Lewis Hamilton has rejected Nico Rosberg’s claim that consistency is his biggest weakness.
The reigning world champion responded to his former team mate’s recent comments, telling media in Australia he “proved that’s not the case last year” when he won his fourth F1 drivers’ title.
“I think there’s a lot of people that need to get headlines,” Hamilton said. “The goal this year is to be even more consistent than last year. I think consistency is the reason I won the world championship last year.”
Rosberg beat Hamilton to the world championship in 2016 then stunned the paddock by announcing his immediate retirement.
Hamilton, whose Mercedes contract is up for renewal this year, said he still considers it a “privilege” to compete in Formula One.
“It’s a privilege to be racing for the teams we’re racing for. For and Mercedes, with the heritage that they have, to be part of the sport that’s progressing and changing with the times and to be at the forefront of it competing against the best drivers that you can compete against.
“When you come to the end of your career you want to know that you competed against the best. There are those that bow out early, there are those that have won championships, maybe, that have not been as competitive. The ultimate goal is to be the best, you’re going to have to go up against the best. It’s been a great experience for me to race against Sebastian [Vettel], he’s got four world titles, the most of any other at the time.”
Hamilton also tipped Red Bull to join the championship fight this year.
“I think this is an exciting year for Formula One fans being that we have two four-time world champions battling it out. But Daniel [Ricciardo’s] been smiling a lot today. I think you’re going to be surprised this weekend just how competitive Red Bull are.
“There’s been a lot of hype around our team for example which I think is very difficult to take much notice of. The last test was a little bit distorted with the track the way it was and everyone on different fuel loads. I’m excited to see how we all fare up once we get into practice.”
2018 F1 season
- McLaren staff told us we were “totally crazy” to take Honda engines in 2018 – Tost
- ‘It doesn’t matter if we start last’: How Red Bull’s junior team aided Honda’s leap forward
- Honda’s jet division helped F1 engineers solve power unit problem
- McLaren Racing losses rise after Honda split
- Ricciardo: Baku “s***show” was Red Bull’s fault
Blackmamba (@blackmamba)
22nd March 2018, 5:26
“Some bow out early……..”
“Some people just want headlines……”
I know Rosberg used dirty tactics a lot during their time at Mercedes and eve nabbed a championship in the process but I think it’s time for Hamilton to let it go now. He has a bright future ahead of him.
lee1
22nd March 2018, 8:57
It is Rosberg that is not letting it go. Hamilton was just responding to comments Rosberg has made recently.
Loen (@loen)
22nd March 2018, 9:12
As youngsters, coming into F1 at roughly the same time, Hamilton and Rosberg
knew each other very well. You might say they grew up together. But eventually
the great skills of one good driver were completely overshadowed by a very
great driver who will probably break many more records. It’s the difference
between being very good and being brilliant, and I, like many another, know
quite well which is which.
kpcart
22nd March 2018, 11:40
I don’t think Hamilton is a very grateful driver,he’s had a winning car every year in F1, and has been inconsistent until last season!
JustSaying
22nd March 2018, 12:39
I agree its untrue for what NR claims about LH. I would say NR is a coward f1 champion for not defending his title. He scared, he was childish, he thought he beats LH once and thats enough i quit f1, but actually he afraid to lose to LH again the next time they racing. If you really think LH is lack of consistency for only lose to you “once”, try to race again and try to defend your title again NR. LH beat you twice dont you realize?
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
22nd March 2018, 13:14
In all fairness Rosberg has been asked with the question “you beat Hamilton once, what would you recommend to Bottas”. And he responded with respect towards Hamilton.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
22nd March 2018, 12:56
@blackmamba what?
Speaking of consistency, is Ham saying getting beaten by Bottas on several occasions as being more consistent.
In essence, we’re nitpicking.
I must agree Ham doesn’t have to have these petty fights.
Blazzz
22nd March 2018, 17:35
Could say the same about Vettel being beaten on several occasions by an out of colour Kimi. Swings and round abouts
Matt
22nd March 2018, 13:19
He meant that the media will print anything as a headline just for the sake of it.
To be fair to Rosberg, he could have been trying to say that sometimes Hamilton get´s distracted by his off track life and that affects his performance. If we were coaching hamiliton, we might say that he coudl squeeze out even more performance and points by not letting his personal life get in the way.
I think Hamilton is consistent enough but he does have a very forgiving car at the moment (we think).
