Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Hockenheimring, 2018

Hamilton says the quality of his German GP drive was “missed” by TV coverage

2018 German Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton has clarified his complaints about the television coverage of the German Grand Prix, saying he feels the quality of his drive was overlooked.

The Mercedes driver took to social media after the race to complain about remarks by ex-F1 drivers on Sky UK’s coverage. “Not a single one of them could find a good word to say,” Hamilton remarked in a post which was later deleted. “Whatever the reason is, it’s OK I forgive you,” the post continued.

Speaking to media at the Hungaroring yesterday Hamilton explained his reaction to the coverage.

“I just watched this race that felt so great in my heart,” he said. “There were certain things that I was like it’s not being perceived that why by who’s reporting it. But also there [were] things missed.

“There was a point when it started to rain, I was three seconds quicker than the other drivers but for some reason there on the TV screen there was only the gaps between us there was no times being shown so people couldn’t see the difference.

“And also it wasn’t being explained the difference I was making, the different lines that I would choose. Being that we had racing drivers commentating I would have thought they would pick those things out but they didn’t.

“I can look at, for example when I watch the race I can look at Sebastian [Vettel], how he enters the corner and positions the car.”

Hamilton said he expected more technical analysis from former racing drivers.

“There’s drivers that I grew up watching and succeed and it’s interesting. It seems a little bit different how they sometimes commentate – it’s different from race to race – how they commentate as opposed to when you watch an ex-tennis player commentate on the technicality of a tennis player, how they do fast balls or they work well on grass as opposed to sand. I don’t see that happen as much, but I don’t watch all the races.”

Some of the coverage was more positive, Hamilton added. “In the end there was some good comments from some drivers. But they have a tough job to report what’s going on in the race, so I respect that.”

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106 comments on “Hamilton says the quality of his German GP drive was “missed” by TV coverage”

  1. To be honest, I really can’t stand the commentary on Sky’s F1 coverage any more. I used to love Martin Brundle’s commentary, but watching Sky now feels like all he does is moan and criticise. Feels like a grumpy old man constantly moaning about how this and that was better in his day. I know that in some respects, the C4 races are picked mostly because they’re going to be the most enjoyable ones anyway, but I do feel like I enjoy watching F1 a lot more when I’m listening to Coulthard and Ben Edwards. They fulfil the brief of informing and entertaining. In my eyes, Brundle now does neither of these things.

    1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
      27th July 2018, 9:01

      Couldn’t agree more with this. Crofty often seems to come across as if he’s angry and just shouts at the screen. Or talks about the pies he had for dinner the other night. He is even worse in practice. And I agree Brundle seems to be getting a bit miserable.

      Ben Edwards may make mistakes, but he sounds so passionate about what he’s talking about and he stays on topic. The coverage on sky is just going downhill. I’m not sure what I want in 2019 when there will be no live coverage in freeview. A good pair of commentaters like DC and Ben Edwards doing a channel 4 highlights package, or them both moving to sky. I’m not sure. Because I would be amazed if freeview didn’t even show any highlights after every race and I wouldn’t want this to have an all new line up. But at the same time, the Sky line up could do with replacing. I actually thought Brundle and DC were great when they were together so maybe this would cheer Brundle up again. I also really like the line up of Ben Edwards and Karun Chandhok in practice sessions, so I wouldn’t mind things going that way either.

      It is just a real shame that what is about to end on freeview is far better than what is going to take over all of the next 6 F1 seasons! I know it has less adverts and has more features before and after the race. But it isn’t cheap. And I find the nowtv service very poor. The picture is only 720p compared to freeview which is 1080p and only looks slightly better than SD if I’m honest. And at peak viewing times (start of the race) the coverage often buffers and the image often blurs or pixelates. Paying what they charge for this seems a bit much IMO, but what other option do I have?

      1. @thegianthogweed Yeah I agree. I was lucky that when Sky first started covering F1 I got the F1 channel for no extra cost as part of the HD package. But I’ve since cancelled my subscription so would need to pay a huge amount for the HD F1 channel – something I simply can’t afford to do. The NowTV offering is poor – my major gripe with it (other than the awful quality as you mention) is that you don’t get any catch-up with it like you do the Entertainment package. So there have been weekends where I’ve paid £13 and circumstances have meant I’ve missed the race live and haven’t been able to watch it later.

        Anyway, about commentary. I really like Chandhok, and enjoy his practice commentary as well as his little insights during the race and afterwards. He’s that ideal package of a race driver who understands the technical requirements of driving an F1 car fast, while at the same time being a superfan who is absolutely clued up on all the latest paddock developments, all wrapped in a package of a person who can present information in a clear and interesting way.

        Your race coverage lineup should really have at least one ‘colour commentator’ in the form of an ex driver who can describe the technical stuff, and a personality commentator who can offer insight and entertainment. You then need someone down in the paddock interviewing people, and someone in the pits watching what the teams are doing. I’ve always loved the Radio Le Mans commentary for sportscar racing. A lot of that comes from them having a great personality in the form of John Hindhaugh, but also the thing that really comes through is the passion that everyone has for the sport and the excitement they feel at watching every race. That’s really what’s missing from Sky’s coverage for me. It feels like they don’t feel passionate about F1, and certainly don’t enjoy watching it.

        1. Jonathan Teague
          27th July 2018, 11:29

          I know what you mean re: Now TV. It’s how I’m watching now and we jokingly refer to it as Now or Never TV due to the lack of on demand catchup :-).

