Well Done Lewis

[MauriceMynah]

8 minutes ago, Polly said:

MM. The top 5% of earners contribute 26% or so of tax revenue,

Sorry Polly, I'm not prepared to accept that statistic at face value. Define "Earner" please, then define "Tax revenue"

If we look at the amount of fuel duty paid by companies like Eddie Stobbard, I wouldn't be too surprised if that figure alone would be greater than Hamilton's tax bill, should he have chosen to live here. And I use that just as an example.

[annv]

If tax avourdence is used/misused change the law, He will have to live outside the country for more than six months of the year he will not get any    N H S coverage, but i guess he can afford private .I do think that to get a UK  honour they should stand to attention and not move and if appropriate sing the words to the National Anthem when played at public events. this should be the first requirement from every person before they should be put forward before being   considered for any honour or award. John

[ExSurveyor]

I think anyone would be twitching after 90 minutes of adrenaline pumping through our bodies.

[Poppy]

2 hours ago, Polly said:

MM. The top 5% of earners contribute 26% or so of tax revenue, we can't afford too many non Dom earners. 

For the record, I think Lewis Hamilton deserves his 5 th Championship win.i also think that he conducts himself well as a driver and is a pretty good role model.

Do you not recall how he treated his dad  ?

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/81801/hamilton-to-make-management-change

Leaving the question of £4 million promised....

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/formulaone/article-2518967/Lewis-Hamilton-4m-promise-didnt-dad-F1-split.html

[unclemike]

poppy,yes shuey was a great driver  after your comments about crowd funding its time you hid in a corner in shame instead of bellittling somebody who has achieved something, schuey was a great driver but would pull every dirty trick in the book tomachievre his goal.whatever else hamiltons faults he always drives a clean race.

[MauriceMynah]

Many are the times I have made some witticism then thought "Whoops, not as funny as when I first thought it". I had put Poppy's joke in that category and let it go. However, beyond that, the two articles about Hamilton, one is eight years old the other from the Daily Mail. Either of those two conditions leave much to be desired.

We can know nothing of private conversations between father and son, and to be honest I wouldn't want to. That's their business. The Daily Mail is a newspaper I rate right up there with the EDP, full of incisive journalism and disregarding any information it hasn't been thoroughly researched  and verified..

[keifsmate]

As always in the Print, "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story"!!!

[Polly]

I followed up the Anthony Hamilton angle. He's on record as saying he thinks he should have stopped managing Lewis as soon as he got the first World Championship, but hung on too long.

[oldgregg]

I wouldn't feel sorry for Anthony Hamilton...

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/motorsport/formulaone/10502035/Anthony-Hamilton-admits-lying-to-drinks-company-about-Paul-di-Resta-sponsorship-deal.html

 

I suspect Lewis will have been advised to get rid if he wanted a long career in F1.

 

Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

 

 

 

 

[MauriceMynah]

Hells teeth!!! Why do people find it necessary to dig up the dirt on people to support arguments?

So, Hamilton's dad did something 7(ish) years ago (allegedly) Hamilton made his dad a promise (allegedly) and (equally allegedly) reneged on that promise.

Tell you what, lets disregard the fact that he is a 5 times world champion, we will not mention his fathers support from childhood kart racing, through the formula's, to his first F1 championship. NO!! Lets just find mud to  throw at the pair of them. I'm even starting to be amazed that his ethnic origins have not been brought into all this.

He is a bloody good driver.

He is a 5 times world champion,

END OF !!!

Ok, he does fidget  whilst the National Anthem is being played (and yes that still annoys me) but that's not one of the worst failings in the world.

[ScrumpyCheddar]

58 minutes ago, MauriceMynah said:

Hells teeth!!! Why do people find it necessary to dig up the dirt on people to support arguments?

So, Hamilton's dad did something 7(ish) years ago (allegedly) Hamilton made his dad a promise (allegedly) and (equally allegedly) reneged on that promise.

