Rosberg always knew he’d get to F1 – Hamilton

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: Lewis Hamilton says his team mate Nico Rosberg never had cause to doubt he’d reach F1 when they were growing up together in the junior categories.

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Lewis Hamilton prepares for British GP with drive down memory lane (The Guardian)

“Nico would say ‘when I’m in Formula One’, and for me it was ‘if I ever get to Formula One’. Because obviously Nico’s dad was a Formula One driver – he knew he was going to make it. For us, we never really knew what was going to happen, we just kept at it.”

Hamilton and Rosberg on collision course (The Telegraph)

Damon Hill: “In the old days we didn’t have all this data. A driver would have to go out on the circuit and watch and figure it out. There was no way of knowing other than working on your own knowledge. Now, every detail, every nuance is shared among the engineers. It’s getting to the point now where the engineers are telling the drivers what to do to drive. I think it’s going too far.”

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Comment of the day

Is change needed at the top of the chain of command at Ferrari? @Tifoso1989 says no:

When Luca di Montezemolo was named Ferrari president after the death of Enzo Ferrari, Ferrari was losing compared to their rivals in the car industry, with the exception of the F40 and its predecessor the 288 GTO the other models were crap. The F1 team was trashed by the competition, apart from being slow the Ferrari F1 cars were unreliable.

Now it is true that the F1 team is losing again but the brand is as strong as ever (the world most powerful brand) and the resources are there to challenge for world championship, let’s not forget how many championships the team has won under his leadership, his CV inside Ferrari at least is astonishing.
@Tifoso1989

Snapshot

Marc Gene claimed the unofficial lap record for Canada’s undulating and scenic Mont Tremblant circuit yesterday. He lapped the 4.2km track, which held the 1968 and 1970 Canadian Grands Prix, in 1’12.720, four seconds quicker than Tristan Gommendy’s pole position time at the venue’s 2007 Champ Car race.

Here are pictures of Ferrari’s Corse Clienti former F1 cars lapping the circuit:

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On this day in F1

Renault locked out the front row of the grid for the French Grand Prix at Dijon, which turned out to be a famous race in their history, on this day 35 years ago.

Jean-Pierre Jabouille and Rene Arnoux shared the front row in their turbocharged RS10s, with Gilles Villeneuve third for Ferrari.

Image © BMW ag

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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137 comments on “Rosberg always knew he’d get to F1 – Hamilton”

  1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    30th June 2014, 0:08

    Lewis, are you (or not) friends with Nico? Sore comment about Nico again, almost comparable to the “boats and planes” before Monaco.
    Beat Nico ON THE TRACK, not with a loose mouth.

    1. @omarr-pepper It sounds more like he’s suggesting Nico was more confident, rather than saying he’s only in F1 because of his dad. I see it more as ‘his dad was in F1, so he believes he can do it too,” rather than “his dad was in F1, so of course he got in.”

      1. no, that defenitely reads as “he was sure he would get to F1 because of his dad” @philereid. I do think it might be Nico sounding confident because he was doing all he could to get there.

        1. @omarr-pepper @philereid @bascb I think it’s hard not to see it as a continuation of the comments Hamilton made before the Monaco Grand Prix where he also said he had a harder time getting to F1 than Rosberg did (“I come from a not-great place in Stevenage… Nico grew up in Monaco with jets and hotels and boats”).

          1. Lewis could really do with learning about juxtaposition, if he doesn’t want his comments misinterpreted.

          2. There is not much “misinterpretation” in there @sharoncom if its a direct quote of things he said during an interview/media appearance.
            Its more a star who maybe realizes (or gets informed by his PR team) what he said and thinks its better for his image to claim he did not mean what he just said.

    2. Tom (@newdecade)
      30th June 2014, 0:31

      Urgh, there’s never a moment not to shoehorn in an anti-Lewis comment is there? It’s fast becoming the most tedious aspect to the season.

      He was being interviewed on his reminiscences of the early karting days – well god forbid he recalls what his feelings were at the time? Frankly I would have felt the same way coming from his background.

      The only thing worse than clickbait headlining (and dare I add, clickbait subheading) is the fluff that follows when people use it as a touchpaper for their own bugbears. Deal with it.

      1. Oh come on @newdecade. What you say makes too much sense. We must remember all logic goes out of the window when a situation involves Hamilton. The guy grew up poor, Nico was insanely rich with an F1 racing dad.. How anything Lewis said can be used against him as a negative is, simply put, hilarious. But as I said, all logic goes out of the window here, we might as well assume they had the exact same upbringing and Hamilton is just being a baby.. Haha.

        1. @timi, well said. It’s classic 1% vs the 99%. It’s funny seeing people side with the 1% because of their dislike for Hamilton. Rosberg came from a 1% family. Thanks to his 1% family’s influence, he too now is a member of the 1%. He is now engage and will someday do the same for his kids to keep them in the 1% club. See how it works? Don’t you just love how legacy works?

      2. @newdecade

        clickbait headlining

        What exactly is your objection to the headline? It reflects what Hamilton said entirely accurately. If your complaint is that it made you want to read the article you should be aware that’s what headlines are supposed to do.

        1. petebaldwin (@)
          30th June 2014, 12:48

          I think it’s simply that what Hamilton said clearly isn’t meant with any malice. It’s not a dig at Nico in any way. They were both really quick drivers at the time and if you have that sort of speed and Nico’s connections, you do know that you’ll make it to F1….

          Because most people can only be bothered to read headlines, you’ve got a whole thread of people saying things like the OP did – “Sore comments from Lewis. Do your talking on the track” etc when in reality, it was nothing of the sort.

          1. Tom (@newdecade)
            30th June 2014, 15:00

            @keithcollantine
            For what it’s worth, I would mention that F1Fanatic is far from being the worst offender when it comes to clickbaiting. If you want to drive pageviews and inflate the traffic numbers, then by all means go ahead. Just remember that the content you post will influence the kind of people who become vocal on your site and unevenly represent its userbase, like @petebaldwin says.

          2. @petebaldwin

            what Hamilton said clearly isn’t meant with any malice

            I didn’t say it was.

            @newdecade

            If you want to drive pageviews and inflate the traffic numbers, then by all means go ahead.

            Of course I want as many people as possible to visit F1 Fanatic – that would be my natural inclination regardless of whether it was connected to the bottom line. What I don’t understand is why you think there’s something wrong with that.

          3. petebaldwin (@)
            30th June 2014, 16:55

            @keithcollantine – No I know you didn’t – the point was that from the headline, it looked like Hamilton was trying to have a go at Rosberg again and evidently, lots have simply read the headline and commented from there.