Todfod (@todfod)
22nd March 2018, 5:27
I don’t think Rosberg’s claim that Hamilton’s biggest weakness is consistency, is entirely untrue. The reason why I’m saying this is because he really doesn’t have a lot of weaknesses to begin with. His quali pace is unreal, he’s got fantastic race craft, he’s good with car development, and generally, he has a cool head on his shoulders.
I would think he’s really consistent too, but he does have the odd year where he isn’t completely on it. It happened in 2011 and 2016. There were races 2 or 3 races in 2016 that he lost his rhythm a little bit, and when you coupled that with his mechanical bad luck, you have Rosberg as champion. Obviously, Rosberg isn’t going to go ahead and say Lewis’ mechanical gremlins won him that title, so he’s going to point towards the 2nd biggest reason, which was a lack in consistency. In 2016, that was the case, but I don’t think he was inconsistent in 2014, 2015 and 2017.
I like the jab Hamilton takes back at Rosberg. It’s a little harsh, but entirely true to be honest.
Blackmamba (@blackmamba)
22nd March 2018, 5:40
2016 was a supreme performance from Hamilton. The only race he thoroughly stunk at was Japan, but every driver in history has one of those every year they compete, they are not robots. Some claim Singapore was another one but for me he was already on the back foot after he lost FP2 and FP3 going into qualifying and race with dodgy set-up. In 2011 granted he crashed a lot but the pure speed never deserted him and he still matched Button on 3 race wins apiece. Also his statistical average percentages are amongst the best, in most cases better than the likes of Vettel Senna Prost Stuart and so on. The man is consistent.
Hugh (@hugh11)
22nd March 2018, 9:59
@blackmamba your point about 2011 actually shows that he was inconsistent, the fact that despite having good pace, and matching Button’s 3 wins, he finished 43 points behind in the championship.
OlaRay
23rd March 2018, 8:11
He struggled with the EBD and new degradable Pirelli tyres which never suited Lewis’s aggressive driving style but suited Button smooth driving
JCost (@jcost)
22nd March 2018, 6:23
Rosberg is probably talking about Lewis struggles with race starts in 2016 but I don’t think it’s a matter of consistency. Rosberg is a WDC not because Lewis was inconsistent but because Lewis engine blew up in Malaysia.
Cronies
22nd March 2018, 7:24
Haha….. Rosberg got tagged by Vettel in that race but ended up third – 15 points. You have the fastest driver, best race race craft, best everything…. in the most dominant car ever produced – and you cant make up 15 points over the other 20 races??? Over a driver which he is implying should not even be a world champion?
Again you have this combination of best driver and car… how many races did it take till he won back to back races last year….
No inconsistency…. low grip circuit where Bottas did well? etc etc etc…
Roseberg always new his chance to win was through consistency – and he executed his plan…. Lewis sure is bitter…
Jammyb
22nd March 2018, 13:57
You’re also ignoring all of the other mechanical failures and massive amount of penalties Hamilton had to incur all throughout the year, Spa was a good example having to start at the back of the grid.
Hamilton had to take penalty after penalty because of mechanical failures but his critics only talk about 1 incident. It shows how much bias there is in the F1 fan base, but the fact is even with all of his mechanical woes with that massive handicap he finished the championship with the most wins and only 5 points off which is an incredible achievement in itself, and also the reason Hamilton was listed above Rosberg by every team principal and ex F1 driver at the end of the year.
Some of his detractors on here even tried to put his mechanical woes down to his driving style, which have to be some of the craziest comments I’ve ever seen, this is Formula 1 not WRC..
I would argue Rosberg was actually one of the most inconsistent drivers with the machinery he had in 2016 certain fans ignore how unbelievably off the pace Rosberg was in the wet all throughout the year, wet races always have and always will be where the best drivers are shown the most. Being mighty in the rain is one of the big things in F1 that truely seperates the absolute greatest drivers from everyone else, Senna and Schumacher who are always considered the 2 best showed that without any doubt.
Blazzz
22nd March 2018, 17:40
Well said. Selective reasoning by @Cronies and good retort you put forward. Keith did an analysis on the points swing last year- especially for Vettel in Singapore. Equally Malaysia had a similar impact on the 2016 championship.
Cronies
23rd March 2018, 6:37
Don’t know why you bringing other drivers into this? We talking about a claim Lewis made about himself… He may be the most consistent inconsistent driver out there but that does not make him consistent.