Tell you what, lets disregard the fact that he is a 5 times world champion, we will not mention his fathers support from childhood kart racing, through the formula's, to his first F1 championship. NO!! Lets just find mud to  throw at the pair of them. I'm even starting to be amazed that his ethnic origins have not been brought into all this.

He is a bloody good driver.

He is a 5 times world champion,

END OF !!!

Ok, he does fidget  whilst the National Anthem is being played (and yes that still annoys me) but that's not one of the worst failings in the world.

He does more than Fidget... he’s busy waving... He has no respect to our national anthem when being played... even if another driver wins... He has always tries to steal the show... It’s F1... Not Formula Hamilton....

[oldgregg]

1 hour ago, MauriceMynah said:

Hells teeth!!! Why do people find it necessary to dig up the dirt on people to support arguments?

I remember it well from the time, so no digging. I think it's generally understood that McLaren advised Lewis to distance himself from his father as his way of doing things had begun to hold him back.

Actually, I have often pointed out to critics of Lewis that he is a multiple world champion (and now into very exclusive territory) and that you don't get there with two different teams without some real talent. In fact I'd say that unlike the also pretty talented Vettel, his best may be yet to come.

There are very few F1 drivers who have got all the way to a driver's championship without any real merit. Can you think of a journeyman pay driver who has managed it in modern F1?

Probably the only contentious one in recent years was Raikkonen, but in reality he is also pretty quick when he can actually be bothered and ultimately he won because he'd earned enough points.

[Polly]

I loove Kimi Raikonnen, he is so much his own person and let's the circus go on around him without being too bothered. I recall David Coultard saying that he's a real party animal in fact, 'just add alcohol' 

[ExSurveyor]

5 minutes ago, Polly said:

I loove Kimi Raikonnen, he is so much his own person and let's the circus go on around him without being too bothered. I recall David Coultard saying that he's a real party animal in fact, 'just add alcohol' 

He has a huge and loyal following,  always plenty of Kimi for president flags at all the races.

[Paul]

On 04/11/2018 at 11:44, oldgregg said:

There are very few F1 drivers who have got all the way to a driver's championship without any real merit. Can you think of a journeyman pay driver who has managed it in modern F1?

Not a pay driver quite, but you would have to put Jenson Button into that category. Much as I like him and am very pleased for him that he finally hung up his boots with a world title to his name he won courtesy of being in the right place at the right time. He had some ability certainly, especially in wet or drying conditions but he was never in the class of Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel, Raikonnen etc. Ross Brawn stole a lead on the rest of the field with car upgrades making his one and only season as team owner very much of a cake walk. A clearly superior car can make an average driver a world champion. Sadly, the best driver in the world has no chance in a poor car.

On the subject of winning in multiple teams, the only three drivers to have won five or more titles all did so in different teams. Schumacher with Benetton and Ferrari, Hamilton with McLaren and Mercedes and Fangio with no less than four teams (who can name them without having to google it I wonder?). I'll put you out of your misery ... Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Mercedes and Ferrari.

Schumacher's five titles for Ferrari came in a clearly superior car, but don't discount them because of that. The car was only so good because of his ability to work with the mechanics to make it so. When he moved to Ferrari they had not won a title for nearly twenty years, going back to the days of Jody Scheckter in the 70's. His two titles for Benetton came in a car which was not in the class of the Williams and McLarens of the day. The Ford engine in his '94 title winning car (Ford's last title winning engine) was way behind the competition. 

It is impossible to compare drivers of different eras. The sport changes so rapidly and the demands on drivers likewise.

Firstly you have to manouver yourself into a competitive car. Take Alonso as an antithesis of that. He was (is) a superb driver but burnt a lot of bridges which on more than one occasion cost him drives at top teams. Everyone raised an eyebrow when Hamilton moved from McLaren to Mercedes, but it turned out he knew what he was doing. 

A modern driver has more to think about than jumping into a car and driving fast. He has to be able to work with the mechanics to maximise the car. In that respect, in my opinion at least, Schumacher was peerless on that front. 