            It’s not your fault people feel the need to talk about things that they haven’t fully read but the headline certainly left that possibility open!

            Bloody journalists! :D

        2. @keithcollantine,
          The article title here and on guardian summarizes whole matter. This article just picks one line from entire article which puts Lewis again as a poor guy making some stupid statement. I am from India, we have lot of news papers which always pick up part of the statement from celebrities and put as the headline just to get more number of clicks. very nice to see same stuff in UK too… .

          1. @alokin

            which puts Lewis again as a poor guy making some stupid statement

            The purpose of quoting a small part of the article is precisely to encourage you to go and read the whole thing, not to pretend that’s all that was said. That’s why the links to the original articles are up there in bold above each and every one. I know some sites steal entire articles from other websites or thinly rewrite them without attribution to pass them off as their own but you won’t get that here.

            Whether the angle of the quote is negative or positive is irrelevant – I choose what I think is the most significant part of the article. To give a counter-example, when he gave that slightly infamous interview with F1.com a few weeks back, when I featured it here I didn’t choose the “yachts” quote but a different part of the article which interested me more.

    3. It makes sense- he knew he had the backing to get there and clearly had the self-belief too. Hamilton presumably had one but not the other. It’s a relevant comparison and justified within the context of the article, which you presumably didn’t read to confirm.

      1. Hamilton didn’t have the backing? He had full support from McLaren from the age of 13. This was before he started single-seaters and before he raced Rosberg in karts.

        So of course he had the backing. Just like Rosberg, Hamilton knew that if he performed well enough, he’d be in F1. Rosberg because he had the funds in the family, Hamilton because he was being funded by McLaren.

        1. Well he said Hamilton had one and not the other, meaning he had the Backing but not the belief, and don’t assume that just because McLaren was backing him in one season that they would do so forever if he didn’t have the talent, I doubt Lewis was the only one being backed by McLaren at the time, and if you look at the McLaren system now they skipped one young driver for an even younger one when they picked Magnason. And redbull have let go many young drivers, so backing doesn’t always mean you will get into F1

          1. @ Manu, Magnusson is the latest. Only time will tell if he can do for McLaren what Lewis did. I thought it was dirty how they kicked Perez to the curb. Look where they are now. Stock with two conservative drivers and one of them is basically pensioner at this point. A Perez/Magnus pair would have been better as they would push each others limits and thus push the engineering team forward.

          2. @manu: Perez was never a McLaren junior driver. In fact, Perez was member of the Ferrari programme (which I completely don’t get, they don’t seem too focused on getting their juniors in their own cars to be honest).

            As for the rest: we’re talking about the above interview with Hamilton and Hamilton is clearly talking about backing.

          3. @MattDS …“We were talking about how cool it would be, one day, if we were in Formula One, just how cool it would be to be team-mates. We said it several times,” says Hamilton.

            “I can’t remember back then if I believed it.”

            Thats not about backing its about believing whether you will get there. Keep in mind that this was during their Karting time and not formula 3 or so, so its difficult to believe you would eventually make it to formula 1 while karting. As for Nico its easier for him to believe it as he would be more known in the F1 ring due to his dad, and teams might just give him a test “a chance to prove himself” because they knew his dad from back in the day, the same for Nelson Piquet, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve etc, of course if you aren’t good you will quickly be removed from F1 but you get the chance regardless.

        2. Exactly, a couple of bad races and McLaren could have stopped backing up Lewis. A father will always support his son, so a couple of bad races wasn’t that bad for Nico if his father was confident he would come back.

          I don’t think this is a continuation of the comments Hamilton made before the Monaco Grand Prix: here, he just says a fact. On his previous comment, he said those things to justify why he was more “hungry”.

        3. Why did McLaren give a “conditional” contract to some random kid? A: because he was a promising talent.

          Why did Keke open doors and rub shoulders and use his influence to get Nico drives?
          A: Because he’s his son.

          See the difference? And if I had a kid who seemed to have a promising future in anything, I’d throw my weight around and make sure he got the best. Its not a dig at the Rosberg family. Only fools think the world is merit based.

          1. @sudd the difference is merely the explanation of why they were backed in the first place. It doesn’t matter too much with F1 in mind though. The idea is still the same, whether backed by a junior programme or by a WDC-dad: you still have to perform at/near the top in order to get to F1.

            Hamilton did. Rosberg did. And so both got into F1.

            It doesn’t matter if you have a WDC dad when you’re not all that great. Just look at Josh Hill, who retired last year.

            My point was: Hamilton had great backing and he knew, like Rosberg did, that as long as he kept performing well, he would have a serious shot at becoming an F1 driver.

    4. My late grand dad was used to say: “If it’s the truth, it’s right”

    5. Is it any surprise Nico would feel that F1 is there for him if he wanted it? F1 was not some foreign distant world for him. He grew up in it. His hometown(Monaco) is a race track. Dad is a F1 champion. Why would anyone be surprised?

      1. I don’t mind LH, I really don’t, but I also think he is playing the sympathy card way too much this year, like he is the underdog and always has been.

        If having a Dad who is able to put together 20 grand in his first year to get him the best equipment so he can go karting in the upper level is being ‘poor’ then God help 99% of the rest of the world.

        If LH was as good as he says he was, which there is no doubt, then he was probably also saying ‘when I get to F1’ not ‘if’ because in no time he was hanging out with the Rosbergs and being courted by Dennis. So if LH was saying ‘if’ it sure wasn’t for very much of his youth.

        NR being from an F1 family was never any guarantee that he would be good enough to be in F1, but as it turns out he was…yet he still had to prove it on the track. Interestingly, having a famous F1 father was no guarantee for Nico to always be in top 3 cars like LH has had the luxury of for far longer than NR.

        This interview may be portrayed as a walk down memory lane for LH, but it seems he cannot resist these opportunities to make it sound like everything has been a cakewalk for NR, and a struggle for him…he can’t just talk about how lucky he himself was.

        I resent the author interjecting that NR is ‘bitter’, and to me that is what makes this article come across like LH is trying to be the downtrodden underdog, and in fact I find LH is the one starting to come across as bitter. Surprisingly so since he is the one who has always had top equipment not to mention a WDC.

        Poor LH, doesn’t even know what poor really is….but he sure knows what rich is. Half the population of the world as never even made a phone call. He grew up a lot closer to the 1% than he’d like us to believe.

  2. I agree with Damon Hill. During the race it should be the drivers making all of the final decisions about when to pit and how hard to push the car based on how he feels it is operating. If the car fails to finish the race because of some type of mechanical failure, then it should be up to the engineers and mechanics to make sure that it does not happen again at the next race.