          Id rather have it than pay full price for Sky as they keep notching up the price and then put you on a “deal” when you complain then 2 months later another price hike. If I cant watch live or the replay in the evening I usually watch the 30 min highlights on F1 TV (which we can get in the UK). Not ideal but at least its something.

          1. guys if you use Plex at home you can use plex as a DVR and just record the races from now tv that way.

            Google “plex” it’s *free, excellent and totally legal.

            *you might have to pay for the DVR feature, i cant remember but I have a life membership with them which was really not much money, 60 quid or something like that

    2. @mazdachris John Watson, day and night difference in the quality of commentary, I bet he could do better all alone than the majority of Sky F1 squad.

    3. When you run a monopoly you get to do whatever you like as you are the only game in town. That is why SKY sucks. If you want rid of SKY then cancel your subs, starve them of cash.

      1. If you want to blame anyone blame Bernie and the team that made the long term deal with Sky. Sky maximised the deal they could get from the offering party, the situation is not Sky’s fault.

        1. Sky overpaid, the saem way they over pay for football and cricket. They make the rightsholders offers they cant refuse and that nobody else can match and they do that so that they can maintain (or establish) a monopoly.

          Its got nothing, or very little to do with Ecclestone. His job was to wring out every last penny from it for the shareholders and he did very well at that.

          Sky have always been this way and this is why they are still around after all these years, football addicts all have sky.

          The only way to get out of this situation is to cancel and stop giving money to sky. when they seen that there is no money to be made ,they will drop F1 and we can have pay per view from F1 direct with no middle man.2

    4. I have a feeling they were all put through Sky’s trademarked journalism course which seems to reduce individuality, encourage whining and making up stories with next to no basis (see Herbert asking Alonso point blank if he was retiring a year or two ago when nothing suggested he would be)

    5. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      27th July 2018, 12:50

      You can’t imagine what it’s like for viewers from the US who had to switch from NBC to Sky/ESPN. We literally went from world class steak to processed meat. I know it’s a harsh comparison but it’s also the truth and probably a very kind comment to Sky. I’m not sure if Carey or anyone in the world can fix F1 at this point.

      The problem with F1 in the rest of the world has been that you didn’t have Diffey/Varsha, Hobbs, Matchett, and Buxton. That’s been the problem and no one knew it. That was Ecclestone’s biggest failure and Carey’s too. These guys took F1 to different levels.

      1. @freelittlebirds Thank goodness we all have a different fingerprint or wouldn’t life be boring. I think exactly the opposite to you on Sky vs. NBC. Now in fairness, the only time I have had access to the Hobbs gang coverage here in Canada was when they were on Speed TV, and Canada didn’t black out that coverage like they did with NBC, except for Monaco I think.

        When they were on Speed I truly had the impression there was something else they would rather be doing. They were just watching the same footage as us without any further insight, and as I would watch races with the live timing on my laptop I would even pick up on things like someone coming into the pits or someone passing someone else, and they were obviously not even doing that because they would only mention it if the cameras fell on the situation. I just found their coverage very lacking and like I said, like they would rather be doing something else that day. Perhaps things got better at NBC, because at Speed I had come to the conclusion that F1 was never going to grow in the US with that crew covering it.

        1. people complained about the NBC crew, and all I heard was how great the Sky crew was. This year I have the Sky coverage and I don’t like it at all. I can’t even understand most of them, and that’s the English speakers! I think they suck. Miss the NBC guys.

      2. I 100% agree that the NBC team offered far better coverage and commentary than Sky. The only thing that Sky does better is they have access to the teams during the race and will get comments from Horner and others.

      3. I loved the Speed/NBC coverage team. My only complaint was that they dumbed things down a little bit, but I think they had to for their audience. So while every race they would explain DRS and the tire change regulations and didn’t get as far into some of the esoteric points that the Sky guys can, on the other hand they had so much enthusiasm and passion and humor that they were fantastic. Hobbs was like your crazy grandpa, just saying any ludicrous thing that came to him. Buxton acted like a child at his first GP ever and thought everything was the most exciting thing that ever happened, which was contagious. The drivers seemed to really respect him though. Matchett was the old professor trying to explain what was going on (and who always anthropomorphized all the cars– “whoa, easy girl, easy”), while clearly being amused by his colleagues, and Varsha/Diffey tied it all together. I miss those guys.

        Varsha — “The race, much like David Hobbs on a Saturday night, is subject to blackout”.

    6. Totally agree with@mazdachris and @thegianthogweed comments about Brundle and Crofty. However, I do not think that the Sky F1 coverage is a total loss – Ted Kravitz’ “Ted’s Notebook” portion of their coverage is some of the finest broadcasting out there today. The best part of the whole weekend is usually Ted’s qualifying notebook. Pinky is good fun also.

      Paul Di Resta is becoming a very good commentator and Anthony Davidson already is with his technical analysis. Surprisingly Jolyon Palmer also commentated really well for a F2 race earlier in the year – hopefully Brundle and Croft will move on so that one of these guys can take over in the near future. (Being in Australia I don’t have access to Channel 4, but from the snippets I have seen, their commentary team seem to be better than Sky on the whole.)

  2. Wow, Hamilton is really full of himself isn’t he. Maybe there should be a channel dedicated solely to him, with hand picked commentators. To make sure we don’t miss any of his awesomeness in the future. God forbid.

