Lewis Hamilton on the decline?

[Helios]

I don't know about the rest of this forum, but I've been following Hamilton's F1 career closely since he entered in 2007. I can't help but feel that his career has been going downwards since 2007, which may sound weird given the fact that he has won the 2008 WDC but if you look at his consistancy and the points he has achieved, 2007 has been the peak of his career so far (even taking the new pointssystem into account).

2009 it wasn't just down to him but to the fact that the MP4-24 was a dog of a car pretty much until Germany. But even so, he didn't maximize his chances from Germany onwards (just remember what happened at Monza or Valencia).

2010 was probably one of his best season, better than 2008 imo because he was in the battle for the WDC until the very last race in a McLaren which was 3rd best car for most of the season.

2011 - no words. A year which has damaged his reputation badly.

2012 he was back to form but McLaren managed to screw up so badly they even finished behind Ferrari in the WCC. And Jenson Button only finished 2 points behind Lewis when it should have been around 100 points.

2013 started very well and reached its peak in Hungary, but once again a lot of people would've expected him to outperform Nico in a more dominant way, as they did expect Lewis to dominate Jenson. The fact that this didn't happen in both cases (due to various reasons, partly out of his hands) probably means that his reputation has been damaged slightly again.

Looking back to the way he entered F1, beating the reigning 2xWDC Alonso in the same car, nearly winning the championship in his first ever season until doing so in his second it's been one huge decline in results since 2009. His finishing positions in the standings were 5th, 4th, 5th, 4th and now probably 4th again. Partly this has been down to the teams he has been driving for but partly it is down to him.
F1 these days is so much more than just natural talent and pure speed, you need full focus on the sport, you need a stable mind, a good understanding of the tyres and a never give up-mentality. I'm starting to belive that Lewis is relying on his raw pace and neglecting the other criterias.

I don't see much of a focus on the sport anymore, he seems to care more about the ongoing on/off relationship with Nicole, Twitter, making his own music, his dogs, his tattoos and his image (no wonder with Simon Fuller being his manager).

Stable mind? Can't see that either. He let's his personal life affect his driving as we've seen in 2011 therefore he's not professional enough. Huge weakness in my opinion.

Understanding of the tyres seems to be another problem for Lewis. There are races where he seems to cope well with the tyres, but there's no consistancy in this respect either. I have yet to hear Niki Lauda describe Hamilton's driving as "intelligent" as he has done countless times when talking about Rosberg, Vettel, Kimi or Alonso. In fact, he has critiziced Lewis for his tyre managment after yesterdays race.

Furthermore it seems like he is not giving his best anymore once he's in a difficult situation, especially when being far behind and having to catch up to the rest of the field. I remember Hockenheim 2012 when he wanted to retire due to a puncture on the 2nd lap of the race instead of carrying on and hoping for a SC. Whether this is only down to the tyres we have since 2011 I do not know, but it's not the fighting spirit that I expect from someone like him.

Last but not least, his attitude. I'm not even going to mention his embarassing gangsta rap - behaviour but he really does seem to be the Benjamin Button of F1. While other drivers are becoming more and more mature as they get older, it's exactly the other way round with Hamilton. Compare some of the interviews he has given back in his debut season in 2007 with some of those given from 2011 onwards to see what I'm talking about. The fact that he would sometimes praise Vettel on Thursday, just to say that Alonso would have done a better job given the same car two days later makes me wonder if Lewis is lacking some cleverness.

Did you know that Sebastian Vettel for example is managing himself? Could you imagine the guy who tweeted confidential telemetry data to explain his lack of pace doing that?

With Lewis being 28 years old (29 soon), I think it's time to look back at what he has achieved so far and ask wheter this has been the peak or if there's more to come yet.
Many people say that once Lewis will get a car which allows him to win another WDC he'll do it. I'm starting to doubt that. As I've said before, to beat someone as determined as the Red Bull team and Sebastian Vettel, a combination which is only focused on winning everything they can win you need much more than raw pace. I believe Lewis needs to up his game massively or else he's going to end up being an eternal talent with only one lucky WDC under his belt.

Your thoughts?