    1. If anything, I think people are putting too much focus on how much data the engineers have available to them. The drivers can still make the call, but the engineers have the data on their side.

      It’s sensible to rely on the data the engineers provide them and extract the most of the car. Sure, it’d be great if that meant going at 100% all race, but I am 100% sure that’s what the teams are going for as well.

      And it’d simply be foolish if any driver were to retire from a race while his engineers have told him ‘if you go to engine mode 2 now, you’ll finish, if you remain in mode 3, you’ll retire 5 laps before the end’. I’m pretty sure Damon Hill would have liked to know too.

      (Or, on a lighter note, he is still ashamed the data proved there was nothing wrong with his car during his final race.. ;) )

      1. @npf1, data is everything in modern racing. Even weekend amateur track day guys know that data is extremely vital if you’re serious. Imagine the role it plays at the grand scale of F1 where drivers abilities are separate by just a few tenths?

        Data on engine or other components is not what’s being discussed. In your personal car, you have a dash that will send you warnings if you start to overheat the engine, a failure in emission system and nowadays even tire pressure. F1 drivers don’t have that info, its all monitored behind pit wall and if the engineers see a problem, they notify the driver. No one has a problem with that. I actually had a problem with Mercedes’ inability to see the looming brake failure on Hamilton’s car in Canada. The whole point of the pit wall is to monitor what the driver can’t see, then advise accordingly so the driver gets the best possible result.

        The problem is data specific to driving. When exactly to apply throttle. When to brake, how high should you rev, is it beneficial to short shift(meaning don’t use full rev range). Driving line. Your teammates spring rates, aero settings…etc. Everything the driver or the car does is being constantly monitored. Mercedes’ policy is that the struggling garage can simply log into the teams data base and download everything the successful garage has. To me that is proprietary theft. Hamilton hinted at it a while back when Nico arrived in Bahrain with basically a “How to” pamphlet for beating Hamilton. I’ve heard the argument that its fair because both sides can copy each other. I don’t buy it. You’re not allowed to copy your classmates work, why should you be allowed to copy your teammate?

        1. That’s why Nico issued a statement “I keep race secrets from Hamilton” coz to make it look he has his own tactics too!

        2. Just maybe because it is a team based sport and they are fighting for the constructors title.Frank Williams said something to the effect that the drivers were not the priority years ago.

        3. So, did you ever work in a team? Not to mention that the data is owned by MERCEDES the team, not by its employees – drivers.

          1. @bascb I was referring to the comment above about teams being driven by data, the Nick quote crossed. My post. You are right that in a data context Rosberg could be seen as not being a team player by not sharing however unless his side of the garage are colluding I am not sure what data / telemetry / Setup he can conceal.I also suspect that none of the drivers believe it is about any t hung other than the Drivers championship – despite all their comments about the importance of the team

          2. In that comment Rosberg didn’t mention any telemetry or data, rather things like finding the best line, or an extra grippy part of the track kind of things he would not mention to Hamilton.

          3. @bascb it’s a thin line but even as a team player I might just keep my personal stuff like my lines to myself!!

    2. The trouble is, it’s not only engineers telling drivers how to drive, we also see more often than not drivers asking engineers how to drive.

      1. Exactly, like Nico asking “What brake bias is Lewis using” thats way too much information and it takes out the talent out of racing. Its much better to ask where can I go faster and go figure it out by yourself rather than get all information from your engineers. Frankly I would like either the drivers to decide what information to share with team mates during the race if it involves tactics but if it involves power settings then they should be shared across the team.

  3. I can see bashing approaching. Forget the headline and go read the article, its a very good read trust me.

    1. Good read yeah @john-h, although most of it has already been said in interviews by Hamilton before. And that mention of how Rosberg had it easy again because of his dad, was a bit superfluous.

      1. @bascb It’s superfluous no matter how you slice it. Rosberg and Hamilton are both millionaires these days. Whatever route they took to get where they are today, it would be inaccurate to say that things aren’t equal between them now.

        1. I guess the only difference is Hamilton already achieved his goal but wants more of it, while Rosberg still is fighting for his first title.

          But both are in a comfortable position doing so.

    2. Exactly. We all know the history and their differences in upbringing. It is a well worn story by now. The rest of the article was actually good. I was impressed that Hamilton can remember the names of all the guys he karted with in the early days, its quite refreshing actually. I’m the same age as Hamilton and was struggling to remember the names of some of the guys I used to race BMX with in my early teens the other day. The fact that he remembers these people and his karting exploits is quite impressive.

      1. I think it was a very good article, it’s good to see Hamilton doesn’t forget where he came from despite all the bling-bling stuff he likes to share on twitter.

    3. The way I read lewis’ opinion is that he feels he is more entitled to winning the title than rosberg who “had it easy”. It is not rosberg’s fault that his father was rich. This whole thing about lewis saying these stupid things all the time is making him look like a little spoiled child while rosberg looks more and more like adult hard working F1 driver.

  4. Even though Rosberg had the advantage of his name (and probably more so than his name, his father’s connections, let’s not forget he managed Mika Hakkinen as well) Rosberg had to prove his worth in F1 and he did. Personally, I’d say Rosberg might have had an advantage getting into F1, but his name didn’t score podiums and a win over Schumacher’s single podium at Mercedes.

    Not to mention, if we’re talking ‘F1 drivers who got there because of their name’, I’d be more likely to think of Nelson Piquet junior, Christian Fittipaldi (although he had his moments) or even Bruno Senna. I’m glad Mattias Lauda and Nicolas Prost never made it to an F1 race seat, because that would have been a triumph of privilege over ability. Not someone like Nico Rosberg, who was doing pretty well for himself.

    1. Just to clear my conscience, I am not saying Hamilton didn’t have to prove his worth, but rather that there’s a different kind of pressure on drivers whose family have had success in a series.

      1. @npf1, I agree. I was just watching the Indy race from Houston and the commentators alluded to exactly that. Affluent drivers do have a different kind of pressure. However, their pressure is not about making it to the table, its about proving they belong at the table. You know what I’m saying? Guys like Graham Rahal and Marco Andretti knew there was a seat for them if they want it. The hard part is proving they earned or deserve it. The truth is the majority of successful drivers come from very affluent families. Racing is not like ball sports. It’s extremely expensive and gets more expensive every year, which squeezes out major talent.

      2. I would say the pressure is even greater @npf1. Certainly was tough for Bruno Senna, and it was incredible for Piquet Jr., Hill had the same, with such a successful father. Maybe Nico has the advantage that while his father is a WDC, he still won “only” 5 races and the championship with a dose of luck.