    1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
      27th July 2018, 9:16

      Just saying, If Hamilton think his race was missed, then think about the drivers near the back in virtually every race. He himself probably gets over 20% of the coverage every single weekend. Grosjean and Ericsson didn’t get their many places gained filmed near the end. Hamilton seems to be implying the coverage was missing him more than others. It just wasn’t.

      I know Hamilton is an extremely good driver, But I just don’t like it when a driver seems so full of themselves. It may help with their confidence, but I haven’t seen many coma across quite like this.

      1. Yep, he is sounding like a right tool at the moment. His social life seems to consist mainly of hanging around other mega celebrities and this seems to be a breif glimpse into the mind of one of those types of people.

        deep down, he is ok but right now he sounds like a diva.

    2. Maybe there should be a channel dedicated solely to him,

      There is – it’s called SkySports F1

      1. This. Also if anyone was at Silverstone we were subjected to 3 days of Hamilton FM. You would think it was only him in the race.

        1. It’s almost as if it were on a British TV channel and he were the only Brit in the field.

      2. I was going to say dedicated cameras and commentator, but channel is good then we can switch of if he becomes to much.
        Really Hamilton is a very good driver and has proven it over the last decade. And I know that all top sports people have egos and need to have extreme confidence in themselves. I think He is pushing it with this though.

    3. @vjanik Agreed. I’m still of the opinion that his 2015 WDC went to his head and that he has been entitled and ungrateful since. Oh sure he’s full of thank you’s to the team and all…while he’s accusing them of sabotage at the same time. I think he has gone to the Kanye West school of self promotion. Just repeatedly tell the world you’re a gift to it, or that you’re hard done by when everything isn’t going perfectly, and a certain segment of the population will buy in and make you a billionaire for being a shallow egotist.

      1. while he’s accusing them of sabotage at the same time

        Never happened, there is not one quote of Hamilton saying Mercedes sabotaged him.

        1. @Martin No just plenty of comments that implied it.

          1. @Robbie

            I don’t have an account so no idea which poor sole is getting notifications when you (at)Martin

            No just plenty of comments that implied it.

            “No” .. exactly .. he never said it, anything else is your personal bias. He never accused Mercedes of sabotage but 2 years later you are still here lying about it. At least be mature enough to admit that instead of blaming Hamilton. There is a perfectly reasonable explanation for the comments he made that people who deliberately took them the wrong way (like you) just ignore.

            It’s like the other day when you claimed he was “reluctant” to give a place back to Bottas this time last year and then proceeded to deliberately misquote Hamilton to “prove” your point. It’s just a bit sad really.

      2. @robbie

        Over reaction much?

        1. @todfod Right? LH really did over react throughout 2016.

          1. @robbie
            No he didn’t. When Lewis said “somethings wrong” or “something’s not right” you thought he screamed sabotage.

            It’s funny because when I accuse Sebastian of whining you’re the first one to say that I interpret his statements incorrectly. So, I don’t see why you don’t follow the same principal for Lewis. Bias perhaps?

        2. @todfod You know yourself, unless you didn’t watch F1 in 2016, exactly the things LH said, and they were far from ‘something’s not right’ so you are being very disingenuous there. And SV is an entirely different personality and yes the things he has said have been subject to interpretations too, and they don’t circle around chest-pounding and entitlement. So for sure I am biased against entitled millionaires who only say they are grateful but don’t act that way.

          1. @robbie

            You know yourself, unless you didn’t watch F1 in 2016

            so you are being very disingenuous there

            There you go again. I honestly believe that he didn’t say anything of the sort… And I probably watched that season much closer than you did. So, avoid on your double standards.

            You’re biased towards entitled millionaires who aren’t grateful and I’m biased against whining, arrogant cowards in formula 1 cars. We both have our own biases.

          2. @todfod For sure we have our own biases. Wouldn’t life be boring if we all thought the same way and cheered for the same team or driver?

            Just to be clear I have never said LH literally used the word sabotage, and some posters would like me to produce a quote of him using that very word, or else it means he never did accuse the team of favouring Nico. But if indeed you watched more closely than me then you are well familiar with his remarks about the team changing crews from one side of the garage to the other ‘for no apparent reason’ which then stirred up all kinds of conspiracy theories including around here, which then caused TW to publish a letter defending the 1500 staff at Mercedes F1 and their integrity.

            There was his remark about ‘someone’ not wanting him to win, and about only him having the unreliability at Mercedes, and then at the end of the season his remark about a tell-all book once he was done with F1 implying he would speak of how they had favoured Nico for 2016.

            So if you want to believe he didn’t say anything of the sort then the direct quotes are available in the archives on this site and many others. Perhaps if you watched more closely than me, you just blocked those kinds of things out because you didn’t want to hear them. But I didn’t invent them I can promise you that. If you think you are catching me out because he never used the word sabotage but I have, simply because that is what his sentiment through 2016 boiled down to, well you’re not, because I never claimed he used that word, but certainly the words I do claim he said are in the annals of F1 history.

          3. Just to be clear I have never said LH literally used the word sabotage, and some posters would like me to produce a quote of him using that very word

            No some posters would just like you to provide any evidence of him accusing Mercedes of sabotage, he doesn’t have to use the word sabotage, he just has to say something along the lines of “Mercedes deliberately caused a failure on my car”

            It’s not hard, I really dont understand how you dont get it.