[IceIceBaby]

I think Hamilton's tyre management skills have also to do with his driving style, and how the mercedes treats its tyres. Though i am not a firm believer of a driver on the decline, i think there are many factors why certain drivers are not performing as expected of them.

[example]

First year in a team that was struggling last season. The car was a bit of a hit and miss this season, it's nowhere near the MP-27 in which he was amazing last season.
Be patient and wait for next season when he gets to drive a car he had some input in.

[tim|away]

Very interesting subject and I hope this thread will survive and we will manage to keep things civilised here.

I can see pretty much all of your points and I would add that HAM undeniably has a fast raw pace which took him where he is today. This natural raw pace has probably given him a competitive edge ever since karting, but things have changed a bit. These days, it's much more about analytical skills, efficient resource management and adapting your driving style in order to convert the theory from your race engineer into actual results rather than trying to rely on raw pace alone. I feel HAM is still relying too much on his raw speed that won him so much ever since he started racing at a very young age. If raw pace alone fails to work frustration will kick in and he will overdrive the car in an attempt to compensate for the lack of efficient resource management.

As for the mental part, I can see why you would suggest he has gone backwards and appears to be less focussed on racing and more interested in his dog, twitter and his own customised black mercedes hat. It certainly wouldn't hurt him to take responsibility every now and then to admit that he actually didn't get the max out of the car and to reflect on that for the next race.

If I were to break down the key skills today's driver needs to have ...
1) raw pace
2) ability to race
3) analytical skills to communicate problems and potential with the team
4) mental strength to cope with the pressure
5) adaptability and intelligent management of resources (typically tyres)
6) work ethics / discipline

He probably passes 1 and 2 with flying colours, but falls short on 4, 5 and 6. To sum things up, I am not sure whether he has declined in some areas or that the focus of F1 has shifted and suits him less than it used to. Possibly a bit of both.

[IceIceBaby]

If I were to break down the key skills today's driver needs to have ...
1) raw pace
2) ability to race
3) analytical skills to communicate problems and potential with the team
4) mental strength to cope with the pressure
5) adaptability and intelligent management of resources (typically tyres)
6) work ethics / discipline

He probably passes 1 and 2 with flying colours, but falls short on 4, 5 and 6. To sum things up, I am not sure whether he has declined in some areas or that the focus of F1 has shifted and suits him less than it used to. Possibly a bit of both.

Would it be fair to say that both Lewis and Kimi fall into these categories? Both having raw natural pace but lacks in certain areas. Although I was under the impression that Lewis' was known for his adaptability, seeing as his driving style is very adaptable.

[sectionate]

I personally think that he will continue to be a race winner and a pole sitter, but unless he manages to bend a team around himself like Schumacher and Vettel have, he won't win another Drivers Championship during his career.

Mercedes were hurt by the change in tyre construction, which has hurt his chances this year. Hopefully next year things are better.

[Richard]

He doesn't have the depth of experience of Kimi or Alonso, he doesn't have the team and car combo of Vettel.

Also the picture is skewed because he got within one race of WDC in his first year and won the WDC in his second year. Having started at the top it is inevitable that things could only go downhill.

I'm not sure how his taste in music and body art is relevant to his ability to drive in circles. What counts are results on track in the context of the equipment available to him. He's not had the equipment to demonstrate his potential

[Helios]

I'm not sure how his taste in music and body art is relevant to his ability to drive in circles. What counts are results on track in the context of the equipment available to him. He's not had the equipment to demonstrate his potential

It's not his taste in music and his tattoos per se, it's more like his relationships with certain people distract him from focusing on his actual job. An F1 drivers job does not only include racing every 2 weeks, there's much more work which needs to be done between races or seasons.

I can't imagine the regular journeys to the US (in other words: to Nicole) and back to Europe being beneficial for his development either.

He's not focusing on F1 as much as other drivers are imo. But that's ok as long as his goal isn't to become a multiple WDC but more of a brand. Which gives the hiring of Simon Fuller a sense.

[FoxHound]

Very interesting subject and I hope this thread will survive and we will manage to keep things civilised here.