        Let’s not forget that from his 12th year Hamilton knew he would get a good seat even firmer than Rosberg did, as McLaren had invested too much in him not to give him that chance. Rosberg still had to fight to get in at some team, doing the test circuit and hope to get picked up. I wouldn’t say either had it so much tougher.

        And isn’t is curious how Hamilton now lives a life full of fun to “get back” for his “suffering” while Rosberg is more or less fully focused on racing because he knows his talent alone is not enough? Part of that is for Hamilton to argue for himself how much he earned that. But that is saying more about Hamilton himself than about how easy or not a route into F1 his teammate had.

        1. @bascb I definitely think Damon, once at Williams, had the most to live up to. Despite winning 3 championships, not that many people hold Piquet sr. in very high regard for some reason, plus Piquet Jr. was at a team on a downward spiral, much like Roberg was at Williams. Meanwhile Bruno Senna probably should have made his F1 debut a little earlier, but his career of course was halted when Ayrton died, so there are a lot of ifs next to all the pressure on Bruno, in my opinion.

          Keke Rosberg did have a rather lucky championship and a somewhat less than impressive career, especially compared to Piquet, Prost, Mansell, Lauda and Senna at the time. (Then again, I always keep forgetting Stefan Johansson drove for Ferrari and McLaren, so Keke isn’t the least memorable driver at a top team in the 80s), but seating at Williams and Mercedes hasn’t made it easier on Nico, I think.

          Personally, I think Hamilton is suffering from Drake (the pop artist) syndrome. He is really identifying with the ‘gangster’ mentality, in which a poor upbringing is somewhat of a status, but at the same time he’s forgetting he himself has had chances based on his talents that many other people have not had. I’m not saying the ‘gangster’ mentality is bad (heck, I love me some hip hop) but frankly, I think Lewis is trying to fit in psychologically with a group he sees as positive reference group and is leaving his sense at the door a little.

          1. Pretty much agree with all of that, yeah @npf1

    2. On the other hand you have terrible drivers like Enrique Bernoldi, Pedro Diniz, and many others over José María López, Norberto Fontana, and so many others who have the talent but not the wallet… Who knows? maybe Nicolás Prost or Mattias Lauda were a lot better than the first ones, but not as good as the last ones…

      1. Bernoldi wasn’t that bad, actually, he just had really poor material (The A22 and A23 didn’t go down in history as Arrows’ best) and teammates with a lot more experience. After 2002, my guess is Red Bull were not able to trick Peter Sauber into signing Bernoldi anyway and couldn’t find another team to place him.

        The thing is, most champion’s sons made their debuts at top teams (Rosberg and Villeneuve at Williams, Piquet at Renault) while Fittipaldi had major backing because of his name. Damon Hill is probably the only one who made his F1 debut with a limited budget at a poor team and (somehow) ended up at Williams too. I’d fear a Nico Prost or a Mattias Lauda would have stood in the way of a Kovalainen or Kubica, rather than a Nakajima or Speed.

        1. Glad somebody mentioned Jacques Villeneuve. He too had the pressure of the expectation to win at all times, even when he was just learning and was racing in Japan in his youth. His every move was under the spotlight and that created more pressure early on than most experience.

          While I get LH’s point that peoples’ hunger can be different, I find him too eager to play up NR’s upbringing like that makes Nico’s hunger inferior because it comes off a silver platter, or LH’s hunger somehow more genuine because he was ‘poor’ and in fact was not.

          Ayrton Senna, LH’s hero, came from a family of privilege, just not within the racing world, and his hunger was also different. I wish LH would be genuine about different hunger rather than boiling it down to being a money or a privilege thing. The hunger and the drive and the work still needs to be put in to get to be WDC, and there are still no guarantees.

  5. Riiiiight, as if having full support from McLaren didn’t mean a lot either.

    Sure being son to a world champion must mean a lot. Even being son to a non-WDC. But what is Alonso going to say now? Unlike Rosberg, he isn’t the son of a F1 driver. Unlike Hamilton, he didn’t have the support from one of the top teams in the sport. Unlike Vettel, he didn’t have the incredible help of one of the biggest companiesin the world…

    Rosberg had to live up expectations and he did. And even if he had the help, it must be hard to separate yourself from the “son of Rosberg” motto.

    1. “Riiiiight, as if having full support from McLaren didn’t mean a lot either.”

      Didn’t Hamilton take a slightly longer route to F1 because he didn’t have the support to progress at quite the same rate as Rosberg?

    2. @fer-no65, SANTANDER!! Do your research before you speak, son.

      1. Santander came along only when Alonso WAS already successfull. If you had mentioned Telefonica however …

        But still, Alonso had to move abroad to get there, his parents did their best to help him as much as Hamilton’s parents before he got any support though. Not unlike Hamilton later getting McLaren backing.

        1. @bascb, Doh! I was thinking Telefonica but blurted out the obvious/current Santander. ING was another sponsor but they too came much later.

          1. spafrancorchamps
            30th June 2014, 7:05

            Sure. We call that shifting ground.

        2. Don’t forget LeasePlan, they were pretty prominent sponsors of Alonso up until he started winning races too. But having a sponsor without a clear tie to a top team but a sponsor none the less, doesn’t really qualify as being in a team’s driver programme.

      2. @sudd that’s a sponsor. Everyone has one, even Mark Webber had the Yellow Pages…

    3. He certainly didn’t have full McLaren backing from the word go. He struggled for a bit before they were genuinely convinced.

    4. Not to mention that Hamilton at least had the luck to be from the UK, the hotbed of racing development. Alonso was one of a few interested in karts and had to go abroad to get going.

      1. If SO All british racers would win Every champ. C’mon.

      2. @bascb being from the UK doesn’t mean a huge amount. There’s plenty of young British drivers around who certainly have the talent, but aren’t either linked to a team for whatever reason or they don’t get the support, notably from the government. Drivers generally find themselves being from a country which will support them because of their nationality and then moving to the UK, the Maldonado route.

        1. THat certainly does not count for the likes of Alonso or a Kubica etc though @craig-o, who did have the extra burden/cost of having to move to the UK on top of showing their talent. That surely made their job harder. Not talking about guys like the Columbians or Russians etc out there now, who clearly have a well funded state behind them.

          That is not saying that being talented and from the UK makes you have an easy job though, there are so many massively talented guys who never got close to F1

  6. So what Ferrari is that which got the record? F2004? Interesting to see car of that age on slicks.

    1. exactly, kind of an important bit of info to miss out there from keith! looks like the 2002 car?

      1. Looking at the gills on the sidepod, I’d say it’s an F2003 GA.

  7. First CODT !!!!!, what a great source of motivation before going to a job interview (after 7 hours from now), thank you @keithcollantine and thank you all F1 Fanatics !!!!

