Lewis Hamilton – Gracious In Victory!

LHB — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 23:24:31 +0000

Hungarian Grand Prix Debrief – Lewis Hamilton thanks the assembled workforce back in Woking for working so hard to give him a race-winning car in Hungary.

First Win Of 2009 For Lewis Hamilton!

LHB — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:04:45 +0000

Starting from 4th on the grid, Lewis finally got his first win of the 2009 season in Hungary yesterday.

The new aerodynamics seem to be having an effect and once early leader (and pole car) Alonso retired after losing a wheel – shame – there looked to be only one winner.

In a throwback to the Championship winning 2008 season, Hamilton led for most of the race and all of a sudden things look rosy again in the McLaren camp.

Keep it up Lewis!

Lewis In Spanish Race Hate Shock.

LHB — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 14:38:46 +0000

Well we are back after a very long Xmas break and testing for the new season has started, Lewis and McLaren out in Spain testing for 3 days.

All the talk though, has been about a group of Spanish fans who gave him racist abuse and taunts during his time there and offensive banners were also displayed on the grandstands.

The Spanish national motorsport federation is in trouble over the incident and has been warned that it could lose its F1 licence should a repeat happen.

The fans were no doubt annoyed that Alonso was outshone by last year’s Golden Rookie and the colour of his skin is an easy thing to target with Lewis being the first ever black F1 driver.

Hamilton himself says he has been left disappointed by the events of the weekend. “The truth is I feel somewhat sad,” he told sportlifepress.com. “I love this country, especially the city of Barcelona. The people in Spain have always been very warm.”. Hamilton has urged the Spanish fans who now view him as a hate figure to understand the situation from his point of view. “I would like them to understand my position,” he said. “The only thing that I have done is to try to give the best of myself and try to win the championship. At no point have I tried to deliberately prejudice Fernando but the fight has been very tough and my image in Spain has been severely damaged.”

Looks like another controversial start to the new season.

Go Lewis, Go!

No more Alonso, Oh Well… Here’s to 2008 – Whinge Free!

LHB — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 23:33:56 +0000

LEWIS HAMILTON
HEIKKI KOVALAINEN

Those are the two main McLaren drivers for 2008 after whining Spaniard Alonso left to hold another team to ransom if he doesn’t get exclusive billing. This time it’s Renault with Nelson Piquet being the poor co-driver expected to play 2nd fiddle!

McLaren can put all their energy in to a team effort this time and here’s to a great 2008!

Speaking of which, the 2008 F1 race dates are posted below:

2008 Formula 1 World Championship calendar

Mar 16 – Melbourne, Australia
Mar 23 – Sepang, Malaysia
Apr 6 – Sakhir, Bahrain
Apr 27 – Barcelona, Spain
May 11 – Istanbul Park, Turkey
May 25 – Monte Carlo, Monaco
June 8 – Montreal, Canada
June 22 – Magny-Cours, France
July 6 – Silverstone, Great Britain
July 20 – Hockenheim, Germany
Aug 3 – Hungaroring, Hungary
Aug 24 – Valencia, Europe
Sep 7 – Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
Sep 14 – Monza, Italy
Sep 28 – Singapore*
Oct 12 – Fuji, Japan
Oct 19 – Shanghai, China
Nov 2 – Interlagos, Brazil

* night race

Roll on March 16th…

It All Went A Bit “Pete Tong” For Lewis In The End!

LHB — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 22:25:45 +0000

Ok, so from odds on cert to win the Drivers’ Championship, Lewis had more catastrophes at the final race of 2007 in Brazil, finishing the race 7th and dropping top spot overall to finish 2nd in the Championship.

While the English nation mourned an awful weekend of national results, hyped up again by the media seeking a British sports saviour, I think you need to take a step or two back and really assess the net result of Lewis Hamilton’s achievements in his rookie F1 season.

The guy took the motorsport world by storm this year and for a change the F1 roadshow was exciting again. Full of twists and turns, scandals and bitching. Top entertainment once more, and at the centre of it all is a young man in his first ever F1 competition who was blowing the seasoned pros away with his focused, never say die approach and style. Lewis is a fantastic driver and with a bit of good fortune will dominate this sport for years to come.

An excellent debut Lewis, forget the McClaren appeal – I for one will be waiting with baited breath for the 2008 campaign to get started again next March.

First retirement in Chinese GP leads to nail biting Brazilian finale

LHB — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 11:35:15 +0000

Just when everybody thought that the Drivers Championship was Lewis’ to claim in his rookie F1 season, fate dealt the wrong card in China.