          4. @Robbie

            The many paragraphs of rambling in your post

            Give me a break. “Someone/Something doesn’t want me to X” is a perfectly valid phrase that does not mean that your team is sabotaging you. It means things are just going against you. The mechanic change he said he was unhappy with because change is unsettling, he didn’t however say the Mechanic change was done to deliberately sabotage him, or anything like that, that is your interpretation.

            because I never claimed he used that word

            But you did claim he said Mercedes sabotaged him, and he never did

    4. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      27th July 2018, 13:01

      @vjanik @robbie If the commentators need the driver them that they don’t understand the sport, then they should be in that position. If Nadal and Djokovic had to explain to McEnroe the quality of tennis that they played at the Wimbledon epic final, McEnroe would probably resign. Of course having McEnroe comment on the game is an absolute delight for anyone watching cause he does see the things and it’s almost there’s an echo when he comments.

    5. @vjanik
      If a driver, anyone, is lapping two or three seconds faster than the other lead cars, it deserves attention from the TV coverage. And he is entirely right that experienced F1 drivers should be commenting on and analyzing that. He did his job well. I have no problems, ever, in anyone telling others that they’ve done a bad job and can do better, when it’s true and they can.

    6. He is actually making a very good point. Hope you get that point

    7. You are full of yourself. Hamilton is 100% spot on. Just watch Tennis and see ex-Tennis players commentate and watch F1 and watch ex-F1 drivers commentate and the difference in knowledge is day and night.

  3. I thought Lewis was all about ‘Love conquers all’.
    Why is he bothered about the comments ex drivers made ? So what if they weren’t convinced ? He is a 4 time champion. So is Sebastian; and Seb was criticized for many of his words and actions during the early part of this decade.
    I understand he wants to be the center of attraction at all race weekends. He has built a certain brand around himself and is doing what he can to limit the damage to that brand. Don’t think the ex drivers or fans look at him that way.

  4. Only highlights, but if he wants to watch F1 where its about the racing try C4. Over there they will tell you that the guys on the wrong tyres, so the car won’t turn, and that’s why he went off. Meanwhile Croft will make some pathetic comment about the guy going for a trip across the desert before he tells you Vettel has thrown away the championship.

  5. He’s not wrong regarding tennis vs F1 in terms of their ability to describe the technical detail. Which is odd for such a technical sport.

    1. You couldn’t be more right. Unless you don’t watch Tennis because if you do you see exactly what he’s talking about with Brundle et al

  6. Hamilton is a little adrift here. Its not the ex-drivers who set the tone. Its the one whose voice and annoying conversational diversions is beginning the annoy mightily.

    It seems every time Vettel ( or in the past, Rosberg) is leading the championship he is repeatedly described by Croft as ‘the championship leader’. I can’t remember him regularly describing Hamilton that way. So much he says is actively or passively negative about Hamilton. And when, rarely, there is a positive commentary on Hamilton it seems grudging.

    Perhaps it is my impression only.

    1. Huh? What commentary are you watching? Are you suggesting that Sky F1 is not ludicrously biased towards Hamilton? Sky would sooner have you believe that Lewis was walking on water rather than driving through it.

    2. You’re 1000% correct. All of them does it from Brundle to even the new DiResta. Everything positive thing said about Hamilton is always grudgingly said. Especially to a true English speaker that’s how it comes off. Perhaps people who’s English is a second language might think they’re praising Hamilton. Far from it

  7. My goodness, he’s getting more petulant al lthe time it seems. So far in three races we’ve seen:

    – a strategic director needing to come on the radio to apologize to him… in order to not get him to throw his toys out of the pram during the race
    – the team needing to motivate him to keep on racing the race… the multi-millionaire rockstar driver… how do you think that makes his mechanics feel?
    – stating his retirement in qualifying was NOT HIS FAULT when it quite clearly was, to stroke his ego

    … and now he is complaining on social media about not enough favourable press coverage…
    I’m beginning to think Hamilton and Trump are related.

    This man (and I use the term loosely) has a serious ego and mentality problem.

    1. If Hamilton’s attitude was different he would not be the champion he is. If he became soft to please his anti-fans he would become a mid field driver. I’ll take all his faults and self belief over him rolling over to please people. If he was that bad a person Merc and his team would and could not work with him. You guys seem not to understand the psyche of a winner. The world is full of likeable losers. I wonder why?

      1. pastaman (@)
        27th July 2018, 13:28

        He’s not the only winner in the paddock, but he’s definitely the biggest baby.

        1. Maybe he should have a good cry in his car, swear at ‘sir’ when he doesn’t get his own way, and run to the prat perch for a cuddle off Arrivabene/Horner when he fails. Like the other winner does.

        2. #special

      2. I had no idea f1 champions are minted by lots of adulation.

  8. Romain Grosjean would like a word. I saw him climbing the positions in the last few laps, by paying attention to the info panel on the left side of the screen.

    Crofty and Brundle either didn’t notice or didn’t care. Though it’s not entirely their fault, since they are only reporting on what the main camera feed is showing (i.e. what we’re seeing) and FOM decided to keep that stuck on the front 3 drivers.

    Also when the rain started, I saw the info panel on-screen that said Gasly was on Extreme Wet tyres – I was hoping that that was an error, and it took until it showed up on the camera feel for them to even notice or say anything about it. I was totally flabbergasted that Toro Rosso could even consider Extremes as an option, let alone Inters, but it took until a very quick camera shot before they even mentioned anything about it.