    1. It was meant to be COTD not CODT

    2. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      30th June 2014, 1:51

      @tifoso1989 and remember I said it first to you man!!! (well about the most extense one) Good comment. On the other hand, my first comment today (at the top of this page) is being destroyed hahaha. Well that happens, I’ll live up to see another day.
      It’s good to feel I have a rival in opinions who is also a friend, even at the other side of the world.
      Hugs from Peru.

      1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
        30th June 2014, 1:52

        ohhh and good luck on your interview. I’m in a training to be hired or not this Friday…

      2. @omarr-pepper
        Good luck on your training all the best wishes from Tunisia, I’ve just passed with success the technical side of my interview (they didn’t tell me but i knew it), they told me that they may call me for an HR interview, the interesting thing ,believe it or not, i was interviewed by a Manager who have more than 20 years in software engineering, a serious man in a serious company (the company that makes software for Santander Bank, Bank of England and many other international financial institutions), after we finished he told me that he would like to ask me about something serious, i told him go ahead, he said that he wanted to know about Michael Shumacher conditions ,best wishes BTW, ( in the interests part of my CV i mentioned that i’m a die hard F1 fan and i’m a member of F1Fanatic) because there is many crap going on on the internet and few reliable sources, he said that because you’re fanatic you must know something, i advised him to follow Michael’s conditions on F1Fanatic which is a respectable and a reliable source .

    3. @tifoso1989 I think you’re right – no one can deny LdMs accomplishments or contributions. Though, I think there is an argument to be made that different times require different management styles and imo, Ferrari in F1 would fare better if either LdM adjusted his style or he brings in someone from outside to manage the team.
      Imo, Todt was so successful because he pushed back when LdM overstepped and brought a balance to the team that no Ferrari guy who is promoted to the seat can offer.

      1. That’s why he named Mattiacci a successful modern manager from outside the F1 world

  8. Humphrey’s tweet speaks volumes. Shame that those in the FIA and the strategy group will probably ignore it.

  9. I thought the comment about Rosberg was pretty obnoxious. The entire article he goes about his journey to F1, which is ok. And then, out of a sudden, he HAS to mention how Rosberg had it easier? How he, Hamilton, had it hard?

    Im sorry, but Hulkenberg, Trulli, Fisichella, those guys had it hard, they had to climb from the back markers to a top team. I’m sorry, but Hamilton joined with full backing from Mclaren, he was never in the midfield, from the get-go he was in the front.

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      30th June 2014, 2:13

      @austus finally I can give a person +1 today, a big bunch had gone bananas about my comment.

    2. @austus, Why does it get you so riled up? Do you have your own privilege you have a hard time coming to grips with? Have you ever heard the phrase “check your privilege?” It gets certain people very riled up.

      Just to entertain your argument, wasn’t Fisi Alonso’s teammate at Renault? Wasn’t Heikki Kovalainen Hamilon’s teammate at McLaren? I hear a lot of raving about Hulk, but he hasn’t done much really. Has he ever been on the podium? The point is we all have our struggles. Some more than others. The key is what you do when you finally get that “big break.”

    3. That’s my problem with the title of today’s round up: why call it” Rosberg always knew he’d get to F1 – Hamilton” when that’s definitely not the point of the article.

      1. petebaldwin (@)
        30th June 2014, 15:20

        @paeschli – Because it’s a slow news day and a headline of “Hamilton talks about his journey to F1” wouldn’t get even half as many clicks.

  10. Rosberg should say something about how Hamilton got a faster car right from his debut, and the rivalry will be complete

  11. Gideon Hadi (@)
    30th June 2014, 5:11

    So, Lewis-Nico duel is “hotting up”, but it very interesting that Mercedes always let their driver race fair and square, which in my opinion is a really good sport

  12. Karthik Mohan
    30th June 2014, 5:56

    Time and again, people show they need only the smallest of excuses to criticize Lewis’ words. People should realize that when they find something wrong in Lewis’ words everytime, the problem isn’t with Lewis, the problem is with themselves. Someone said Lewis was obnoxious to say he was faster than everyone else when he was racing R/C cars and karts, well, what do you suppose he should have said? “I was not that good, but some how I lucked into wins and I dont really deserve to be where I am today. “? He has answered the questions as best as he could. If you look at it as showing off rather than telling the facts, then you should probably take a look at yourself.

    And coming to the Nico comments, Lewis has not said that he had to work hard to get to F1, while Nico was relaxing. He merely says that Nico was confident, whereas Lewis was doubtful. Nico’s dad was influential, he was an ex-f1 champ and a constant presence in the f1 paddock in many guises! He would have made sure Nico got to F1, whereas Lewis dad couldn’t have made it work that way. It’s not a question of anyone’s talent here. And only a fool would suggest only talent can make a F1 dream possible and influence has no involvement in it.

    And talking of Lewis’s McLaren backing, I am a Lewis fan, but even I didn’t know that Lewis had McLaren backing when he was racing R/C cars and had just stepped into karts. I thought Lewis didn’t even get to meet Ron until he was 10 and already a British cadet class champion. And worse still, I thought Mclaren signed him into their driver development after he had won the Junior Yamaha class, at the age of 12. Maybe I should get my facts right.

    And to close, I dont know why it’s right for f1 fans to speak their mind, but not for an f1 driver.

    1. Sorry, but after Hamilton got the McLaren ties, he was far surer of a competitive drive in F1 than Rosberg was at the same age. The whole article says a lot about Hamilton, and his need to “hype up” his own/his families “suffering” to get into F1.
      People pointing to an Alonso or a Hulkenberg who had a tougher job climbing up are right to do so. Button’s dad did about as much for his son to get to F1 too. Its a huge task for almost anyone to get in. And for those outside the UK (or to an extent Italy) had an even tougher job at it, because they had to move from their home country to get into the racing world too.

      1. Yeah right, Hamilton with “McLaren backing” (whilst still having his dad go deep into debt trying to fund everything with this so called backing) had a better chance of making it into F1 than Nico, son of an ex-world champion, with immense influence and resources at his disposal and friends up and down the paddock.

        Get real. Understand fully what “McLaren backing” is at that stage of a career and re-asses your entire comment. It certainly isn’t a Red Bull Junior Program. Sheesh.

        1. From this very site:
          “At 13, he was the youngest such driver to have been contracted by an F1 team. The contract guaranteed financial and technical support and even included a future option for entry into Formula One.”

          You know more or better? Then please provide information.

          1. The key word being ‘option’. The contract would have allowed McLaren to pull support if they no longer felt it worth the investment.

