Lewis Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez, Monaco, 2016

Hamilton’s faith “gives him tremendous strength” – Wolff

RaceFans Round-up

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In the round-up: Mercedes executive director Toto Wolff says Lewis Hamilton’s faith is part of his strength, after the driver revealed he has prayed for success before races.

What they say

It gives him tremendous strength. And from where I am I think we need to be non-judgemental of where somebody gets his strength and what somebody needs in order to perform well.

Lewis has this very clear understanding, vision, faith that makes him the most successful modern Formula 1 driver. And I think we should see it with interest and in an inspiring form how he’s able to extract more and more strength in difficult moments.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

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Comment of the day

LB is concerned for Esteban Ocon’s future in F1:

I think it would be a tragedy if Ocon doesn’t have a seat next year. He’s been one of the best performers on the grid this year (Okay, a few mistakes like Baku – but who hasn’t made some this year). While all the seats are being filled up quickly, I can see Mercedes stepping in to make sure he gets a drive somewhere.

Looking to the future after Hamilton, Vettel, Alonso and co are all retired, he must be Mercedes’s best bet to match Verstappen
LB (@Burden93)

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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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70 comments on “Hamilton’s faith “gives him tremendous strength” – Wolff”

  1. Makes me hate Lewis more. I have him up there with Tom Cruise.

    1. You hate people just because they believe something you don’t?

      That’s the same attitude that causes a whole lot of attrocities around the world.

      1. Michael Brown (@)
        19th August 2018, 12:50

        Yeah that’s a fair logical leap /s

    2. Peppermint-Lemon (@)
      19th August 2018, 13:33

      It would not surprise me in the slightest if Hamilton ended up a Scientologist.

    3. That is what comes from having pickled your head rather than use youir brain.

      Senna also had a deep and profound belief, and the same great talent as Lewis – god-given?

      1. YourLordandSaviour
        20th August 2018, 1:51

        Belief in God is nothing more than a hiding place for the ignorant and a get out clause for the intellectually lazy or deficient. It’s also been used to justify some of the most horrible atrocities in Human history.

        I don’t have any respect for anyone who proudly shows off their ignorance like Hamilton.

    4. What an ignorant statement. You hate someone so much because they believe in a God? Would you like him if he doesn’t believe in anything then?

    5. What has Hamilton done to you?

      I really can’t be bothered to work up a really good hatred for people unless they’ve directly impacted the quality of my life. You must either live in a very perfect world if the worst thing anyone can do to you is believe in something you don’t– or a very miserable, cynical ragefest.

      Either way, you need better enemies.

    6. As a non-believer I appreciate that Lewis never tries to push his religion on others. He’s open about it, but he doesn’t try to evangelise, he’s not preachy or judgmental. It’s his thing, it makes him stronger, he probably doesn’t see the dark side of it, but I think that’s OK, even if I find it a bit silly. Alonso is an atheist but he’s not a militant type and that’s also perfectly fine. That’s the way it should be. Everyone should be allowed to believe what they think is right, if they don’t harm others in the process.

  2. Please, give us a break on the St. Lewis stories.

    1. Yeah! What the hell is a motorsports site doing reporting stories on this nobody? I mean it’s not like he’s leading a championship or the most successful driver of his generation or anything is it?

      More Lance Stroll stories!

    2. Well, until we can find a Satanist who’s a whiz behind the wheel of an F1 car, you’ll have to put up with it.

      You realize of course, that it’s because of people like you, that Wolff was even asked this question?

      Do you actually comprehend irony?

  3. There is a part of me that COULD see JEV back in an F1 seat with Red Bull or TR. With Sainz now going to McLaren, Red Bull is stuck in trying to fill a void when Ricciardo left. He might be the safest hands to put in a seat while they try to shuffle around who fills a seat in Red Bull. With his statement of him being happy where he is at they might have to fill that seat with someone outside of the Red Bull organization.

    1. It was Williams but they hung when he said he didn’t have more money than Sirotkin.

    2. @docnuke Definitely not TR at least as he’s already driven at that team for three seasons before, so, therefore, that’d be out of the question for him anyway if he ever were to return to F1 full-time.

  4. The awful decision of letting Vergne go to promote an unprepared Kvyat has caught them now.
    Kvyat wasn’t ready and he showed it a number of times until his demoting back to Toro.

    And Vergne was around for long enough to be used as a stopgap until they could have promoted someone they really wanted in the team. He may be their best choice again, but now he might be the one rejecting them.