    I do like Crofty and Brundle, but I do feel like they sometimes ignore some of the information they are presented with – if I can pick up on these things, surely they can too.

  9. I get Lewis’ croticism but it’s easy to say in hindsight “well you should be mentioning what I’m doing here because it was key to me winning the race” but when the race is unfolding the commenrtors have to call it as they see it and there was a lot happening on track all race. I can’t really fault their peeformance last weekend.

    Generally speaking, my observations of the Channel 4 team are:

    Ben Edwards: He’s the lead commentator and does a great job telling what’s happening and trying to set up sections where DC can give his insight. His passion and enthusiasm for the sport really come across. 9/10.

    DC: Does an ok job these days. Seems to try to be too diplomatic at times, very reluctant to criticise those who he feels are better drivers than him while being keen to stick the boot into the likes of Ericsson. He also seems apologetic when discussing technical aspects of the sport, so his explanations never go far enough. 5/10, could do better.

    Karun Chandhok: The exact right mix of telling you whats happening, giving you an opinion and explaining things technically. The guy is a racer and a fan and it shows. 10/10.

    Lee MacKenzie: Seems to have a great rapport with the drivers and makes them feel at ease, always gets a good interview. A true pro. 10/10.

    Steve Jones: He’s a TV guy who seems to not be able to believe his luck at landing a job that allows him to travel round the world and mix with the rich and famous. Does the job of hearing ex racing drivers pretty well. 8/10.

    I can’t comment on the Sky team as I don’t have Sky.

    1. I think DC’s position is better understood when you realise he is basically the boss. He’s surrounded himself with what I consider some of the best talent; and yes 10/10 for Lee, and lets them express that talent.

      Being slightly cynical it’s also probably true that he maybe too diplomatic as the likes of Shell/Ferrari/Mercedes/Red Bull/Renault/Pirelli/etc are all clients of Coultards company. He’s not going to be too harsh with them!

      1. Indeed @riptide, he’s the boss of Whisper Films and he is still a brand ambassador for Red Bull and Mercedes…so it would temper his views.

        1. Yes, I was hoping Whisper would get the F1 TV gig. Can’t see me paying out for a Sky product.

  10. Sadly grosjean didnt get the coverage in closing stages of race when pulled some good overtakes to finish P6.

  11. I have no idea what Hamilton is on about.

    The commentary was very clearly reporting how much faster he was going than the front runners, particularly when he came out on Ultra sorts after his pit stop.

    If anything they spent too much time going on about how fast he was compared to everyone else.

    He must have watched a different race than the one I watched.

  12. Tell you what, his race didn’t look even slightly remarkable from the grandstands, either. The only memorable moment from the first part of the race was him getting past Alonso with a ‘do or die’ maneuvre that relied heavily on Alonso not being interested in showing him the ropes because they were on the same track, but not in the same race.
    Then, after a string of largely unchallenged overtakes, he emerged in 5th place and was immediately covered by Räikkönen’s early pit stop, which was the set-up for 18 laps of absolutely nothing remarkable whatsoever. Slowly dropping back behind Räikkönen, whose tyres were now fresher, slightly gaining on the top 3, whose much softer tyres were now getting tired.
    Then his pit stop, followed by a string of very quick lap times that allowed him to catch up on Verstappen and the top 3. Hardly surprising, though: He was on brand-new Ultrasoft tyres, while the cars ahead were on tyres that were two compounds harder and between 28 and 13 laps older than his. He was quick, but not unexpectedly so, and the cars in the lead didn’t have too much of a reason to react to his pace, seeing as he began his stint 23 seconds behind Vettel, and his tyres were bound to lose performance much more quickly.
    But then, the rain came to his help at just the right moment. If asked which tyres the drivers would prefer to be on under light rain, I’m fairly sure all of them would pick fresh Ultrasoft tyres over worn Soft tyres, as the much softer compound and the larger amount of rubber make it much easier to keep temperature in the tyres, which is the single most important aspect in damp conditions, when the reduced friction and cooling properties of water inevitably cause the tyres to drop out of their optimum temperature ranges.
    In other words: Yes, Hamilton was gaining rapidly, but it’s virtually impossible to tell if it was him who was making the difference, or the tyres.
    And then, the race went crazy. Verstappen took himself out of contention by gambling on Intermediates, Vettel had a black ice moment in one of the few unforgiving corners without an asphalt runoff, Räikkönen and Bottas were forced to pit under the ensuing Safety Car, as there was no way they could’ve stayed ahead of Hamiton with the tyres they were on. Hamilton inherited the lead, and his only worry was the fact that Bottas and Räikkönen were now on 10 laps fresher tyres. However, his tyres were far from useless, as 8 of the 15 laps they had done before the restart were completed behind the Safety Car, and another 4 laps had been affected by light rain, leading to significantly slower lap times and reduced wear in the damp section. Not taking anything away from him, just putting things into perspective.
    He did well to fend off Bottas after the restart, and then the Mercedes pit wall called off the fight, so we can’t tell if Bottas would’ve had the pace to keep attacking his team mate.