It all seemed to be going ok, despite erratic weather conditions, and when Lewis came in at Lap 31 for a tyre change it was apparant that McClaren had made a huge gaff. The tyres had been on too long and with Hamilton’s gritty racing at the start, by the time he came in to change them they were completely goosed. He slid on to gravel in the pit lane and with no grip whatsoever could not get the car moving again. Even some Chinese stewards tried giving him a push but all was to no avail as Lewis resigned himself to his first ever F1 retirement.

Kimi Raikkonen went on to win the race with Alonso finishing 2nd. It now means that any one of the three could win the championship in Brazil next Sunday although Hamilton still has to be favourite.

All eyes on the Interlagos race on Sunday 21st October then. The bumpy Brazilian track will be a test for all drivers and in spite of the Lewis Hamilton backlash amongst the non British press I know who I will be cheering for.

Fingers crossed and beers at the ready!!

Rain Man Hamilton Gets Closer In Tokyo

LHB — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 22:56:13 +0000

The race on Sunday was just incredible. With the rain pelting down drivers were having all sorts of problems, including Alonso who came a cropper and didn’t finish.

Keeping a cool, if not wet, head was our man Lewis Hamilton who went on to win the race and with only two fixtures left in his F1 rookie season is now hands on favourite to win the Drivers’ Championship – the first man ever in a rookie season.

Forget the politics, forget the “Spy Scandal” and forget the fact that Lewis is just a young man cutting his teeth in Formula 1 – he is a top notch racing driver and deserves the attention he is getting for his talent alone.

Here’s to a nail biting finale!

Can Lewis do a GP2 at GP in Turkey?

LHB — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 14:49:30 +0000

On Sunday Lewis Hamilton returns to the race track where he had many heads turning last year after his stunning GP2 performance. I am hoping that he can produce another spectacular race and give me a great birthday present too!

Good luck Lewis and give us some Turkish Delight! (I should be writing for the Sun!)

Lewis talks to ITV’s Steve Rider

LHB — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 23:41:03 +0000

In an exclusive interview with Lewis Hamilton, ITV frontman had this posted at itv.com after Hungary:

“The world championship rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso boiled over in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

With Lewis ignoring team orders and the world champion holding him up in the pits, McLaren failed to contain the tension within.

Alonso was subsequently penalised and Hamilton inherited pole.

Prior to that Steve Rider interviewed Lewis for ITV, as you saw in Sunday’s show, but we’ve got the sensational unedited transcript here.

So read on…

Steve Rider: An extraordinary climax to qualifying today, a lot of confusion and a fair bit of anger it seems. You’ve just come out of a fairly prolonged stewards’ meeting, how did you understand it?

Lewis Hamilton: To be honest I don’t. It was a very long meeting there. I think they are discussing, or taking, all the detailed information they have into account. We just told our stories and left.

But I wasn’t really disappointed today. I was obviously quick and I was really happy that I had improved to the point where I was quicker than Fernando. I had the opportunity to do an extra lap, obviously I had this discussion in the team, but in the end I just got held up in the pits and I don’t know the reason for it.

But this is racing, I look at it. I’m very, very fortunate to be here and I’m back in front.

I’m actually really, really looking forward to having a battle with Fernando all the way down to the first corner. We have not really had that apart from Indy.

SR: When you were in the pits and parked up behind Fernando, and you were delayed, what was your immediate reaction?

LH: I think it is always about being in control. At the time I came in, I was told I would be coming in behind Fernando so I should just slow down a bit. So I cruised, then I stopped and put it into neutral, the lollipop went up so I was about to go. Then I sort of waited for a little bit longer.

You just have to stay composed you know. If you let it get to you then you’re stuffed. If I had got what would have been most important is that I stayed focussed and I’m in the zone. So the whole time nothing is really bothering me.

I was just wondering why I was waiting so long and thinking, ‘oh there is my opportunity for pole just gone out of the window’. But as I said that’s the way it gos.

SR: Were you thinking something rather more spurious was going on here or maybe even in stronger terms than that?

LH: I don’t think I should ever comment on that.

I didn’t know what was going on, I thought I had lost like half a minute or something so I thought all my time had gone. I thought, ‘okay if I push around I’ll still make it to do a lap’. And I got round and the red light was on and that was it. My opportunity was gone.

But still I got second. It shows the pace that we had that he [Alonso] did it with a lighter car at the end and I did it with a hevay car earlier on.

SR: You were meant to be behind Fernando in the fuel-burn phase of the session, that didn’t happen, exactly why?

LH: I always like to be out first. The crew on my side did a better job of getting my car out first, mainly because I finished my Q2 lap earlier than Fernando. So I was able to get out of the pitlane first. And at the end of the pitlane they said let Fernando past.

This is something that the team had agreed, but they didn’t give me an explanation exactly why.

I’ve done it in the past, I let him past in Monaco and Barcelona and I just thought I’ll do it.

But at the point when we were at the end of the pitlane there was me, Fernando and Kimi. So I was thinking I can’t let him past at the first corner because then I will lose my position to Kimi.

