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[racechick]

Just to pour some oil in the fire :


Martin Whitmarsh, Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“Today we saw yet another brilliant performance from Jenson, who has driven magnificently all season but particularly in the second half of it. It was his eighth podium finish in the past nine grands prix – and the odd race out in that splendidly consistent sequence was the Korean Grand Prix, in which he finished a fighting fourth.

Today hedrove cleanly, shrewdly and patiently – but forcefully too – and the way he optimised his pace on the Prime tyre was masterful. He drove his two final stints on the Prime, in fact, which enabled him to hunt down Fernando’s Ferrari in the closing stages of the race to take a beautifully judged third place."

I was firmly on the fence in this conspiracy theory....but you gotta admit this is really laying it on thick...

Glad someone else is noticing. In fact Ive seen threads about this behaviour on lots of forums. Jenson's performance was not brilliant, or magnificent, or any of those other stupid OTT words he used. It was an ok drive.

[bud]

Get over it, if he used those words to describe Jenson if he had a retirement then for sure you can make stupid claims. But he had a good race ran the primes 2times to the others around him 1 and still made the podium.

[myownalias]

JB has driven really well this season, many pundits and fans agree that JB's driving this season has been better than that of his world championship winning year. I can't blame MW for laying it on a little thick, he got a load of stick when he signed JB, just about everyone claimed that LH would blow JB away and that simply hasn't been the case. Ron Dennis laid the praise on LH during the 2007/08 season pretty thick as well, no-one complained about that did they?!?! The facts are that JB is a match for LH, last season LH was better, this season JB was better... I'm looking forward to next seasons battle between the two Brits... should be a good one if LH can get his head in the right place to go racing!

[racechick]

Get over it, if he used those words to describe Jenson if he had a retirement then for sure you can make stupid claims. But he had a good race ran the primes 2times to the others around him 1 and still made the podium.

He finished where he started, got mugged by Alonso and couldnt catch an ailing(apparantly) Vettel. He recovered his place when the Ferrari's tyres went off. He did an ok race. None of the superlatives neccessary.

[Hammer278]

Get over it, if he used those words to describe Jenson if he had a retirement then for sure you can make stupid claims. But he had a good race ran the primes 2times to the others around him 1 and still made the podium.

He finished where he started, got mugged by Alonso and couldnt catch an ailing(apparantly) Vettel. He recovered his place when the Ferrari's tyres went off. He did an ok race. None of the superlatives neccessary.

Err..yeah, and Hamilton was all over him till he lost 7th gear and was still keeping pace.

I don't blame Whitmarsh much for his comments....he just puts on a bit too much praise but praise is okay. However, lets keep things in perspective here...Button was nowhere near 'driver of the day'...3rd place is where he should expect to finish, especially since his teammate is out.

[racechick]

JB has driven really well this season, many pundits and fans agree that JB's driving this season has been better than that of his world championship winning year. I can't blame MW for laying it on a little thick, he got a load of stick when he signed JB, just about everyone claimed that LH would blow JB away and that simply hasn't been the case. Ron Dennis laid the praise on LH during the 2007/08 season pretty thick as well, no-one complained about that did they?!?! The facts are that JB is a match for LH, last season LH was better, this season JB was better... I'm looking forward to next seasons battle between the two Brits... should be a good one if LH can get his head in the right place to go racing!

Undoutably Jenson has done better this year but....
If Jenson has had the season of his life and Lewis a dog of a season. And Jenson is getting praised to the heavens and Lewis lambasted. That says it all, However Whitmarsh tries to dress it up otherwise.

Interestingly while all the bullpoo and speculation has been going on about why Lewis has been so bad this year (girlfriend, manager, Button being faster(Whitmarsh's contribution),cant manage tyres, cant adapt to rules, misjudges things, scrappy, problems with Stewards etc etc etc)Lewis himself has tried to just say its personal, its private but people wont let that rest. What I did hear is that this year he's lost two close friends.
Lewis is open, and honest and it goes against him. He doesnt deal well with devious people and its easy for people use his nature against him.

[cheekybru]

"What I did hear is that this year he's lost two close friends"

Lost? as in they died?

[racechick]

"What I did hear is that this year he's lost two close friends"

Lost? as in they died?

Yes.

[bud]

Get over it, if he used those words to describe Jenson if he had a retirement then for sure you can make stupid claims. But he had a good race ran the primes 2times to the others around him 1 and still made the podium.