Secondly I am replying the JCost’s post which claim Lewis lost the Championship “because Lewis engine blew up in Malaysia”
You can never go into all the “what ifs” of every season – i.e what if Lewis’s car had failed in Abu Dhab 2014 on not Rosbergs……
Thirdly Lewis had a number of poor races last year, where he was beaten by Bottas – particularity on the low grip circuits – where was his consistency on those weekends? Poor races in 2016 included- Japan, China, Baku – where was the consistency then?
As I say its the best racer, fastest outright speed in the most dominant car ever but how long was it last season before he could win two in a row… with Lewis there is always drama of some sort.
If you really want a benchmark of a consistency – Alonso in the Ferrari 2012 comes to mind, 9 in a row for Vettel…
KGN11
22nd March 2018, 19:15
However looking at the stats, Hamilton was more consistent than Rosberg during the 2016 season, all whilst starting from the back twice
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
22nd March 2018, 13:02
It’s unfair to blame reliability for the title. After the blow up ham had fresher engines and rosberg was on a mission to secure the title. In 2016 ham suddenly clicked and became unstoppable, i guess thats what rosberg might be stressing. In 2017 Ham was stoppable in low grip tracks.
I actually think that rosberg deserved to win 2014 better than 2016
OlaRay
23rd March 2018, 8:25
How? in 2014 Lewis started with a deficit of 25 points from Melbourne, after the Spanish GP Lewis was 4 points behind before the famous Monaco incident. Zero points at Canada, started at the back at Germany, started from the Pitlane in Hungary, taken out by Rosberg in Belgium. So tell me how Rosberg deserves the 2014 title? Lewis only needed a third place in Abu Dhabi but won the race. I could remember Nico predicting that the William guys will take out Lewis. The Highlight of the season was Nico starting on pole and Lewis starting from the pitlane and Lewis still beat Nico. Nico begging the team to ask Lewis to let him pass.
Joao (@johnmilk)
22nd March 2018, 10:38
@todfod just heard the press conference, not sure that is a jab at Rosberg, sure reading it here does sound like it, but I got the feeling it was just a general comment to those drivers that come and go and never reach a point in their careers where they are fighting to become champions.
Hamilton and Vettel were asked how it feels and it means to be up against each other after both have manged to have 4 WDCs. Hamilton then explains what that means for him and how it is connected to his career and F1 experience
lucifer (@lucifer)
22nd March 2018, 12:42
+1
matt90
22nd March 2018, 11:57
I think Hamilton was very impressive in 2016, there were very few races where he wasn’t on it. He had reliability issues and Rosberg had his best year (although was certainly not superior to Hamilton). So I’m not convinced that Hamilton was any worse than in 2014.
pH (@ph)
22nd March 2018, 6:02
I think that Rosberg is right.
Hamilton seems to be 99.9% perfect in most aspects, but in consistency he is only about 99%, so it is his weakest side.
I think Hamilton should take Rosberg’s statement as praise. Rosberg really had to look hard to find some weakness.
Lums (@lums)
22nd March 2018, 9:20
So Rosberg is more consistent than Ham?
Sunrise
22nd March 2018, 10:45
I think pH is comparing Hamilton in one aspect vs Hamilton in another aspect
pH
22nd March 2018, 15:24
@lums
Don’t think so. Which is why I did not write it nor imply it in my post.
Robbie (@robbie)
22nd March 2018, 13:06
@ph I agree. That is how I see it too.
In fairness, perhaps LH was mislead a little bit with what Nico actually said. I wanted to wait to comment until I read what Nico said, and he actually pays LH a pretty big compliment. So I wonder if that is why LH has come out sounding defensive and a bit bitter. If LH was asked it such as ‘Nico says you lack consistency…what do you say to that?’ then I can see why LH would respond as he has, which comes across as defensive and bitter.
Nico starts by saying, as if speaking to LH’s rivals, and I’m paraphrasing, ‘if you’re going to have a go at him you’re going to have to have a perfect season.’ That’s a pretty big compliment. Nico adds that LH can be “a little bit inconsistent at times” not ‘he lacks consistency’ and cites that that is when his rivals have to pounce, because otherwise LH is going to be on it most of the time. Let’s face it…all drivers in all series in the history of racing can be accused of being at least a little bit inconsistent at times. We’re humans after all. Nico is not saying he was more consistent or that anyone has been. Just that that’s about LH’s only chink in the armour, and to me that just means he’s human and also super hard to beat.
