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[McLaren Fan]

Lewis Hamilton burst on the scene this season in a similar way to Jacques Villeneuve in 1996... but despite winning the title in his second season, Jacques did more or less nothing of note in F1 after that.

Do people think that might happen to Hamilton, given that he's most likely going to be at McLaren for the foreseeable future, and that they seem to be quite inconsistent when producing cars capable of challenging for the title? It's entirely possible that this season could be his best chance at the title for a fair few seasons....

Villeneuve (and Hill) was an average driver. The only reason he won anything was because the Williams' cars were really untouchable. A better driver than those pair would have made them go even quicker. On the other hand, Hamilton has shown he compete with a car that was very equal with the Ferrari with top drawer opposition. I fail to see the parallels between the two.

[8-ball]

No one will overtake Schumacher in the record books and I for one dont want to see it happen - never again do i want to watch such one sided garbage as what we had when Schu was in the Ferrari. I dont care if the guy (Hamilton) was my brother - that kind of domination coupled with team orders was and is bad for the sport.

Kimi is now settled in at Ferrari and I can't see him losing the title next year or the year after that. The kimi domination has only just started

[Woodchip]

8-ball, I hope that was irony.

[scotty]

Lewis Hamilton burst on the scene this season in a similar way to Jacques Villeneuve in 1996... but despite winning the title in his second season, Jacques did more or less nothing of note in F1 after that.

Do people think that might happen to Hamilton, given that he's most likely going to be at McLaren for the foreseeable future, and that they seem to be quite inconsistent when producing cars capable of challenging for the title? It's entirely possible that this season could be his best chance at the title for a fair few seasons....

Villeneuve (and Hill) was an average driver. The only reason he won anything was because the Williams' cars were really untouchable. A better driver than those pair would have made them go even quicker. On the other hand, Hamilton has shown he compete with a car that was very equal with the Ferrari with top drawer opposition. I fail to see the parallels between the two.

Your point is valid, but it is not so much Hamilton's skill level but more the supposed McLaren inconsistency that i am referring to, see my second post in this thread. Hamilton obviously has skills because he hung in with the big two (Alonso and Raikkonen) until the pressure got to him (still a rookie, so can't fault him too much).

I wasn't trying to parallel Villeneuve and Hamilton as such, i just used that as a starting point for the discussion. Two people i would parallel however would be Hill and Massa, give them a good car and clear air in the lead and they will disappear, but other than that not especially good drivers.

I just feel that McLaren as a constructor will have a tough time making a car as good as this seasons with all the scrutiny that is heading their way, and to a lesser extent, the impact of all the BS that occured this season within the team. It's gonna be interesting...

8-ball, I hope that was irony.

Why? It's an entirely possible concept... Just look at how this season ended, anything can happen!

[Cillit Bang]

Two people i would parallel however would be Hill and Massa, give them a good car and clear air in the lead and they will disappear, but other than that not especially good drivers.

I honestly believe Massa is a better driver than people give him credit. Like you say, there's no doubt he's better when out in front, and I also think he can lose his head when defending or trying to take a position (Sepang vs Hamilton, Nurburgring vs Alonso).

But I really think if he can keep it together, and continue listening to Mr Schumacher, there's no reason why he can't mount a serious title challenge next year. I hope he does.