He finished where he started, got mugged by Alonso and couldnt catch an ailing(apparantly) Vettel. He recovered his place when the Ferrari's tyres went off. He did an ok race. None of the superlatives neccessary.

Yo must have missed the part where he ran an extra set of primes, which the others didn't as they are slower. The guys not he pit wall know more than we do.
He was over ten seconds behind Vettel and was only 5 tenths a lap faster at best with 5 laps left... do the math. Not catching Vettel is by no means a failure. and Ferraris tyres didn't go off, as all season Ferrari have not handled the Primes as well as Redbull and McLaren. So while Ferrari were faster on the options with heavy fuel loads as seen in the first start of the race. Come prime time they are crap and thus Button had no problem catching and passing Fernando. If lewis had not had gear box issues he too probably would have passed Fernando but that is speculative as it depends on how long he was stuck behind the snail Massa. the moment his gear box he was actually close enough to make the pass stick with DRS.

[Hammer278]

Get over it, if he used those words to describe Jenson if he had a retirement then for sure you can make stupid claims. But he had a good race ran the primes 2times to the others around him 1 and still made the podium.

He finished where he started, got mugged by Alonso and couldnt catch an ailing(apparantly) Vettel. He recovered his place when the Ferrari's tyres went off. He did an ok race. None of the superlatives neccessary.

Yo must have missed the part where he ran an extra set of primes, which the others didn't as they are slower. The guys not he pit wall know more than we do.
He was over ten seconds behind Vettel and was only 5 tenths a lap faster at best with 5 laps left... do the math. Not catching Vettel is by no means a failure. and Ferraris tyres didn't go off, as all season Ferrari have not handled the Primes as well as Redbull and McLaren. So while Ferrari were faster on the options with heavy fuel loads as seen in the first start of the race. Come prime time they are crap and thus Button had no problem catching and passing Fernando. If lewis had not had gear box issues he too probably would have passed Fernando but that is speculative as it depends on how long he was stuck behind the snail Massa. the moment his gear box he was actually close enough to make the pass stick with DRS.

Err would like to interject here, he did have issues with 7th gear. Which meant braking for the first corner was always tricky and you need to get that right to have the opportunity at DRS. He was all over Massa everywhere in the lap except for the first two corners, which was the most crucial part of the lap to make a move stick.

You're not questioning Lewis' overtaking ability are you?

[LewEngBridewell]

Lewis Hamilton is "confident" about about signing new contract with McLaren.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula ... 928246.stm

"I don't think there's any question of my commitment to the team," the 26-year-old said. "I just want to continue on this path."

Asked whether he thought it was likely he would stay, Hamilton replied: "I do. I'm confident about that."

[racechick]

Get over it, if he used those words to describe Jenson if he had a retirement then for sure you can make stupid claims. But he had a good race ran the primes 2times to the others around him 1 and still made the podium.

He finished where he started, got mugged by Alonso and couldnt catch an ailing(apparantly) Vettel. He recovered his place when the Ferrari's tyres went off. He did an ok race. None of the superlatives neccessary.

Yo must have missed the part where he ran an extra set of primes, which the others didn't as they are slower. The guys not he pit wall know more than we do.
He was over ten seconds behind Vettel and was only 5 tenths a lap faster at best with 5 laps left... do the math. Not catching Vettel is by no means a failure. and Ferraris tyres didn't go off, as all season Ferrari have not handled the Primes as well as Redbull and McLaren. So while Ferrari were faster on the options with heavy fuel loads as seen in the first start of the race. Come prime time they are crap and thus Button had no problem catching and passing Fernando. If lewis had not had gear box issues he too probably would have passed Fernando but that is speculative as it depends on how long he was stuck behind the snail Massa. the moment his gear box he was actually close enough to make the pass stick with DRS.

Jens chose primes because he couldnt get the options to work...said so after the race. It was still only an ok race.

[myownalias]

Undoutably Jenson has done better this year but....
If Jenson has had the season of his life and Lewis a dog of a season. And Jenson is getting praised to the heavens and Lewis lambasted. That says it all, However Whitmarsh tries to dress it up otherwise.

Interestingly while all the bullpoo and speculation has been going on about why Lewis has been so bad this year (girlfriend, manager, Button being faster(Whitmarsh's contribution),cant manage tyres, cant adapt to rules, misjudges things, scrappy, problems with Stewards etc etc etc)Lewis himself has tried to just say its personal, its private but people wont let that rest. What I did hear is that this year he's lost two close friends.
Lewis is open, and honest and it goes against him. He doesnt deal well with devious people and its easy for people use his nature against him.