I think it is undeniable that LH has been as Nico says, a little bit inconsistent a times, because all drivers have been. Nico is not saying anything out of turn and is rather complimenting LH by explaining you have to be perfect to beat him. All this sniping about yeah well Nico this and Nico that is so schoolyard it’s discouraging.
And look at what LH himself has said of this season…”The goal this year is to be even more consistent than last year.” So isn’t LH actually confirming the very thing Nico said? If he sees himself as able to get more consistent, then he was not fully consistent last year. By his own admission. He says he won last year through his consistency, but can be more consistent.
DrG
22nd March 2018, 16:27
Watch the press conference Robbie.
He is being asked the question off the bat by Macavoy from the Daily Fail.
Who is a complete snake with regards to anything outside of their agenda and will always write a nasty article regardless of what LH says or does.
DrG
22nd March 2018, 16:30
@robbie
In other words this article is a bit click bait and designed to the likes of yourselves who dislike him immediately up in arms.
Bit naughty Keith…
Robbie (@robbie)
22nd March 2018, 18:10
@DrG Well I don’t see why you think I am up in arms when I have been only fair to LH here. I start off by saying in fairness perhaps LH was mislead a little bit with what Nico said. And now (with your prompting) that I have seen how the question was asked, I was right. I just had a feeling Nico wouldn’t have said something such as was asked of LH. Keith’s headline plays off of the way the question was asked, and as I suspected both are inaccurate in terms of what Nico actually said. I tried to shed light on that without even knowing how the question was asked, by only needing to read what Nico actually said to know that he did not imply LH is always inconsistent or that that is some big weakness of LH’s.
Interestingly, the same blinders that you would accuse me of having wrt LH are ones that you have on for me by ignoring the compliments that I give LH and claim Nico has given LH too. Perhaps re-read my commentary and you’ll see I have been nothing but fair and complimentary here.
Matt
22nd March 2018, 7:02
It’s brutal how bitter Hamilton is over Rosberg.
Relative to his own performances (which are better than most) Hamilton’s weakness has been inconsistency. Yes, reliability hurt him in 2016 but also poor performances in Japan, China, Baku as well as a number of poor starts.
Hamilton would do well to let things go. Since Rosberg retired, he’s been awfully nasty towards him, while Rosberg has been conciliatory.
les
22nd March 2018, 10:56
Rosberg was a cheat and we all know it, he only beat Hammy through cheating and breakdowns, to be honest he was even frightened to defend his title against Hammy, so he now knows he is a has been.
lee1
22nd March 2018, 11:35
Really?
Remember Hamilton was only responding to comments Rosberg made. If anyone is not letting go it is Rosberg.
David BR (@david-br)
22nd March 2018, 16:48
Some people have a special filter to eliminate the direct provocations Hamilton receives and a special amplifier to turn his own generic comments into personal attacks. It’s quite instructive to see how their biases function.
Tony Mansell
22nd March 2018, 11:51
Retired ex 1 WDC son of WDC brought it up. Not kid off council estate who won 4
James Coulee
22nd March 2018, 7:39
Rosberg was able to win a couple of races against Hamilton fair and square: either there was a consistency problem or Rosberg is better than we usually credit him for.
(I suspect it’s a bit of both.)
FlatSix (@)
22nd March 2018, 8:07
I think Rosberg most definitely is much better than many credit him for, that said I also believe there is absolutely no debate whether Lewis is the better of the two. That doesn’t mean you sometimes get beaten by the lesser man, another good example of that would be 2014 where Vettel lost out to Ricciardo. To this day I think Ricciardo is a very good driver, but I’m still struggling with the idea somebody solely based on 2014 would think Vettel is worse than Ricciardo. There’s many examples of superstars losing out to their lesser man in all sports. For example in snooker many will say Ronnie is the best ever, yet he still loses, in MotoGP Rossi and Marquez are arguably the best ever yet they still lose,…
eddie
22nd March 2018, 10:58
You simply cant say that about 2014. Rosberg and Hamilton competed for 5 seasons and Hamilton won 4 of those. Thats enough to draw conclusions.
Ric and Vettel, a single season only.
Vettel is way more accomplished, but Ricciardo had enough good performances since with cars nowhere near as good as Vettel used to win his WDCs to make me want to see they race each other again and see who is really better. Im not giving this to Vettel just cuz he won 4 WDCs with other team mate and superior equipment. I need to see them race more.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
22nd March 2018, 13:07
4 seasons. No actually rosberg won 2013 and without reliability could have won 2014, 2015 was Ham all the way, he backed off in the end and start of 2016 but 2016 should have been Hams on the account of the mid to end season.
