- 25 Jun 08, 16:22#51786
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/25062008/ ... nardi.html
Hamilton only fifth best, claims Minardi.
Wed 25 Jun, 11:30 AM
Former F1 team boss Gian Carlo Minardi has suggested that Lewis Hamilton's inexperience is causing him to make costly mistakes in his second season.
Lewis Hamilton may have slumped to fourth in the Formula One world championship standings, but former team owner Gian Carlo Minardi reckons that the Briton is currently only fifth in the category's pecking order.
Writing his regular column for Minardi's website, the veteran F1 observer included both Ferrari drivers and Canadian Grand Prix winner Robert Kubica ahead of Hamilton - as suggested by the current championship standings - but also included another name above the McLaren pilot.
"In my opinion, as are proven by the facts, the number of drivers better than Hamilton are four," Minardi insisted, "Robert Kubica has not committed errors since the beginning of the [season] and his only non-score [in Australia] came following the incident with [Kazuki] Nakajima, which was not his fault. Without that incident, he would still be far head of the world.
"Another [above Hamilton] is certainly Fernando Alonso. Despite having a machine that is certainly not competitive, he can always pull out something good, bringing his Renault in the first few positions. The, of course, there are the two Ferrari drivers."
Although he subsequently qualified his comments by underlining that there is still a long way to go, both in the championship and for those on his list to alter his perceptions, Minardi echoed other suggestions that Hamilton is showing his lack of years in the top flight.
"Having said everything, [Hamilton] is a driver that has a long road ahead of him and, in the future, we will speak much about him. At the moment, however, he is committing some serious errors of inexperience, even showing an excessive nervousness. Over the next few grands prix, he will certainly need to demonstrate his ability to grow in these respects."
The next grand prix on the calendar might come as both a boost and burden to Hamilton, as the F1 circus rolls into Silverstone for his home race next weekend. The British Grand Prix always brings greater media pressure for the 'local' drivers, with Hamilton likely to be more in demand then fellow countrymen Jenson Button and David Coulthard due to his success, but the McLaren man knows that he needs to focus on driving if he is to get his championship challenge back on track.
"I just want the fans and supporters to know that I'm working as hard as I can, and doing the best job that I can - and so are my team," he said after back-to-back scoreless races, "We are going to be there together and stand together whatever happens."
McLaren has already revealed that it will have further developments for the Briton's MP4-23 at Silverstone, as it maintains its policy of trying to up its performance at every round.
"As a team, we are committed to bringing 0.15secs of lap time improvement to each race," CEO Martin Whitmarsh commented, "We have a three-day test at Silverstone this week and are planning to introduce a range of upgrades that we feel will deliver that performance improvement.
"We introduced quite a lot of aerodynamic components in France, including a new front wing assembly, top wing, winglets and front hub system, which were worth around 0.26secs per lap and, over the summer, we are not only looking at making further aero and mechanical upgrades, but also fuel and lubricants improvements as we seek to boost overall performance in every area.
"It's always difficult to verify precisely the benefits that have been made because you rarely run a back-to-back test at the racetrack to quantify the gains you make. However, looking at our performance during the [French] race, when we were running in clear air and with heavy fuel-loads, I'd say our pace was reasonably promising. That would suggest we were competitive over the weekend and had managed to improve the car."
Hamilton only fifth best, claims Minardi.
Wed 25 Jun, 11:30 AM
Former F1 team boss Gian Carlo Minardi has suggested that Lewis Hamilton's inexperience is causing him to make costly mistakes in his second season.
Lewis Hamilton may have slumped to fourth in the Formula One world championship standings, but former team owner Gian Carlo Minardi reckons that the Briton is currently only fifth in the category's pecking order.
Writing his regular column for Minardi's website, the veteran F1 observer included both Ferrari drivers and Canadian Grand Prix winner Robert Kubica ahead of Hamilton - as suggested by the current championship standings - but also included another name above the McLaren pilot.
"In my opinion, as are proven by the facts, the number of drivers better than Hamilton are four," Minardi insisted, "Robert Kubica has not committed errors since the beginning of the [season] and his only non-score [in Australia] came following the incident with [Kazuki] Nakajima, which was not his fault. Without that incident, he would still be far head of the world.
"Another [above Hamilton] is certainly Fernando Alonso. Despite having a machine that is certainly not competitive, he can always pull out something good, bringing his Renault in the first few positions. The, of course, there are the two Ferrari drivers."
Although he subsequently qualified his comments by underlining that there is still a long way to go, both in the championship and for those on his list to alter his perceptions, Minardi echoed other suggestions that Hamilton is showing his lack of years in the top flight.
"Having said everything, [Hamilton] is a driver that has a long road ahead of him and, in the future, we will speak much about him. At the moment, however, he is committing some serious errors of inexperience, even showing an excessive nervousness. Over the next few grands prix, he will certainly need to demonstrate his ability to grow in these respects."
The next grand prix on the calendar might come as both a boost and burden to Hamilton, as the F1 circus rolls into Silverstone for his home race next weekend. The British Grand Prix always brings greater media pressure for the 'local' drivers, with Hamilton likely to be more in demand then fellow countrymen Jenson Button and David Coulthard due to his success, but the McLaren man knows that he needs to focus on driving if he is to get his championship challenge back on track.
"I just want the fans and supporters to know that I'm working as hard as I can, and doing the best job that I can - and so are my team," he said after back-to-back scoreless races, "We are going to be there together and stand together whatever happens."
McLaren has already revealed that it will have further developments for the Briton's MP4-23 at Silverstone, as it maintains its policy of trying to up its performance at every round.
"As a team, we are committed to bringing 0.15secs of lap time improvement to each race," CEO Martin Whitmarsh commented, "We have a three-day test at Silverstone this week and are planning to introduce a range of upgrades that we feel will deliver that performance improvement.
"We introduced quite a lot of aerodynamic components in France, including a new front wing assembly, top wing, winglets and front hub system, which were worth around 0.26secs per lap and, over the summer, we are not only looking at making further aero and mechanical upgrades, but also fuel and lubricants improvements as we seek to boost overall performance in every area.
"It's always difficult to verify precisely the benefits that have been made because you rarely run a back-to-back test at the racetrack to quantify the gains you make. However, looking at our performance during the [French] race, when we were running in clear air and with heavy fuel-loads, I'd say our pace was reasonably promising. That would suggest we were competitive over the weekend and had managed to improve the car."
Youngest Double World Champion Ever
21st member of the Grand Slam Club
Twice is definitely better than once because 2 times in heaven is better than 1
21st member of the Grand Slam Club
Twice is definitely better than once because 2 times in heaven is better than 1
He's close to them all despite his inexperience .......
). Or, to put it this way - was last year's result due to how good Lewis did, or was it due to how bad Alonso did..?