I have never said that Jenson was faster, but Jenson uses his head more when driving and often deals with changeable conditions better, Lewis tends to drive with his heart on his sleeve, undoubtedly Lewis is faster over over one lap in general but Jenson has come a long way in raw pace this season and I can only believe he will be stronger next season and it will be a good battle between the two Brits! I don't believe that MW has said anything that isn't true, yes MW does 'prefer' Jenson to Lewis, just the same as Ron Dennis preferred Lewis over Alonso/Kovalainen. Lewis had made a lot of poor judgement calls on and off the track this season, Jenson has not put a foot wrong all season... driving in F1 is more than just having raw speed, in my opinion I think that Lewis is far from the best all round driver, I believe him to be too emotional and too hot headed, this seasons events have proven that!

[andrew]

Just to pour some oil in the fire :


Martin Whitmarsh, Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“Today we saw yet another brilliant performance from Jenson, who has driven magnificently all season but particularly in the second half of it. It was his eighth podium finish in the past nine grands prix – and the odd race out in that splendidly consistent sequence was the Korean Grand Prix, in which he finished a fighting fourth.

Today hedrove cleanly, shrewdly and patiently – but forcefully too – and the way he optimised his pace on the Prime tyre was masterful. He drove his two final stints on the Prime, in fact, which enabled him to hunt down Fernando’s Ferrari in the closing stages of the race to take a beautifully judged third place."

I was firmly on the fence in this conspiracy theory....but you gotta admit this is really laying it on thick...

Glad someone else is noticing. In fact Ive seen threads about this behaviour on lots of forums. Jenson's performance was not brilliant, or magnificent, or any of those other stupid OTT words he used. It was an ok drive.

Let's try putting this into context. Have you ever thought that Whitmarsh was asked about Button so he answered on Button only as Hamilton would be irrelevant to that conversation? Then he was probably asked about Hamilton and answered on Hamilton only and Button would be irrelevant to that conversation.

[racechick]

Undoutably Jenson has done better this year but....
If Jenson has had the season of his life and Lewis a dog of a season. And Jenson is getting praised to the heavens and Lewis lambasted. That says it all, However Whitmarsh tries to dress it up otherwise.

Interestingly while all the bullpoo and speculation has been going on about why Lewis has been so bad this year (girlfriend, manager, Button being faster(Whitmarsh's contribution),cant manage tyres, cant adapt to rules, misjudges things, scrappy, problems with Stewards etc etc etc)Lewis himself has tried to just say its personal, its private but people wont let that rest. What I did hear is that this year he's lost two close friends.
Lewis is open, and honest and it goes against him. He doesnt deal well with devious people and its easy for people use his nature against him.

I have never said that Jenson was faster, but Jenson uses his head more when driving and often deals with changeable conditions better, Lewis tends to drive with his heart on his sleeve, undoubtedly Lewis is faster over over one lap in general but Jenson has come a long way in raw pace this season and I can only believe he will be stronger next season and it will be a good battle between the two Brits! I don't believe that MW has said anything that isn't true, yes MW does 'prefer' Jenson to Lewis, just the same as Ron Dennis preferred Lewis over Alonso/Kovalainen. Lewis had made a lot of poor judgement calls on and off the track this season, Jenson has not put a foot wrong all season... driving in F1 is more than just having raw speed, in my opinion I think that Lewis is far from the best all round driver, I believe him to be too emotional and too hot headed, this seasons events have proven that!

I agree largely with you, though not completely.Lewis doesnt just drive with his heart on his sleeve, he lives with it on his sleeve, and yes, it's his achilies heal, absolutely agree. But he can drive with his head and he has done. You say jenson's 'raw pace' is developing. I dont think raw pace develops, I think thats something inate that you have.You gain experience and you taylor your raw pace and you deal with situations, but I think the inate talent is finite, what is changeable is how much you you achieve the potential of your finite raw pace. I know that sounds a little complicated. I think Lewis's raw pace is very high and he hasnt reached his potential yet. Will he? Dont know. The emotions are a double edged sword they can tune it to perfection or get in the way. So he has a greater potential to excell ...but also to allow things to get in the way.In simple terms, His highs have the potential to be higher than Jensons but he also has the potential to have lower lows.
I dont have a problem with Whitmarsh preferring Jenson. I do have a problem with his inability to even try to mask it. Ron did not constantly wax lyrical about Lewis over Alonso, not until Alonso blackmailed McLaren.