DrG
22nd March 2018, 16:32
@peartree
No Nico did not win 2013 my friend.
You are by far one of the worst on here for trying to change history…
DrG
22nd March 2018, 16:34
And actually – LH could of won 2014 three rounds earlier without ‘reliability’ as you call it.
Work out what and when Rosberg could have won?
Yep not at all without the double points race.
Blazzz
22nd March 2018, 17:51
Rosberg beat Hamilton in 2013? FIA must be printing out fake news these days.
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2013/drivers.html.
As for 2014 are you seriously suggesting Rosberg had more unreliability? Sweet Jesus.
Let us start with Australia where Hamilton retired and Rosberg inherited a win.
NoName (@noname)
22nd March 2018, 7:58
Hamilton is not inconsistent, Rosberg won WDC due Hamilton’s car issues rather than Lewis being inconsistent. The first four races of 2016 Lewis had nothing but clutch issues which played Rosberg in his hands, after the clutch issues were solved Lewis owned Rosberg and won all four races only to have more car problems. Rosberg won the WDC but not on his own merit.
Jimothy
22nd March 2018, 8:18
Rosberg was more consistent with his starts, sure the clutch was difficult but Rosberg seemed to manage better.
Hamilton was terrible at Abu Dhabi 2016 too, did you see how slow he was going at the end?? even the much slower red bulls were catching him.
Ian Ferguson
22nd March 2018, 8:36
‘Hamilton was terrible at Abu Dhabi 2016’?
I hope this is tongue in cheek – you mean the race where Hamilton deliberately backed Nico into the pack, hoping that Vettel would attempt a pass?
new
22nd March 2018, 9:54
Yeah, but he was consistently slower.
FlatSix (@)
22nd March 2018, 10:28
Consistent nonetheless.
NoName (@noname)
22nd March 2018, 10:45
@Jimothy Rosberg had way less clutch issues than Hamilton and Abu Dhabi was a tactical race by Hamilton to back Rosberg in the pack which i allowed so don’t call it terrible. @esploratore The first half of 2017 Ferrari was faster than Mercedes but Hamilton made the difference and the reliability were partly Ferrari’s own fault (Japan, they did no quality control) Only Malysia can be seen as badluck and by that time Ferrari was already behind Mercedes in the standings.
David BR (@david-br)
22nd March 2018, 16:51
And the fact Ferrari has suffered a big points loss almost certainly meant that they pushed the car to the limit, more than likely resulting in the Malaysia failure. So bad luck but also a snowball effect.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
22nd March 2018, 8:19
Agree, however there ARE races where hamilton was inconsistent, for example in 2017 he had a couple of bad qualifyings (monaco and hungary) which resulted in a subpar number of points, as in races were fine for where he started but the starting position meant he couldn’t do much, and also a couple of bad weekends all the way, austria and russia, that’s what he means with inconsistency I guess.
So yes, rosberg won mainly cause of mechanical problems for hamilton in 2016 but also hamilton won mainly cause of the pace and reliability advantage mercedes had over ferrari in 2017, I don’t see hamilton as having driven a better season than vettel in 2017.
Ed
22nd March 2018, 11:36
If you can tell me races where Hamilton failed as badly as Vettel did at Singapore and Mexico, maybe i can agree with you.
Both were Vettel’s to lose. And he did lose both by his own hand.
He was superb until the mid season break. After that he dropped the ball and Ferrari too..
Cronies
22nd March 2018, 11:52
So you saying two wrongs make a right? Just because Vettel was inconsistent, the means Lewis was consistent? Can’t follow the logic?
Ed
23rd March 2018, 0:09
i’m not talking about consistency at all.
If Vettel cracked on the later half of the season, and Hamilton did not, Hamilton was the better driver overall and that is what the guy is denying.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
23rd March 2018, 2:07
@Ed: hamilton lost as many points as vettel (roughly) with his underperformances, that’s why I deny he drove a better season!
Austria, russia, hungary, monaco, brazil, that’s quite a lot of points lost a way or another, isn’t it?
Vettel had his problems too, silverstone slow race and the famous baku and singapore mistakes.
Jimothy
22nd March 2018, 8:09
I could have sworn i read an article here where he said the reason he lost consistency after winning the title was because of partying.