          2. @mattds, what McLaren did is classic scouting. Ball clubs do it all the time. You see a potential prospect, you tie him up. It’s an investment with potential to pay off big time. And McLaren hit the jack pot with Hamilton. They were going to develop him via Williams in 2004 but BMW shut the whole thing down and went with Rosberg. Which forced McLaren to move Hamilton along Alonso. If they didn’t, he might of signed with another outfit.

          3. @raceprouk: in light of the discussion and the post I reacted to, the key words for me are “financial and technical support”.

            Julian indicated that “It certainly isn’t a Red Bull Junior Program” – clearly alluding to the financial and technical support. Because the RBR programme certainly does not carry any guarantees for getting a seat in F1.

          4. Lewis showed McLaren he was worth backing when he was young and then he had to adapt to a different pressure…he HAD to win to keep the backing coming. you think if he had a few average seasons in his teens that Ron would have kept the backing going? come on!

            All the f1 guys had it hard, it would have taken supreme dedication regardless of backing and they are all very skilled drivers.

            I think sometimes Lewis refers to his background because he is grateful for the position he is in?

            i for one am juts happy that at least one F1 Driver speaks his mind a bit rather than replying “For Sure” to every single question.

      2. @bascb Not just sure of a competitive F1 drive; the backing from McLaren would have meant that pretty much all through his career he’s been in the best possible position. In fact, in some respects the McLaren backing would have been worth more than having the name Rosberg and huge financial backing. A lot of lower class championship racing comes down not only to money but also technical support. For instance, in karting, while you have what are supposedly spec series (or at least very close to it), there are ways and means of creating a ‘spec’ kart with the best possible options from everything – being able to, for instance, build an engine with parts which have been x-rayed and scanned with ultrasound, so you can check for the absolute best out of the batch. It’s an enormous investment of time and money, and something which relies on technical expertise not available to your average racer. At the sharp end of karting, all of the successful drivers will be using techniques like this. If you can’t, then you’ll always be at a disadvantage. What better resource than McLaren for that kind of thing? Not just the money but the sheer technical excellence. There can’t be many companies in the world who would be better placed to support a driver through those extremely competitive series’.

        Let’s not trick ourselves into believing that Hamilton was racing in knackered old equipment with ‘best guess’ setup options, as most people are. Once he was allied to McLaren he will have had access to the best possible machinery. Got entry into the best possible teams. Been given access to the best possible sponsors. And of course, the best technical advice in the world was never more than a phonecall away. Almost every aspect of his life from that point will have been tailored towards becoming an F1 driver – His fitness, his education, his driving, his ‘media persona’…

        Hamilton earned that, of course. Without the raw talent and his determination, he would never have gotten that opportunity. Without his Dad’s financial commitment, he would never have had the platform to be able to show off his talent to Ron Dennis. But whether he chooses to acknowledge it or not, he had a golden ticket which 99.9% of racers will never have access to, no matter how good they are and no matter how much money they spend.

        1. Yes, maybe I didn’t go into that with as much detail as you did, but that was exactly what I meant to say up there @mazdachris. That Hamilton had at least as good reason to feel confident of making it into F1 as Rosberg at the same age.

          Thanks for the thorough explanation of the difference between karting on a shoestring budget and top outfits though. Not sure most of us here realize how little even the field is even at that stage of the motorsport ladder.

          1. Well, I should say that my knowledge of karting comes from experience in the late nineties, so it’s possible that things have changed a bit since then. But I’m pretty sure they’ll have been the same for Hamilton when he was racing. You’d be amazed at how much of a difference it can make, even with spec engines from a decent manufacturer like Rotax. And of course, that’s just the plain sight stuff that everyone knew happened. There were dark arts things being done by a certain few, sidestepping the rules and invisible to the scrutineers, even with a complete teardown, but rest assured there are secret squirrels known only to the chosen few.

            But as much as anything, it will have been the advice and guidance which will have been of the most value to Hamilton. You can’t overstate the importance of having the right connections and shaking the right hands at the right time. Plus the technical support of a group who are committed to your success.

            If anything I would say this was more of an advantage to Hamilton than having a rich, famous Dad was to Rosberg. Ultimately, Hamilton was the master of his own destiny – he was effectively already signed with the F1 team, he just needed to put in the performances to justify them putting him in a seat. Keke Rosberg may have been a World Champion, but he couldn’t just decide to put his son in a race seat.

            But spare a thought for all the racers in Hamilton’s position who never happened to bump into Ron Dennis and get that big break. Drivers who were just as talented, and with families whose families were just as (more, even) deeply in debt to chase that elusive dream.

  13. Every Lewis and Nico post everyone gets so fired up. Every article is so over analysed its getting a bit monotonous now. Chill out a bit and enjoy the rivalry we hope to have for the next few years.

    1. “the rivalry we hope to have for the next few years.”

      Well… no.

  14. It’s clear now that Lewis is going to keep up these attempts to get at Nico through the media all season. Yet again, it’s backfiring on him. I’m beginning to wonder if his beloved hashtag #HAM doesn’t stand for “ham-fisted”.

  15. Again really Hamilton? You’re not the 1st poor pilot in the F1, Nico is not the 1st rich pilot in F1. I don’t know, but he could have some problem about that…Against rich people, all that’s left know is to say that Rosberg he’s leading the Championship because he’s son of K. Rosberg.
    Hamilton, please stop crying and saying those rubish and start driving and beat Nico, because on the tarmac ( and that’s one of the beauty of this sport) it doesn’t matter whose you’re dad if you had a rich or poor childhood, matters what you took from it and the way you’re driving. You have the same car, so it’s all about you know, either you can or you can’t but please, talk less drive more….

    1. You’re projecting buddy.

  16. 1988 Senna and Prost for McLaren-Honda going into (race 9) Germany; Prost on 154 (P1), Senna on 136 points (P2), together 290 points (P1)

    1992 Mansell and Patresse for Williams going into (race 9) Silverstone; Mansell on 168 points (P1), Patresse on 105 points (P2), together 273 points (P1)

    2002 Schumacher and Barrichello for Ferrari going into (race 9) Europe; Schumacher on 183 points (P1), Barrichello on 55 points, together 238 points (P1)

    2004 Schumacher and Barrichellor for Ferrari going into (race 9) USA; Schumacher on 175 points (P1), Barrichello on 121 points (P2), togther 296 points (P1)

    2011 Vettel and Webber for Red Bull Racing going into (race 9) Silverstone; Vettel on 186 points (P1), Webber on 109 points (P3, tied with Button), together 295 points (P1).