Once you've got yourself in a competitive car and made sure it's the very best it can be you then need to produce in qualifying which is so important in the modern era when overtaking on track is so difficult. Nobody can match Hamilton in that respect. When the chips are down time after time he aces the perfect lap just when he needs it. Vettel on the other hand has made at least five errors in final qualifying this year which have cost him grid places. 

And when you have your car at, or near the front of the grid you need to manage the race. Sadly, Grands Prix are no longer about pressing the loud pedal and going as fast as you can. Fuel restrictions, engine management and mickey mouse tyres are just a few of the things that team and driver have to manage during a race. For much of a modern race drivers will not be flat out but driving to "vector times", time set by the team to ensure that everything lasts as long as it needs to in order to produce the best race time. Again nobody comes close to Hamilton's ability to do that. He can produce lap after lap after lap within a few thousandths of a second of his target times. It might sound unimportant but that ability means he avoids having to turn down his engine mode late in races to eek out his fuel, or give him the ability to boost it a little when he needs to overtake. It means his engines last the required number of races without gird penalties for extra components.

This season for me has answered a lot of questions. It is highly unlikely that you will ever see Hamilton and Vettel race alongside each other in the same team. The Alonso / Hamilton experiment at McLaren (2007) proved the folly of two "alpha males" in the same team. It doesn't work. They fought each other all season and because of that both missed out on the title by 1 point to Raikonnen whose team mate (Massa) was ordered to defer to him in later races. So 2018 May well be the best comparison between the two. Statistically, the Ferrari has been the faster car in at least 11 of the 19 races to date, but with three races to go it is Hamilton in a Mercedes who is already holding the drivers title, and barring a miracle Mercedes will add the constructers title in Mexico this weekend. 

Why? Because when the chips were down Hamilton took everything he could from every race. Mercedes even learned to play the team game, much to the dislike of both drivers. Vettel on the other hand has made mistake after mistake after mistake costing him serious points. 

Is Hamilton one of the greatest. Easily. Is he the greatest ever, it is impossible to compare. Is he the greatest of the post Schumacher era? Easily. Head, shoulders and any other body part you care to mention above anyone else on the grid today. 

[MauriceMynah]

Excellent post sir, and I agree with the vast majority of it, especially...

1 hour ago, Paul said:

It is impossible to compare drivers of different eras. The sport changes so rapidly and the demands on drivers likewise.

and

 

1 hour ago, Paul said:

Is Hamilton one of the greatest. Easily. Is he the greatest ever, it is impossible to compare. Is he the greatest of the post Schumacher era? Easily. Head, shoulders and any other body part you care to mention above anyone else on the grid today.

Not sure that a good car would make a mediocre driver champion though, but never mind!.

Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari are each competitive so I reckon the championship points are a fair reflection of the skills of the drivers concerned, not necessarily the points value, but the positions. Verstappen is certainly one to watch

[BroadAmbition]

Schumacher - Good as he was, at least two of his world titles he gained, in today's era with the much more fair rules with professional drivers on the stewards panel - He would not have won them due to plain and simple cheating He should not have won them then either.   I know we have to tread carefully against even daring to mention his name with anything else but 100% praise nowadays due to the awful and unfortunate accident he suffered but there you go.

I used to be an avid F1 fan, never missed watching a race and went out of my way, sometimes selfishly to sit and watch a Grand Prix.  Since the drivers nowadays are no longer characters but advertising mules, coupled with team orders it has for me lost a lot of it's magic.   The Days of Mansell, Schuey, Prost, Senna, Rosberg, Villeneuve, Berger, Lauda, Piquet and to some degree Hunt etc (And a lot more not mentioned) for me were the heydays

Griff

[Maxwellian]

I stopped going when it moved from Brands Hatch.... how long ago was that. Been to Silverstone a couple of times for non F1, but not mu favorate track.

[Chelsea14Ian]

As I don't drive a few years back Marina treated me to a two seater at Brands.I went round with a pro driver.That was great.They also do a two seater  F1 at Silverstone. Which I hope to do one day.

[oldgregg]

2 hours ago, Maxwellian said:

I stopped going when it moved from Brands Hatch.... how long ago was that. 

That was 1987, would you believe..