Oh well he is consistent at talking himself up i guess.
YellowSubmarine
22nd March 2018, 8:19
Nico who??
NoName (@noname)
22nd March 2018, 10:46
@YellowSubmarine 😂😂😂😂
joe pineapples
22nd March 2018, 9:05
His car has been a lot less consistent than him in the past.
Joao (@johnmilk)
22nd March 2018, 9:23
The 4 straight championship winner car?
Lums (@lums)
22nd March 2018, 9:41
What car was the consistent Ros driving while Lewis was in the championship winning car?
Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
22nd March 2018, 10:10
The other championship winning car
mrfill
22nd March 2018, 11:40
For 4 years it was the championship losing car….
Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
22nd March 2018, 12:22
What years?
Joao (@johnmilk)
22nd March 2018, 12:08
don’t make it about one or the other, I’m just talking about the Merc
Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
22nd March 2018, 9:33
Hamilton’s 2017 season literally proves Rosberg right. Bottas kept up for the first half and Vettel was ahead. Hamilton then shifted up in the second half and dominated everyone.
Lums (@lums)
22nd March 2018, 9:39
4 WDC’s later and theres a debate on consistency? Grown men turned keyboard warriors. Then theres the silly statement on ‘hes in the fastest car’ like his team mates over the years were driving lemons. You’d think everyother driver, including Rosberg, never had off days. But then again its a different standard for Lewis.
NoName (@noname)
22nd March 2018, 10:48
@lums Well said mate.
Jabosha (@jabosha)
22nd March 2018, 12:39
Actually, this is the same treatment Vettel got when he was winning.
FlatSix (@)
22nd March 2018, 13:30
@jabosha I simply cannot disagree more. Vettel got slandered and questioned since day one to the end of 2013. For some reason all you could read was how Adrian Newey won four titles. The treatment Hamilton and Mercedes are receiving doesn’t even come close to that. I believe that tells you something about the average Hamilton fan really,…
Lums (@lums)
22nd March 2018, 16:58
Im not Vettel/Ferrari Fan, but you’d never see me bashing VET in the comment section.
Just dont understand why HAM haters go out of their way to bash the dude.
iCarbs (@icarby)
22nd March 2018, 9:45
There hasn’t been a flawless driver in F1, same thing can be said for any sport, any job, etc.
Why Nico needed to say this about Lewis now is beyond me and speaks volumes of an individual who by the skin of his teeth won a WDC and left the sport as quickly as he won the title. What makes matters worse he’s going to be on the Sky F1 team for the 2018 season and I’m preparing myself for season long ‘Lewis bashing’!
Frankly I couldn’t care for Nico’s opinion, I’ve lost all respect for him. I will say when he was in a dominant car racing against a superior team mate in all aspects of F1 he did very well to keep his head down and do what was necessary in qualifying, the race and managing the media where he endured constant pressure. He realised what it took to win one WDC and knew within himself he couldn’t do it again.
Debatable if there were internal forces at Mercedes working more for Nico than Lewis, but to be honest it doesn’t make sense to hamstring your best driver, but Mercedes still won the WCC early and they should’ve left the WDC between the two drivers instead of interfering.
Reference 2016 season, I believe Lewis will have to take his share of the blame, he needed to improve his starts and he fixed it probably a race or two too late. Yep, Malaysia was the nail in the coffin as at that point the destiny was taken from him, but he learned from it and won the title the very next season, done like a real champion.
Joao (@johnmilk)
22nd March 2018, 12:18
Rosberg has said countless times that he thinks Hamilton is the best driver on the grid, and it took everything from him in order to put one over him, why would you think there will be a constant “Lewis bashing” going on?
Rosberg keeps giving Hamilton the ultimate compliment, by saying he had to dig so deep to find in him what it took to win the championship, until the point he even had to retire, because he knew, and he said it, he couldn’t endure that again. What more do people need and want from the guy? Just because he commented what he thinks might be a weakness in Hamilton’s game do we need this uproar?!
People following the sky coverage should feel happy for having Nico, he will be able to give proper insight into things, he is an intelligent individual and I’m sure he will be very useful. I hope his know-how will be appreciated, and people don’t complain about it because of some grudge, only because he won a championship against Hamilton.
Jabosha (@jabosha)
22nd March 2018, 13:02
Joao, you’ve summed up my thoughts on Ham/Ros and Ros joining Sky’s coverage.