    2014 Hamilton and Rosberg for Mercedes GP going into (race 9) Silverstone; Rosberg on 165 points (P1), Hamilton on 136 points (P2), together 301 points (P1)

    1. I’m not a big fan of 2009 so I left him out. But here he is after all.

      2009 Button and Barrichellor for Brawn GP going into (race 9) Silverstone; Button on 173 points (P1), Barrichello on 86 points (P2), together 259 points (P1)

      1. I’m sorry but I’m missing the point here.

      2. @xtwl Great facts :) But what is your point?

        1. @sudd, and @funkyf1 My other post got lost somewhere I guess. I wanted to point out that Mercedes as a team are the most dominant ever in points but the rivalry between both their drivers is very real indeed now. Rosberg is only second to last in the list of dominant drivers. Except for 1988 the difference between the first and second driver is very big.

          1. I don’t think those stats serve much purpose though. You run into the problem of “context” with stuff like this.

          2. I don’t know whether they are THE most dominant ever. The Ferrari 500 won every race it entered in 1952 and scored all but two second places.

  17. Being backed by McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari or any YDA does not guarantee you a seat in Formula One, I am sure Antonio Felix da Costa will tell you exactly the same thing. Having a World Champion of a father does not guarantee a seat in Formula One, as Josh Hill or Nico Prost will tell you. Both Hamilton and Rosberg had to work very hard to get into F1. Remember McLaren needed a driver in 2007, and no top-level drivers we’re available at the time, so they took a punt. With Rosberg, he won the GP2 series, earned a test with Williams, and was quick. Remember the two are roughly the same age and they still ended in F1 just one year apart.

    1. @craig-o It doesn’t guarantee you, true, but what it does is, it gives you dividends for performance. Unfortunately, for several drivers like Mirko Bortolotti, Kevin Ceccon, Albert Costa, James Calado or even Luca Filippi, that kind of support would have guaranteed them seats in F1. I don’t think these guys were any less deserving than the backed drivers.

  18. Says the man who “raised” and “spoonfed” by McLaren.

    Lewis, go home you’re drunk

  19. Well, having a dad, who is a Formula 1 champion certainly does not guarantee you a race seat in F1, just ask Mathias Lauda or Nicolas Prost. However, it can help you open several doors.

    War of words is often a part of great title battles in F1 so I think we should just sit back, relax and enjoy it.

    1. There is a reason why the second generation following daddy’s footsteps rarely out excel their fathers. No guarantee, but if your family is friends with upper management at a company you wish to get hired at…guess what? Chances are you’re getting the job. That’s what happens in the real world. Connections bring opportunities and opens doors. Anyone who tries to downplay it or deny it is just naive.

  20. What I don’t understand is why people get so bent out of shape by facts. People are responding like Hamilton is slandering Rosberg when he simply answered a question about how two different paths reached the same destination.

    A simple wikipedia read will give you a gist of Rosberg’s path. Anyone who denies Rosberg got to the top thanks in part to his families wealth and his fathers influence is delusional. Just look at his career. The guy was just jumping from pound seat to pound seat. Doors were opening left and right for the guy. Not only in motorsports but also had a offer to study in London. He raced for his dads team in F3 Euro and was testing Williams F1 cars by 2004. 2006, he was on a F1 grid. Hamilton didn’t get to F1 until a year later. Hamilton nearly went to Williams in 2004, but was denied because BMW didn’t want to support him. Hindsight, it was actually a blessing. You think Rosberg’s ties to Williams had something to do with that? When he eventually signed with McLaren in 2007 because Kimi and Montoya both departed, he was a gamble. McLaren took a gamble and it paid off big time. It wasn’t only Hamilton that benefited. He revived McLaren and F1 in general.

    Nico was bread from karting to make it to F1 if he wanted it. Hamilton and most drivers were all bread for F1 from their karting days. The difference for guys like Hamilton is your progression is merit based. If you’re not winning, you get dropped instantly. But before you even have Pro teams looking at you, it’s a family effort. That’s the difference between Hamilton and Rosberg. There are no stories of Keke taking multiple jobs to fund his kids career. There is no mortgage issues, debt etc. Rosberg simply change his racing national to German to attract big sponsors and walla. If it wasn’t for motorsports, Hamilton and Rosberg would never have crossed paths. Their journey is like going to college. When you get there, you compete with people from all kinds of backgrounds. Some super affluent and can focus on their studies, not have to worry about paying bills or getting part time jobs. However, in class you’re both given the same assignment and expected to deliver.

    Hamilton is the poor kid come good. It’s your problem if you have a hard time coming to grips with someone beating the odds and standing on the top step.

    1. “Hamilton is the poor kid come good.”

      You say that like he had to fight of numerous ‘rich kids’ throughout his career. Simple fact is he got signed at the age of 13 into the Mclaren junior programma and that’s it. If your parents give you a go-kart at the age of six for christmas, you’re not coming from a poor family it seems to me.

      1. WOW!
        @xtwl, like I said, its your problem if you refuse to accept the truth and would rather invent scenarios and redefine poor.

        1. @sudd I do understand your point about different paths etc, but I don’t understand why LH can’t just reminisce about his past without bringing up NR’s privilege, like NR should be blamed for who his Dad is.

          As you point out…life is just like that…some students don’t have to hold part-time jobs and can just concentrate on their studies. Some people are just lucky that way and others have to work harder for it.

          Some people like LH get lucky early on, and spend a small number of years in their youth in a more ‘normal’ upbringing only then to have things take off in a big way, with a talent realized.

          It’s been a long time since LH has had to worry about the proverbial part-time job, and he has spent the better part of his adult life as a wealthy WDC. I think the time has past for him to make himself sound so downtrodden, and NR so lucky, and just accept what you have said…they’re all writing the same exam, and so many don’t even have the privilege of a higher education. I wish LH would come across more as being appreciative of how it all worked out for him, rather than bitter that it was slightly harder for him than NR, while seemingly forgetting how so many millions of karters never get close to the level his Dad was able to get him to.

          1. petebaldwin (@)
            30th June 2014, 15:26

            @robbie – Because Rosberg vs Hamilton is all the press want to know about at the moment. It’s a massive story in F1 and one of the biggest rivalries for years.

            Any interview Hamilton gives will involve questions about Rosberg. He was talking about his path into F1. Inevitably, any journalist worth his salt will ask about the times he’s raced as a team mate to Rosberg in the past!

            It’s as though people think that Hamilton decides to call a press conference to talk about what he has on his mind.

            Sadly, Hamilton isn’t the brightest guy when it comes to what he says to the press. They love it as it creates good stories for their papers and websites so they push the issue until they get something good out of him.

