Hamilton vs. The Stig

Ray · Post 04 Dec 2007, 00:43

All I know is, apparently Lewis Hamilton is the second coming of Jesus Christ to the British. I wish they would shut the --- up about him.

Tom · Post 04 Dec 2007, 02:32

If you go to youtube and type 'Top Gear Hamilton' and try all the links there will be one thats not deleted yet.

I just saw the lap and its not all that scruffy, he used the cars weight well into alot of the corners and was very relaxed which can only have helped. In some cases (esspecially on a low grip surface) alot of time can be made up by letting the car hang out a little and giving it some freedom. Thats what Lewis did, just like at Monaco.

Rob W · Post 04 Dec 2007, 04:54

The whole comparing Hamilton to Mansell etc is pointless unless they all do it in the same car on the same day.

For all we know Hamilton's car could have had new tires (and tires are a hell of a lot better than they were even five years ago), with the back seat etc removed, suspension and shocks tweaked a bit, better fuel etc. There are heaps of things you could do which would improve lap times but not the car's appearance.

The competition on Top Gear is a bit of fun but not a major indication of anything. All great drivers who do the lap without a mistake will be within a half a second of each other.

Rob W

jddh1 · Post 04 Dec 2007, 06:46

I'm a Ferrari fan, as you may have already noticed from my avatar, and yet I'll say that LH is a very talented driver. It's true. Do I agree all the hype that the media gives him? Absolutely not! In fact, I hate what the British newspapers are doing. He's good, we know that. Now leave him alone to do his job. Is the best? Time will tell, no reason arguing.

Spencifer_Murphy · Post 04 Dec 2007, 15:08

jddh1 wrote:I'm a Ferrari fan, as you may have already noticed from my avatar, and yet I'll say that LH is a very talented driver. It's true. Do I agree all the hype that the media gives him? Absolutely not! In fact, I hate what the British newspapers are doing. He's good, we know that. Now leave him alone to do his job. Is the best? Time will tell, no reason arguing.

Good post. I have to admit that the British press hype about Lewis is excessive, but I'm also not suprised about it. I mean, look how the media adored Mansell. Some comments, like Ray's above, are almost as if to say the british have no right to be proud of their new found sporting hero - why not? Everybody loved up Michael, even before he won a championship - just like Lewis (although admittedly Lewis' media hype is on a larger scale atm.)

I mean its not like we have much else to be cheering about at the moment is is? English Football is at an all time low, the rugby is still trying to bebuild itself, lets not even talk about Tennis, and cricket..well its just not cricket atm lol. Maybe Ray you'll get your wish, soon the media will stop taking about Lewis, that is when Ricky Hatton KO's Floyd Mayweather in the 6th round.

tinhouse · Post 04 Dec 2007, 19:54

Ray wrote:All I know is, apparently Lewis Hamilton is the second coming of Jesus Christ to the British. I wish they would shut the --- up about him.

No that is simply not true, speaking as a Brit!

To be correct, Hamilton is the Second Coming of Christ to British motorsport journalists who are paid by the word to write and/or talk about the sport and now have an excuse to do so more often and in greater volume than when all they had was plain old JB to get their editors reaching for the cheque-book.

The Great British Public are quite capable of making up their own minds so please don't judge 60 million people by the self-interest of a small number of media types.

I'm fascinated by this thread though. I thought it was only Brits who turned on people once they become successful. It seems to be a worldwide thing, though.

Oh yeah and for those looking for the video, it's on the official site:

Official site.

Matt.

Shaddock · Post 04 Dec 2007, 20:39

You can download the whole episode for free and legit

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/last7days/ ... %3Aevening

This will last for about a week.

Ray · Post 04 Dec 2007, 21:02

I apologize for my harsh words, and my language. All I'm saying is that yes, the boy is good. Damn good. But he could do no wrong. Nothing. He was the golden child of F1. His current media coverage, and that of MS cannot be compared. He's been in F1 for 1 year, yet his coverage is astronomically higher the Schumachers ever was. Peter Windsor, though I don't know the general opinion of him on here, is a great writer. But, he could not and would not shut up about Lewis. It almost ruined the F1 coverage on Speed for me here in the States. He even embarrassed Bob Varsha on Wind Tunnel one night.

Like every other British media outlet, Windsor has let his patriotism get the best of him when it comes to Lewis. There was absolutely nothing wrong with what McLaren did in Monaco. Yet every media outlet cried out when the race was over that Hamilton was prevented from winning. Alonso had that race in the bag and the only simple solution to preserve a 1-2 finish was told hold station. All they could do was bitch and moan about how he was screwed over by the team. Nothing about how well Lewis drove, or how great it was for McLaren to get a 1-2. Only about 'poor' Hamilton being screwed over. Cry me a damn river.

Lewis Hamilton is not God, he is not the greatest driver in F1. He's the greatest ROOKIE ever in F1. His career is just starting, and I wish they would lay off him till he develops his said career.

Chubbs · Post 04 Dec 2007, 22:30

anyone else think he cut the corner at the hammerhead??

Saribro · Post 05 Dec 2007, 05:48

Chubbs wrote:anyone else think he cut the corner at the hammerhead??

Yup, I noticed that too.

mini696 · Post 05 Dec 2007, 07:54

Chubbs wrote:anyone else think he cut the corner at the hammerhead??

Nope.

Mark Webber's "wet lap" was much wetter than that one of Lewis's.

mike · Post 05 Dec 2007, 08:42

anyone else think he cut the corner at the hammerhead??

i think he also cut the follow through i saw him sort of slide through the corner, which can improve the lap time if u were in the wet
but i still can't believe that he is as fast as jensen in the dry

Ray · Post 05 Dec 2007, 09:37

He definitely cut over the white line on the inside of Hammerhead, and he had two wheels 3 feet over in the grass all the way through Gambon. So yeah, he cut the corners a little too much for my taste. Nice jump out over the line as well. But could you expect anything less from F1's golden boy. Of course he would beat every other British drivers time.

Though him asking Clarkson if he wanted to be his 'worthless' teammate next year was effin hilarious!

joseff · Post 05 Dec 2007, 10:21

I wish clarkson at least tried to squeeze into the McLaren on display. After all, he managed to fit in the Peel

MrT · Post 05 Dec 2007, 11:10

The top gear tests are pretty much a classic sprint(/hillclimb) setup. Sprint rules allow you to actually have 2 wheels over the white lines, a fail is deemed as all 4 wheels off... So I don;t think it was too bad! You do what you can get away with as long as its quicker