    Well, well…

  5. Doubtful it’s going to happen with a hole in Helmut Marko’s bottom but I’d love to see a VER-VES lineup.

    1. I agree, however because Verstappen has now taken Vergne’s abbreviation, it would have to be VER-VEG or VER-VEN

      1. MAX-JEV

        1. Who are the drivers who didn’t take the first 3 letters of their surname?
          MSC VES VDG MOY MOT RSI

          1. Michael Brown (@)
            19th August 2018, 12:53

            Di Resta was always DIR

          2. Was MSC that before ralf came in?

          3. Peppermint-Lemon (@)
            19th August 2018, 13:34

            Msc was sch before ralf

      2. I think it would be VER – JVE wouldn’t it? I mean didn’t Michael’s tag become MSC from SCH when Ralf arrived?

        1. Yes, he was always schumacher before ralf came.

  6. I entirely agree with the COTD. Hopefully, he’s going to get a race drive in F1 for next season (and same for Perez as well). The ideal scenario would be that they’d both remain at their current team, but if that wasn’t meant to happen then hopefully the one that’d have to leave FI would find a drive elsewhere on the grid (maybe Williams, or even Mclaren if Vandoorne wasn’t to be kept there beyond this season).

  7. I envy people of faith.

    Whatever it is that gives you your belief and strength, nurture it.

    It obviously helps.

  8. Yes, we know Wolff, Hamilton must be touched by God himself. All hail the chosen one!

    1. I think we need to be non-judgemental of where somebody gets his strength and what somebody needs in order to perform well.

    2. Hamilton must be touched by God himself. All hail the chosen one!

      @niedle Not mutually inclusive, aside from reading like you didn’t bother to look at Toto’s quote.

      1. @davidnotcoulthard
        Or, he doesn’t give a damn about what Toto Wolff thinks people should think.
        If you need to listen to a prominent figure (whose motivations for saying what they say may not be as altruistic as they seem) to reach the conclusion that you shouldn’t be mean to others just because they’re different from you, that conclusion was worthless to begin with.

        If anybody else need’s a devil’s advocate, call me.

        1. I don’t know, he did totally call out Toto’s name so he was replying to him.

  9. Faith is important for most successful athletes worldwide. Even if it is the faith in believing in yourself.

  10. I’d love to see JEV back in F1 but maybe not to Red Bull. Don’t want to see Perez or Ocon leaving either, rather one of those guys take the RB seat, Galsy not enough experience for the RB seat yet, don’t want another Kyvat.. What about Buemi as well?

    1. @Dave ”Galsy not enough experience for the RB seat yet”
      – Well, Verstappen wasn’t any more experienced at the time of his RB-promotion than Gasly is going be at the beginning of next season, so not really a valid argument there. Just because Kvyat failed after having received a top drive after only one full season in F1 doesn’t mean others would automatically suffer a similar fate to him (Verstappen is the prime example of the opposite).

  11. I can’t see why Vergne would ever accept going back to Toro Rosso. Massive step backwards for him. Even Red Bull might not interest him now that the big Honda question mark hangs over him, especially if he could only be there a year keeping the seat warm for Gasly.

    He seems to me like the kind of guy who is motivated to be the first defending / multiple champion in FE. F1 would have calendar clashes with that.

    1. @eurobrun ”F1 would have calendar clashes with that.”
      – If he ever were to return to F1 as a full-time race driver, then that wouldn’t matter as he then wouldn’t be competing in both series’ simultaneously anyway.

    2. I’m sure that any FE driver, if given the chance to race in F1 (except the retired F1 drivers), would jump at the opportunity.

    3. I would of thought it was a step up! I reckon he would jump at the chance to get back into F1

  12. We all know that Lewis Hamiliton believes in go etc…

    Being repeatedly told about this from every direction has become nauseating, his personal beliefs are his own business and despite being a fan of his for many years, I am officially sick of hearing about it and all of his hashtag slogans too.

    Good news for JEV though, Always liked him but if he is happy doing what he is doing right now then why come back to a back marker / mid field F1 team?

    I mean he is winning races and championships now, in F1, unless he manages to get a seat in a particular team then he is going to be back at square one and it is extremely unlikely that Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull or Renault have been courting him.

    1. It seems like a click bait headline if there ever was one.

    2. #special

    3. Agreed about JEV. Would be great to see him but not sure it would be a great move.

      As far as Hamilton goes, I would agree with the term nauseating. Listening to the F1 podcast a few months ago that’s exactly how I felt. Blessed this/that, god, faith, massive, don’t use anything plastic, save the turtles, yadda, yadda. I used to like HAM (still do as a driver) but his life choices have made him irritating, and difficult to relate to. I will say his music dabbles as XNDA are surprisingly not bad.

  13. I am certain that praying to Lewis Hamilton, Son of the Lord who was sent to Earth to die for Formula 1’s sins, will be giving Lewis Hamilton a lot of strength.