    Long story short:
    Objectively speaking, there was absolutely nothing spectacular about Hamilton’s race. He obviously drove well enough to be in a position where the race could fall into his lap, but it has to be said that it did fall into his lap. He was on a strategy that could’ve plausibly ended on the podium, with a late charge on Verstappen and Räikkönen, whose Soft tyres were suffering. But the rain happened to compliment his strategy and allowed him to stay out on the track when the cars ahead were forced to pit.
    Result-wise, this has indeed been a spectacular race for Hamilton, but seeing as this race was mostly shaped by the circumstances, it is easy not to be overwhelmed by his performance. I have no idea what the Sky team said or didn’t say about his race, but it seems that their assessment and mine weren’t too different, and we reached our conclusions independently.

    1. @nase A great summation.

      1. agreed – well stated @nase

    2. In other words: Yes, Hamilton was gaining rapidly, but it’s virtually impossible to tell if it was him who was making the difference, or the tyres.

      But you nonetheless conclude it was the tyres (since you say his race was nothing special).

      we can’t tell if Bottas would’ve had the pace to keep attacking his team mate.

      ‘Attack’, doubtful but maybe. Pass, no. The only scenario that would alter their positions was someone going off. Precisely what Mercedes didn’t want, hence the advice to Bottas to accept second. (Observation: drivers can ignore team orders. If Bottas really felt he had the pace and wanted the win that much, go for it, I’d applaud him totally. But he’d have to make it happen.)

    3. Objectively speaking, there was absolutely nothing spectacular about Hamilton’s race

      How about doing 43 laps on the soft’s and working his way through the midfield while still being quick enough to keep in touch with the leaders? How about starting 14th and getting ahead of Raikkonen and Bottas on merit? You say he was quick at the end because of the tyres, but he earned that position by being exceptional on the softs for the first 2 thirds of the race.

      Your summation is that Verstappen and Vettel messed up and Raikkonen and Bottas were slow but that Hamilton’s race, even though he was fast, mistake free, had a safety car go against him and still won the race from outside the top 10, was unimpressive? Seems that says more about you than Hamilton’s race.

    4. Yeah, they will never say this, they need their god

  13. Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
    27th July 2018, 10:23

    Yeah, they missed him going wide at the hairpin and losing a position from his ‘perfect race with no mistakes’.
    I really want to like Lewis, he’s probably the best out there but every time he opens his mouth I cringe, especially with comments he makes like this. While I think Villeneuve is an attention seeker he is spot on here.

    1. Must’ve missed that. WHO passed Hamilton? Except when he pitted he didn’t lose a single position…as far as I’m aware.
      Not sure why people yearn for this mythical NICE guy… nice guys do not make F1 champions in the modern era. Lewis is a phenomenon that is new to F1 but is known in all other major sports. You’ll find they are mostly the very best of their chosen profession.
      I’m a big Ham fan. He’s not the sort of guy I’d choose as a friend, he is so far removed from anything I know but he is of the very elite calibre of drivers. THAT is why I’m a fan. The rest is just nonsense detractors want to use against him as they have little to criticise from his driving.

      1. Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
        27th July 2018, 13:41

        I think it was Ocon if I remember correctly, he went wide and then got back past him later in the lap early on in the race. This was way before any pit stops.

        I think you’ve misunderstood what I wrote. I am not saying that sports people need to be nice to get your support, they all have a ruthless streak at this level. They all have a ruthless streak with the possible exception of Valterri Bottas. I just find a lot of his promotion of brand Hamilton on twitter cringeworthy, #blessed, #stillirise etc.
        I do follow other sports so I am aware thst these people with huge egos do exist like Ronaldo, it’s quite clear that Hamilton also comes into this bracket. I can understand his gripe with the TV coverage but he has to make it all about him, as all narcissists do. His comments are quite ridiculous in the context of Sky gushing over him all the time.
        It’s a real shame because his rags to riches story is fantastic but he has so little self awareness and acts so immaturely it really puts me and manys off getting behind him.

        If you want to be a fan of him, fair enough. I’m not a fan of any particular driver anymore. I just want it to be exciting.

  14. Hamilton just cant stop digging this hole he has created. He knows that

  15. This is the vane side to Hamilton which makes him so unlikable.
    Can you imagine Kimi saying something like this (when he does speak)?

    Just get on with it Lewis and stop obsessing about your image!
    You can’t change what motivates people, and there’s no doubt that Hamilton is a fully motivated and exceptional driver but it’s just ugly to be so concerned with appearances.

    He is right about “Sand” courts being difficult to play on though.. It’d be pretty difficult to commentate on too I’d say ;)

    1. This is WHY I like Lewis. He’s Real! He has ups, downs, stupid moments, magical moments, says intelligent things, says stupid things, he acts how he feels at that point. These traits are what make human beings. He is not one thing or one thought ALL the time.
      If he was so bothered about adulation then the thing to do would be to tow the line, say the things people will like, act and dress the way people want you to. He doesn’t do that. He has found what works for him and be damned the folk that want to hate. And BOY does it work

      1. Alex McFarlane
        27th July 2018, 22:06

        I remember Lewis early years where the criticism often went the other way – everything he said and did seemed so wooden, slick, choreographed with the result that he seemed bland and soulless.

        I’m not sure that I’d like Lewis as a friend but as a racing driver he usually delivers on the entertainment front, there’s no doubting he still has the desire to win, and for better or worse, he seems a lot more human than his rookie days.

  16. I get what Lewis is saying… but… I felt like the camera was glued on him slashing is way thru the pack. Grumpy commentator or not, he more than got his TV airtime…

    1. That being said, I would like to see more details from racer commentators, as Lewis mentioned. Driver line choices, throttle control and braking points and how they differ from driver to driver being the major details in inclement weather.

