alonso had been in a Ferrari this season then the title would probably going to him. Maybe it will just take a couple of years for Hamilton to come good.

[Emmaeliza]

To my opinion, Hamilton is a remarkable driver - Imagine storming to the top seven of the field from fifteenth under tricky and difficult situations. Not only that, but he has proved last year as a rookie that he is at par with the current world champion (at that time) who happens to be his teammate, Fernando Alonso.

The way I see it, the problem with Lewis is really not so much on the technical side, but on the psychological aspect. In the past, I have seen Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello (when he was still with Ferrari) blasting from the back of the grid to the front without deliberately "cutting" someone's path when overtaking, like Lewis did with Alonso. This aggressive show of force comes across to me as a sign of revenge, or possibly he likes to send the message, "I am a lot better than you", or "compared to me, you are nothing" or maybe "I hate you". He did a similar move too with Mark Webber by boxing him out on the closing stages of the race, which I find very arrogant and unprofessional.

I think Lewis still has a lot of room for maturity, considering he's a young man after all.

I wish no war with the Lewis and McLaren fans, but peace...

I he was trying to say something with his driving but I doubt this was the message he was trying to say. I believe it was something like "I get knocked down and I get up again" (trys not to sing the song) or "This is what I can do, don't doubt me"... I think it was more of a message to the press and the fans rather than that certain driver...

I hope he sorts out whatever problems he has because his talent is imense and he has the potensial to break schumachers record, he just has to learn and become more mature.

[Matkins]

He's arrogant really. He should be thanking multiple gods he's in the situation that he's in right now. Joining a race winning team in your first year. You don't get much more luck than that. Look at Massa Kimi Alonso, and Schuy, all of which started in a lower team.

He didn't wake up one day to inexplicably find he was in the McLaren team. He got himself there, and it all started with the currage to approach Ron Dennis at an extremely young age. I'd agree that there's luck in that McLaren happen to be very competitive at the very time he enters F1. Because for years before they were the underdogs to Ferrari, Renault and Williams. But it does take more than just a great car, it's knowing how to use it, and it didn't take him long to get to grips with that McLaren and outperform a two time world champion. But your right, he does have a lot of people to thank (although i wouldn't have reffered to any of them as gods). Do you notice however, that Hamilton is ALWAYS thanking his team for a great car and great support. He's certainly not ungrateful, arrogant yes, ungreatful no.

Also, he tends to be completely over the top and disrespectful on the track. Thus destroying his tyre's, and pushing his luck under overtaking. Look at Bahrain France and Canada, all 3 he made stupid mistakes.

He's not the only person making mistakes out there. And in my opinion the way he drives, overtakes, blocks etc is no more aggressive than the likes of Schumacher, Montoya, and i wont say the other one that comes to mind because it even makes me cringe when he gets compared to the greatest.
In short; aggression and merciless driving is nothing new in this sport. Get over it. But what goes around comes around, so he will surely get some rookie muscling his way past him one day too, and he wont be able to complain about it. (it would be happening already if Ferrari had the guts or foresight to sign someone like Vettle instead of resigning the same old).

[f1maniac95]

I think Hamilton is an excellent driver and is steadily improving with the tyre wear problem but he is arroagtn mainly because of jumping into a top team from day 1.

[cap-dude]

Hello people. Do you honestly think that other drivers don't approach big teams ASAP. Of course they do, and they all get turned down. Hamilton has been the only one lucky enough to get a drive straight away. He was also lucky that the free seat was there,
and that McLaren already the experienced Alonso onboard, so they could risk a young driver.

[Ferrarista]

Let's not forget he's ...very young!

[bud]

Hello people. Do you honestly think that other drivers don't approach big teams ASAP. Of course they do, and they all get turned down. Hamilton has been the only one lucky enough to get a drive straight away. He was also lucky that the free seat was there,
and that McLaren already the experienced Alonso onboard, so they could risk a young driver.

he may have been lucky to have been helped along his way but people always forget when this is brought up that natural talent and determination are what truly got him the drive in the end! something that cannot be bought or trained!

or do people think when he was 12 in 1997 that Ron had already planned a seat for him in 2007 and that was it?