    1. #Jesusdrivesamercedes

  14. Perhaps I’m jaded, but Abiteboul’s comments make me think that what he’s really saying is we can’t do as good a job as Ferrari so they must be cheating. Since we can’t figure out what they’re doing let’s bring them back to the pack with standardized parts. Them as can’t do want to move F1 toward being a spec series.

    1. @velocityboy Though to be fair with Ferrari in the same position Luca (or someone like that) would’ve probably said something to that effect as well.

      1. So Ferrari have being saying that Mercedes was probably cheating all this years ?

        1. Took the words out of my mouth.

        2. @rpiian I have the excuse of Luca already being gone by then :p. Seriously though I guess it’s me remembering the few days after Brazil 2012 a bit too much.

      2. @davidnotcoulthard Unlikely. The Montezemelo modus operandi was to bend F1 to exactly the ruleset he wanted, meaning that Ferrari could simply build to their interpretation of the negotiation’s result and win (because the other manufacturers had to guess that intention). Ferrari are anti-spec parts, as a general rule, except when it suits their psuedopolitical ambitions.

  15. If JEV can come back from FE that would add a lot to the credibility of the series.

  16. That picture with Lotterer grabbing this woman’s chest, I don’t even know where to start… Just sickening.

  17. @brownnote

    What exactly is “sickening” about a grown man grabbing a grown woman’s breasts with HER consent?

    Are you heterophobic?

    1. So by accusing @brownnote of being ‘heterophobic’ (which sounds to me more like veiled homophobia on your part) you’re effectively seeing that the action was sexual, not a joke between mates as the two people involved presented it. And that’s the issue. If someone in a position of relative higher status or power in a workplace engages in this kind of ‘playful’ sexual harassment of colleagues, expecting consent after the fact, it’s difficult for the latter to object without potentially generating serious problems for their present and future employment. This in turn makes it easier for these ‘fun’ moments to become more common and repeated by others in similar positions of power. To be honest I skipped over the image and comment at first, not thinking much of it, because the expressions suggest both people were OK and the engineer posted the image herself with a friendly comment. But your response made me realize how it could be used to justify sexual harassment. I guess that wan’t your intention.

      1. Maybe he is heterophobic. More probably sexual phobic.
        Of course the action was sexual, or playful sexual or banter sexual or…i don’t know what both of them say and that is what it matters, so what?
        And it is you DavidBR that seem think as in the past, if a women says yes to one it is like saying yes to everyone. Not.
        The fact that lady says okay to him do not make it okay to anyone else.
        Of course i don’t live in puritan political correct Anglo-Saxon Marxist virtue competition…

        1. Maybe he is heterophobic. More probably sexual phobic.

          +

          Of course i don’t live in puritan political correct Anglo-Saxon Marxist virtue competition

          And yet you are quick to police, judge and correct what you imagine other people to be, rather than address an argument. Possibly because you haven’t got one.

  18. Its sad & disappointing to read that people can actually say they “hate” some one tbry probably never personally met. Im from the part of the world where people were tortured,murdered because 1 group hated another. Perhaps its our own insecurities that lead us to “hate” people who are successful at what they do.

    1. I agree. There are also a bunch of people who seem to secretly but especially hate people who don’t hate. Much of our present political landscape is defined by this kind of people, trolling-mentality and worse, who deliberately set out to provoke conflict and stir hatred. They seem to despise anyone who expresses any kind of general or universal empathy or consideration.

      1. @david-br, Wayne – Well said. Live and let live. Embrace variation. There’s plenty of room for all sorts as long as they play by the rules (so abusive cults are out, for example). Accepting the value of other beliefs is hard to do, it requires strength and vigilance.

      2. @david-br interesting take

  19. digitalrurouni
    19th August 2018, 16:51

    Reading the comments about Hamilton and about the Leena Gade tweet…I came to the conclusion – people need to learn to chill out.

  20. If anyone is to be pulled out of F1 retirement it surely should be Buemi, not Vergne.

    1. @balue
      Buemi, the man who scored about 60% of Vergne’s points in an identical car? Who hasn’t been in F1 for 7 years now, compared to Vergne’s 4? Too little, too late, I’m afraid.

      On the other hand, we don’t know which team asked Vergne. For all we know, they could be a very respectable team, whose lead driver got Force India for his birthday, and whose reserve driver has one and a half hands. The first thing they asked him might’ve been whether or not he’s able to pay 20 million cash in advance. In other words, it could’ve been the kind of offer neither Vergne nor Buemi would be too willing to accept.

      1. Agree, vergne is one of the best drivers who were dropped, he had every right to be promoted to red bull instead of kvyat.

Comments are closed.