I can see pretty much all of your points and I would add that HAM undeniably has a fast raw pace which took him where he is today. This natural raw pace has probably given him a competitive edge ever since karting, but things have changed a bit. These days, it's much more about analytical skills, efficient resource management and adapting your driving style in order to convert the theory from your race engineer into actual results rather than trying to rely on raw pace alone. I feel HAM is still relying too much on his raw speed that won him so much ever since he started racing at a very young age. If raw pace alone fails to work frustration will kick in and he will overdrive the car in an attempt to compensate for the lack of efficient resource management.

As for the mental part, I can see why you would suggest he has gone backwards and appears to be less focussed on racing and more interested in his dog, twitter and his own customised black mercedes hat. It certainly wouldn't hurt him to take responsibility every now and then to admit that he actually didn't get the max out of the car and to reflect on that for the next race.

If I were to break down the key skills today's driver needs to have ...
1) raw pace
2) ability to race
3) analytical skills to communicate problems and potential with the team
4) mental strength to cope with the pressure
5) adaptability and intelligent management of resources (typically tyres)
6) work ethics / discipline

He probably passes 1 and 2 with flying colours, but falls short on 4, 5 and 6. To sum things up, I am not sure whether he has declined in some areas or that the focus of F1 has shifted and suits him less than it used to. Possibly a bit of both.

I disagree.

Your post assumes that all things are equal for all drivers, and that because of this we can make general wide ranging deductions.
Well that is not true.

Hamilton is currently outqualifying and outscoring Rosberg, whom has been with the team for 3 years and outqualifed and outscored Schumacher.
Of all the top 4/5 teams Mercedes have the strongest driver pairing. It is in fact impressive, that Hamilton can jump into a brand new team and car and simply be better than Rosberg.

You say he has Raw Skill and Ability to race.

You say he falls short in work rate/discipline, can you give us examples of this happening this year in comparison to other front running drivers and teams?
I think Mercedes did more running over the 3 pre season tests than anyone else(barring Sauber).
They have also done more more Free practice laps than any of the other top 5(although I'm currently waiting on confirmation of this, via Keith Collantine and F1fanatic).
This suggests high work/disclipine rate if anything.

Then Mental strength to cope with pressure.
What pressure has he had to deal with this year? Hamilton is beating his rather useful team mate in his first season with the team. That is handling the pressure I would say, especially given the contrasting nature of the cars he has had to drive from last year to this.

adaptability and intelligent management of resources (typically tyres)...
What yardstick are you using here?
We know full well that Hamilton is adaptable from his comparison to Rosberg as mentioned earlier.
How is Hamilton's resource management any different to Rosberg's?
I think people are looking at India's race and drawing a conclusion too many.
Hamilton was stuck behind Massa for ages, and this chewed his tyres up quicker than would otherwise been possible.
There are many examples when the opposite has happened and Rosberg has had issues while a clear air Hamilton shows no sign of it.

'Obviously, Lewis had free air so he didn’t have to make any concessions to his performance, whilst Nico (Rosberg) had to do a little bit of management when he was amongst other cars, but nothing serious.

Brawn

analytical skills to communicate problems and potential with the team
How do you know this is an issue and if it attributes to "the Decline of Hamilton"...
I'm sorry but from all reports I have read, Hamilton is at least as good as Rosberg in terms of Feedback.
He get's on with Rosberg very well creating a good team/driver dynamic...compare this to Red Bull.

If you follow him on twitter as I do, you see he barely spends any time on the media.
His dog is a good foil at GP weekends. It's a welcome distraction that actually helps lower stress...besides...Mercedes have someone to feed and walk the pooch for him.
And using an example of customizing a hat responsible for a drivers decline?
How many drivers have different personalised helmet designs almost every race weekend?

Hamilton ain't in decline he just don't drive an RB9....

[SilverArrow10]

Remember who was the last man to win a race that was not Vettel. There's your answer.

[Richard]

He's not focusing on F1 as much as other drivers are imo.

Do you know what the others do in their time off or is this post rationalising to fit the argument? For example Alonso has had an affair and got divorced this year, surely that's rather more distracting than singleton Hamilton taking his dog for a walk?

When we get to the level of criticising a driver for walking a dog and enjoying music then we know its time to end the thread.