So I realised I had to make a split decision and I decided to go for it. If I’m quick enough, he’ll keep up with me and we’ll both gain an extra lap.

He backed off. I was told and told again to let Fernando past, but he was off in the distance and I just got on with my job.

I am in a lot of trouble with my boss.

SR: You really think you are?

LH: I probably am, but that’s the way it goes.

SR: What happened in the exchanges between yourself and Ron and yourself and Fernando over the last couple of hours?

LH: Not too much. I have not really spoken to Fernando and he has not really spoken to me.

I have just tried to brush it off and just forget about it you know. I am still second. I know what I can do in the early stages of the race so I am still very optimistic about tomorrow.

I went to my normal engineers’ meeting, and you can imagine the feelings, you feel like you have done something to the team. But he’s still pole, and he has got nothing to complain about, and really neither have I.

SR: This is really the first time something like this has happened to you within the team context. Is it a tough situation to handle?

LH: It does feel a little bit weird. Ron was obviously extremely angry with me at the time, I don’t know if he still is.

When you don’t obey a team order from your team boss, who has given you the opportunity. It’s a difficult situation, but in the end you have to stand up for what you believe and how you feel. At the time I took that decision and that’s just the way it went.

SR: So you feel within the team context it might be wrong, but from an individual point of view you are standing by your rights.

LH: Absolutely. The team explained it all and I apologised for the decision I took when I was out there. But I was out on my own, I apologised to Ron and said it wouldn’t happen again.

SR: The respect for Fernando, is it still there has that diminished somewhat today?

LH: I wouldn’t say it’s diminished. I still respect him because coming into F1 I have always been looking up to the world champions and people that have done it and are doing what I want to do.

I’m sitting next to a two-times world champion so I admire him for what he has done.

I don’t particularly think he has a great excuse for what happened today, and that tends to lead to certain things. But I just have to let it go over my head, I’ve got a race to do tomorrow.

I hope everyone enjoys it. I’m sure they will. I’m going to for sure. I just need to get a start like I did in the Nurburgring. It should be okay, but I am on the dirty side of the grid now, which is a slight disadvantage but I will make it work for us.

SR: It’s going to be a fair old battle down to that first corner, it’s going to be nothing like Monaco for example.

LH: No. It’s a much longer haul down into Turn One. You can imagine both me and Fernando will going at it 100% to gain track position. Obviously bearing in mind that we don’t want to take each other out.

Or at least I don’t want to, I want to do the race tomorrow. I don’t want to crash out at the first corner knowing that you had all that preparation, and the team has done all that preparation. Hours and hours of work have gone in and then you’re out at the first corner.

So that’s definitely something I want to avoid but I will be nice to overtake him.

SR: We have seen there is a competitive edge between the two of you, is this something that has building for a while, or had it just reached a climax this weekend?

LH: First of all, no-one, not even myself, expected me to be this competitive. No-one expected me to be leading the world championship for as long as I have, let alone leading it! And no-one expected me to have the world champion chasing me and trying to catch up.

As you can see this weekend and today, I was quicker. It’s a great feeling for me, because I know I was in a good position for pole, so that’s why it is a lot easier to let it run.

When things get tough and lots of different things come into it I think about a film I really like called Cool Runnings. There is a song in it called Rise Above It, and that’s what I say to myself. Get on with what you are doing.

SR: You said that you probably learnt more at the Nurburgring than at any other, what have you learnt from this?

LH: I don’t know. I’ll go away tonight and sit down in my room and I’ll analyse how the day went. I’ll decide what I have learnt from today.

You learn what can happen in motorsport. Who you can trust, who you can’t, whether you can believe people and whether you don’t.

And there is so much politics going around, it is really easy for that to have affect on how you do your job. And that’s the important thing for me, to focus on my job, which is getting in the car and enjoy what I am doing. Keep a smile on my face and keep pushing.

I always say never give up. That’s my motto.

SR: You made a television commercial with Fernando recently titled ‘Anything you can do I can do better’. That has a certain irony now doesn’t it?

LH: It does. It was a quite a cool advert.

To be honest me and Fernando have got on really well this year. We have been playing Playstation together here. I wouldn’t say that we have in-depth conversations, I try to keep them going, but that is not easy.

But we went away on this filming and we really had some fun. We were laughing and joking all the time and it turned out really good. It’s pretty cool – anything you can do I can do better!. That’s a bit like how it is in the team.

SR: What is clear is that we are entering an extraordinary climax to the season. It’s going to be fantastic isn’t it?

LH: It certainly is. You can imagine the pressure that’s building around the team, around the paddock, when you are in the car. This is something where the strongest of drivers will come out on top I guess.

So fingers crossed I am one of those.”

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