            The alternative, is that he never speaks to the press. If that happened, everyone would moan that F1 drivers are distant and only say what their teams allow them. I wouldn’t blame him if he went down that route though.

          2. @Robbie, while you can’t understand why Lewis brings his past up every now and then, what I can’t understand is why you have to write so many long comments attacking him whenever there’s a post about him. We get it – you don’t like him. You don’t need to remind us all the time…

          3. @petebaldwin Of course LH and NR and their rivalry, which goes back to karting, is going to be the dominant story this year. And it’s a fantastic one. And I don’t pretend that it is LH that is going to the press any chance he gets to talk about it. What I question is why, when the press does bring it up, he can’t just leave it at how lucky he has been compared to most, and how grateful he is with what he DID have, and rather has to make it sound like he was downtrodden and NR the luckiest guy in the world. So no, the alternative is not that he not speak at all, it is IMHO that he should speak with a more genuine tone when it comes to his youth. It’s almost like as a rapper he feels the need to claim some sort of street cred to create some sort of rags to riches story when I don’t believe the rags were ever really there.

            And @sebsronnie You will have also read that I don’t mind LH, so your accusation of my dislike for him is wrong. I have only ever ‘attacked’ him, and that is way too strongly worded, when he admitted to off-track distractions costing him on the track in 2011, and in recent weeks when he spews rhetoric about NR’s upbringing when I feel he has nothing to complain about with his own, yet sounds like he does.

            I have heard LH express his gratitude to Ron Dennis et al in the past, for being taken under his wing and affording him all the opportunities he has had etc etc, but he seems to forget all that when talking about NR and his upbringing which was simply what NR was born into and that NR could do nothing about. It’s silly mind-games I guess, and I find them disingenuine.

        2. If anything LH was the more lucky guy, first year into F1 and immediatly in a top car.

    2. @sudd I’m sorry, are you actually implying Nico Rosberg was offered a scholarship because his father once won the WDC?

    3. @sudd Both Hamilton and Rosberg drove for works AMG karting squads in the Super A in 2001. Rosberg went to BMW ADAC with VIVA, a team set up by Keke Rosberg out of nothing. He won it on his first try. Contrast that with Hamilton, who stepped up to British Formula Renault with established top squad Manor and wasn’t even the best rookie in 2002: he was beaten by Jamie Green.

      Hamilton’s dominating performances in FRUK (2003) and Euro F3(2005) were largely the results of being in the best car in his sophomore season. Rosberg on the other hand, jumped to Euro F3 before Hamilton, but he raced with his dad’s team, which wasn’t really an advantage. The team have won just two titles despite having participated in many championships for over a decade. Hamilton, in his second year in Euro F3, got to race for the ASM/ART squad, a team which were miles ahead of the rest.

  21. A little bit off-topic, but did anyone else watch the Sky coverage of Goodwood yesterday?
    I’m only asking, because I found it really disappointing; they were treating it as an F1 build-up programme.
    They didn’t even mention things like the rally stage or the aeroplanes. Instead, they asked lots of people about F1 2014; Kimi, Surtees, Moss, Wolff, Webber, and they were discussing it in detail.
    There is so much mofte at Goodwood than the current f1 season; what about the rally stage, the supercar parade, the motorcycles, the aeroplanes, the car show, the demo runs up the hill etc.
    But no; they focussed almost solely on the current F1 season and in particular the powertrain and the Mercedes team.

  22. Thank you to Hill for speaking out. Modern engineer-generated driving removes huge areas of potential mistakes or driver interpretation from the races, which are two of the areas where overtaking and great racing comes from.

    Keep all the electronics as they are, but ban pit-to-car radio. Instead, just have a set of standard messages they’re allowed to send to the dash: “pit this lap”, “retire car”, “5 second penalty”, etc. If a stewards decision has to be communicated to the driver, instead of Charlie taking to the team, he tells the driver directly.

    Engineers can analyse all the data they like to improve the car for future races, the race director can still run the race, drivers can get information they’d require, and competition would go back towards natural talent rather than SQL.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      30th June 2014, 15:30

      @hairs – I think we’d need a fundamental redevelopment of the cars if this was the case though. The drivers have to manage so many things during the race, without the radio, they’d have to keep so much in the bag just in case.

      We can’t have rules limiting how much fuel they use (for example) and no mechanism to tell them how they are coping.

      If the cars could run at 100% for the full race, I’d be all for it though.

      1. @petebaldwin they only have to manage that much because the engineers are giving them constant adjustments. Take away that, and half the buttons on the wheel disappear. Strategy information like fuel percentage used is communicated clearly to viewers on tv, drivers could easily have a car status dashboard on those big LCD’s. You don’t have to report brake temperatures, just get the ecu to report “rear brakes overheating”.

        Fewer things to manage and adjust also means cheaper, less complex cars. Good things all round.

  23. Why do I feel that most of the people commenting on the Lewis article haven’t actually read the article?

    1. Agreed, every article must be viewed in the context of what was being asking at the time, without the context, most statements seem very tabloid in nature.

  24. This is Lewis’s problem, he doesn’t have the mental capability to play mind games with Nico. It’s school yard stuff and more likely to make Rosberg fight harder. I’m sorry Lewis, but you just don’t have the capacity to go toe to toe with him.

    1. What utter nonsense, do you really believe that drivers somehow get faster when angered and upset by a teammates comments??

      All this psychological warfare rubbish is getting tiring to be honest, mental games count for nothing when a driver is strapped into his seat!!

  25. As much as it can be interpreted as a harmless observance, I feel that Lewis is intentionally trying to portray himself as some sort of an underdog or something.

  26. I think the headline is a bit of a twist tbh. The whole quote is this:

    “I can’t remember back then if I believed it [we would end up in F1 as teammates]. Nico would say ‘when I’m in Formula One’, and for me it was ‘if I ever get to Formula One’. Because obviously Nico’s dad was a Formula One driver – he knew he was going to make it. For us, we never really knew what was going to happen, we just kept at it.”

    It was about believing that one day he and Nico would end up as teammates in F1. NOT about how easy Nico had it compared to him. Nico believed it, Lewis didn’t.

    It was also part of paying tribute to his family. So the headline conjuring up an image of Lewis making some odious comparison is misleading. Not the best journalism I gotta say.

    And clearly plenty of F1 fans have been tricked by it.

  27. The article is full of the usual bragging from Hamilton (I was so good at that and great at the other), and the point about him not seeing himself in F1 during talks with Rosberg likely another lie as he already had McLaren full backing at that time.

    I guess Hamilton wants the world to know he is more entitled to the crown this year being more talented and especially more humble, but of course it’s mostly about bigging himself at any opportunity.

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