Vettel received the same type of treatment that Ham does, it’s just people forget and so did Ros after winning his first title. Plenty of posts here were questioning Vettel’s ability, it’s the car, he’s lucky etc…(I was one of them) Vet proved me wrong. There were also posts about Ros not being the real champion, yada yada yada.
It is what it is.
Robbie (@robbie)
22nd March 2018, 13:12
@johnmilk @jabosha Agree with you both. I think what is going on here is that those who don’t care for Nico have decided not to really hear what he is saying, but instead take a headline as an insult, which it was not. Nico didn’t say LH lacks consistency…he say he can be a little bit inconsistent at times. He says his rivals will have to have a perfect season to beat him. LH himself says his goal is to be more consistent than last season where he considers it was consistency that won him the WDC. But if he can be more consistent by his own admission, then he is confirming that Nico is right.
DrG
22nd March 2018, 16:44
@robbie
Yes because only LH is inconsistent and all other drivers are of course putting perfect seasons without ever a single mistake?
You see the issue? Every critic expects LH to have the perfect season, something that has never in history happened – never.
Even the model of consistency Alonso has bad races.
No the simple fact remains he is held to different standards.
No one mentions how inconsistent Nico was in 2016. You do not accrue more driving penalties than anyone else on the grid in a season where your only competition is hobbled by three qualifying failures, a back of the grid start and a complete failure at the end a race while 20s in the lead because you exploited consistency.
All drivers have ups and downs. Only Hamilton is the least likely to have such. Yet there is this nutty view.
Weird.
iCarbs (@icarby)
22nd March 2018, 22:14
@johnmilk,
The issue I have is the statement he made isn’t intelligent as no one is 100% consistent and if Lewis (or any driver) makes a mistake then of course you take advantage! What do you think Lewis did when the two Ferrari’s crashed into each other at Singapore when he started from 5th on the grid, it was practically gifted to him, although he did still need to make a good start.
@robbie
Lacking consistency and being inconsistent is the same thing. His other statement of
“The only way to beat Lewis is to be 100 per cent with everything, do the perfect season. Otherwise there is no chance.”
Is also completely false as well, as Rosberg wasn’t 100 per cent when he beat him. But it could easily be construed as a compliment for Lewis or self promotion of his abilities at the time who knows, I’m just disappointed he made the statement.
Big Joe
22nd March 2018, 9:45
Lewis’ most impressive season is still 2007. He has a record of ‘going off the boil’ towards the end of the year, even in his first championship year where very few would say a bad word against him, but it was obvious something effects him when pressure gets to a certain point.
He managed to correct that recently though by getting his blips out the way in mid season Rosberg getting the better of him and then had people questioning his public life and partying was to blame, which I dont think was, he races how he does he is who he is.
He’s never looked a ‘machine of a driver’ over a whole season who can bottle up his emotions and has never looked relentless or even ruthless for more than a couple of races in a row. That’s not to criticise his talent and raw speed, all these drivers have different attributes but ultimately Lewis hasn’t been regularly pressured by a better team/driver combo.
There was definitely something missing in his package letting Alonso emerge the strongest challenger against Red Bull in a non championship contender of a Ferrari.
DrG
22nd March 2018, 10:37
Incredible.
The last man to win a championship (and one of three ever) has not been pressured by a better team driver combo?
Then the last bit – yep there was something missing. Any kind of sensible reliability, structure and support from his team who spent the whole time squandering the poles he was winning to assist his champion team mate. Who was qualifying at the back! Reliability and pit stops cost Hamilton circa 140 points that year. Not my view, that of a serious F1 journalist.
With regards to the consistency jibe, I suggest people watch the presser.
The question was on purpose and asked by Macavoy at the Daily Mail. That chap detests Lewis as indeed his paper detests anything that does not fit with their racist, self glorifying rubbish.
Given he still thinks Hamilton drives for Macca, (printed such last year) and writes some pretty awful stuff, I am amazed Hamilton was as pleasant and restrained as he was. Especially as Rosberg was anything but consistent other than getting back up after being beaten. A lot. Even on the year he won.
Witan
22nd March 2018, 9:52
Rosberg might have more credibility and greater respect for himself and his comments if he had stuck around to defend the championship he gained. Instead he ducked out with the cash in his hand and now snipes at Hamilton from the sidelines.
Is the ‘bloody difficult’ one, to quote his team boss, a worthy champion when he behaves this way.