      1. Indeed like in soccer where they show you positions, strategy lines etc. I only watch the races on public television (luckily), perhaps it is available in paid streams or applications. But showing driving lines, braking points etc with informed commentary would be very interesting to see.
        If they can do that with a football, they should be able to do it almost in realtime with cars.

    2. Why focus on a driver cutting through the field when you have footage of Sebastian crashing in to the barriers, hitting his steering wheel and crying on the radio. That just made better television.

      I thought the race coverage was pretty good. It was focused around the Bottas vs Kimi battle instead of seeing Lewis unlap back markers. Lewis did a stellar job, but I don’t know why he needs reaffirmation through broadcasters. Quite a pointless statement from him to be honest.

  17. It was a good drive but the win was due to many circumstances beyond his control. Strange state of mind he is in this year. His mental strength or lack of it, might be a title decider this year. Seb seems to be fully aware of this.

    1. @mayrton This is a strange comment, ignore the blah blah blah off track and look at the last 18 months on track. Hamilton performs under pressure cooker situations whereas Vettel now has a unfortunate small collection of critical errors over the last 18 months.

      1. @ju88sy I agree with your Vettel comment. But he overall is strong this year, more collective. He know he lost it last year purely on the mental part. And therefore he has addressed it. Whereas Hamilton seems lost and unsure of who he really is (agreed most of that is off track, but it is resembled in his driving. And then there is his whining off and on track). And his season so far is not his strongest either. Don’t get me wrong I would love to see Hamilton clinch his fifth far more than Vettel, so I will cheer for him, he just got me bothered and this article contributes to that. I find it harder and harder to remain a fan and am slightly worried about him.

        1. @mayrton I understand, however I think the evidence points to the opposite of what you sumise. Hamilton knows exactly who he is and is comfortable speaking his mind, in addition he has driven to P2 and P1 from outside the Top 10 in the last two races, when we look at Germany, France and Baku in 2018 it indicates Vettel is a driver who can struggle to get a result under a pressure situation (excluding 2017’s incidents) For sure, Hamilton has had bad weekends this season, but under intense pressure typically delivers the best results, he knows all things being equal, under intense pressure, Vettel can occasionally make errors of judgment.

  18. i was more disappointed by them focusing on lead 3 cars where there was no action instead of p6-10 in the closing laps, they were so close and shuffling positions constantly…

    the whole coverage in germany felt kinda subpar, oh the head on shots…

  19. Ben (@scuderia29)
    27th July 2018, 11:37

    4 world championships and he’s still a self obsessed brat, sky or c4 its 70% Hamilton-TV, the silverstone coverage was ridiculously biased, its not much different at any other race, and to think he wants even more attention and airtime..
    The coverage caught every one of his “overtakes” it’s not like they were overlooked

    1. Agreed. His entitlement seems to be growing.

      1. This “entitlement” thing is getting a little tiresome. Lewis knows full well he has to earn WDCS. He’s earned everyone of the 4 he’s collected so far. He knows, and quite clearly states, that he is in the battle of his career this year so quite where “entitled” comes from….?

        1. Self proclaimed battle of his career. I would have thought 2016 would apply there too, but of course he’s not going to bring that up.

          For me the entitlement started after he won the 2015 title in the U.S. with three races to go. He stated he wished the season was over. He started partying and phoning it in. Nico started his seven race win streak including the first four races of 2016. But in the last three of 2015, with Nico getting poles and leading LH because LH just wasn’t into it, LH still managed to cry for extraordinary pit strategies to try to get the team to get him ahead of Nico when he couldn’t do it himself on pace. Then became 2016 with the constant insinuations that the team was favouring Nico and harming his own chances. This year it’s whenever the chips have been down it’s time to mope and cry hard done by, the Ferraris are faster, gonna need VB’s help, until things look a little brighter then it’s all good again and it’s all about him. He comes across as only grateful when everything is going his way. When it isn’t, the world is against him. Hard to support that kind of entitlement from a vastly rich individual who gets to do what he loves on a top team in F1.

          1. I remember what he said over the radio the last time he had a DNF. Something about having the most reliable and fastest engine and the best team he had ever driven for, and in no doubt they would bounce back strong. So yea, there he goes again, whining and blaming others when things go wrong.

            Have a job keeping up with the latest slurs, but I see ‘sense of entitlement’ features heavily. Take it that’s just another variation of ‘he should know his place’?

          2. “Self proclaimed” is what the title of this thread is all about.
            It was an interview so he “self proclaimed” lots of things.
            As mentioned in other posts, Lewis is a born winner and these type of people rub some up the wrong way (you obviously included)but Let’s focus on his talent huh? Cause it’s quite obvious he is not going to change despite folk constantly knocking his personality.

  20. Sky should consider giving Paul or Anthony a seat in the commentary box for the races. Love their commentary.

  21. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    27th July 2018, 12:07

    The quality of the coverage on Hamilton was bad? Must have been watching a different race then. Personally I’m sick of Sky’s coverage being so pro-Mercedes and Hamilton all the time – their bias towards Hamilton and against everyone else is uncomfortable. They tear Ferrari/Vettel/Red Bull apart while ignoring Mercedes/Hamilton doing exactly the same, ignore majorly when Mercedes acts shady and almost all the coverage is aimed at Hamilton’s success, and if anyone else wins it’s like someone died. If Hamilton wins it’s because he’s a legendary talent but if anyone else wins it was the car, or circumstance, or luck. Sky’s coverage is bluntly terrible. If he really thinks there wasn’t enough “quality coverage” of him his ego must be so large it has its own time-zone.