David BR (@david-br)
22nd March 2018, 10:32
Rosberg should have tried to prove that statement on track, really, if he’s so keen to make it. We never got to see how consistent he would have been defending his title.
NoName (@noname)
22nd March 2018, 10:50
@david-br This. I thought he wanted to spend time with his wife and see his kids grow but instead he’s gonna be on SkyF1 SMH
DaveF1 (@davef1)
22nd March 2018, 13:02
You do realise F1 drivers do a lot more than just turn up and drive on a weekend.
Aldoid
22nd March 2018, 13:03
Funny, that… claiming to quit because of family, blah blah blah, but then taking up employment that follows said circus all around the world.
JohnH (@johnrkh)
22nd March 2018, 11:17
Hamilton wasn’t being pushed last year.
Mark Saunders (@mcs1)
22nd March 2018, 11:40
Rosberg who?
Makana (@makana)
22nd March 2018, 11:41
Hamilton is right; Rosberg is starting as a pundit and needs to grab headlines. Hamilton has little drops here and there – very few off weekends, not because of inconsistency; but mainly technical challenges. He worked on this much more last year and this is no longer a weakness IMO.
But we can deduce form the reply that Hamilton’s weakness could be… bitterness. :D
Ed
22nd March 2018, 12:44
Lacks consistency compared to who?
Maybe compared to someone like Alonso, who i can’t see losing to a driver like Rosberg. But only him.
Hamilton should’ve gone to the factory earlier to fix his clutch problems that year. It took him almost 20 races to do it and as a result now Rosberg is a WDC. What a shame.
Robbie (@robbie)
22nd March 2018, 13:16
Nico didn’t say ‘lacks consistency’ so let’s start by clarifying that. He said he can be a little bit inconsistent at times, and those are the only times his rivals will have an opportunity to pounce because otherwise he’s on it. We all know that “inconsistency at times” can be said of any driver. Nico is not comparing to anybody. He’s making an accurate comment about LH because even LH has said his goal this year is to be even more consistent than last year.
Michal (@michal2009b)
22nd March 2018, 13:48
I hope we get out-and-out title fight between Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull so we will be talking about F1 racing and title fight. If Hamilton and Mercedes did indeed dominate then press will be looking cheap headlines and focus on not important off-track stuff like Hamilton picture with a handgun or his inappropriate dress at Wimbledon. That was in 2015, when Lewis romped to the title.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
22nd March 2018, 13:52
I think Hamilton sort of does lack consistency in qualifying, but overall, is clearly very strong. But the fact that Rosberg manged a font row start every race last year was vry impressive. While Hamilton did suffer bad in quite a few, 1 or 2 sessions didn’t go well.
Similar this year, although Hamilton was clearly overall better than Bottas in qualifying, Hamilton’s low points wre lower than Bottas’s. As in Hamilton qualified 14th and last while Bottas’s lowest was 6th. Even Bottas’s lowest finish was 6th. Hamilton’s lowest finish was 7th in Monaco that he was to blame for. But while this is a slight wakness, Hamilton is strong far, far more of the time than he is weak, which makes him a lot better than Bottas. But I can see what Rosberg means by being slightly inconsistent at times.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
23rd March 2018, 2:20
That’s exactly what I’m saying, hamilton had bad weekends at times!
Zad (@)
22nd March 2018, 14:08
hamilton was beaten by rosberg in their last season together, hamilton was beaten inqualifying by rosberg over a season in 2014 and whould have been beaten by rosberg in 2014 if luck would have been reversed in abu dhabi in 2014. and to be honest i don’t think 2017 whould have been such a walk in the park by lewis, had his teammate been rosberg who is driving for wdc and not bottas, who was driving for contract 2018. what a sour looser… we know, you greatest weakness is the unreliable mercedes below your behind….
Robert Williams (@weiliwen)
22nd March 2018, 14:52
Seems to me, Rosberg was only saying that this was a possible chink in Hamilton’s armour. You can’t be a multiple world champion by being inconsistent, but he’s not as completely consistent as he could be. So, he lost a few races he could have won. Even with that very slight flaw, he’s still the best of the best right now.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
23rd March 2018, 2:21
Think alonso and verstappen are just as good.
dutchtreat (@dutchtreat)
22nd March 2018, 15:33
After Hamilton and Vettel are retired from F1 I will remember them fondly.
Rosberg not so much, not because I don’t like him but he knew he got lucky and has no chance against Hamilton.