    The cameras in Germany were also fixated on Hamilton driving around on his own instead of looking at the midfield where everything was happening. I don’t care too much for watching a Red Bull/Mercedes/Ferrari cut through the pack as the speed difference between them makes it stupidly easy and the other teams just jump out of the way rather than chew tyres holding back a car that will get by eventually. (But don’t worry Lewis we saw those pedestrian passes anyway) There’s no denying Hamilton’s a brilliant driver but its stuff like this – also still complaining about Spa08, insinuating Ferrari are deliberately hitting him – that makes him insufferable and frankly makes the dumb comments by Villeneuve lately look almost justified.

    1. You are tone deaf if you think anyone needs to give Villenueve any thing to make stupid comments and don’t worry, Hamilton is not asking for your love.

  22. “Not a single one of them could find a good word to say”…kind of strange of Hamilton to look for good words from TV channels. He had a solid race and capitalized on changing conditions whereas Vettel could not. He knows it, his team knows it and his supporters know it. The end result was a win which took him to the championship lead. Why is he bothered about whether TV had something good or bad to say? Clearly the focus has to be on the championship and not on these silly things.

  23. they work well on grass as opposed to sand

    Bring back gravel traps!!!

  24. Peppermint-Lemon (@)
    27th July 2018, 12:53

    He needs two things to happen :

    – He needs to stop talking

    and

    – People need to stop blowing smoke up his backside.

  25. Oh Jesus! 🙏

  26. Hamilton starts 14th in a car that is .5 – 2.0 seconds faster per lap than all but one team (Ferrari).
    The track has several DRS zones giving more opportunities to overtake.
    Alonso, Magnessun and others get out of his way and let him by without a fight.
    He has even more good fortune as the leader crashes, he benefits from a safety car, and his teammate is ordered to let him by.
    He wasn’t even driver of the day, that should have been Hulkenberg.
    Only in his and his fans eyes did he do anything extraordinary.
    He has to tell the world how great he is – I’m not buying.

    1. Legend in his own lunchbox!

    2. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      27th July 2018, 16:51

      I hear you – Vettel, Bottas, Raikonnen, and Max all had a better chance of winning that race but, hey, let’s give them credit for not winning…

  27. All those differences I made, blah, blah, blah. Yet I still remember his race engineer coaching him on the radio about how Nico is gaining on him… If you want to make it clear to the world, how much difference you make, then why sign for Mercedes, try Williams or something, that will certainly help better than the words of any commentator. I meant Mercedes’s bad strategists, terrible reliability and all, it clearly isn’t worthy of his talent. Hamilton makes me wunder what is the point of F1 at all, judging by his talent, shouldn’t all WDC there is and ever will be award to him automatically.

  28. It wasn’t exactly Schumacher stuck in 5th gear or Schumacher making 4 pit stops to win Hungary.

    Through chance he found himself on the best tyre at the right time.

    Needed his team to implement team orders to ensure he won.

  29. I’m not really sure what he’s on about.

    I watched the Sky coverage (I prefer it to Channel 4) & they pointed out how much faster he was as it began raining & that he was catching the top 3. They also mentioned him getting by cars as he came through the field including some that weren’t caught live on the world-feed.

    Sky in general tend to be more positive towards Lewis than others do.

  30. I don’t get Sky so can’t comment on the quality of their coverage but I do like the Channel 4 coverage.

    Going by the article what I thought Hamilton was saying was that the expert pundits, the former drivers, should be explaining things that we the viewer may not pick up. We do not have the experience of being F1 drivers or have all the data the pundits have during the race.

    I notice in general that what the media choose to focus on is often what makes the headlines and leads the debate.

    That is something I notice with football, it has happened a few times where I listen to the radio commentary of a match on one station and they make a big deal of an incident or a players performance, I watch the highlights later to see what they were going on about and the TV may not show it let alone cover it in the analysis.

    Also in football the weekend after matches sometimes there is a big story in the media about something in a game that may have been missed by the referee for example, but the exact same thing happened in another game against another team and no one mentions it.

  31. You have the problem with the coverage graphics that they show the interval between the drivers, so trying to work out the gap between 2 non consecutive places, say vettel 1st and lewis 4th, becomes a maths test. It’s crucial for pit stop gaps etc, its so frustrating because it was always gap to the leader a few years ago

  32. YellowSubmarine
    28th July 2018, 3:03

    David Croft is perhaps the worst commentator one can have for a formula one race. He has zero technical knowledge, he frequently gets the drivers wrong, and when he gets a little tidbit from the ex-drivers on the team he hangs onto it like a dog hanging onto a precious bone.
    Brundle and Damon Hill have never liked Hamilton, though their overt criticism has dimmed ever since Lewis’ decision to move to Mercedes was vindicated by the three titles he’s won for Merc. But Brundle is like Jackie Stewart – he just doesn’t want to see Hamilton around him anywhere (when was the last time Brundle even went near Lewis on the gridwalk?).
    A more technically-minded commentator would be Lovely to have instead of pies-man Crofty, at least we could get some information instead of the banshee-like screeching that Croft mistakes for commentary.

  33. Shock news. This guy is once again bleating for not getting the recognition and praise he believes he deserves.

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