A.Wayne

MJ,
get last months motorsport , very interesting and it does include the lotus comment ....

Agree on the lewis stuff at this time, It is too early to be comparing Lewis to the other greats, that aside i will say Lewis is "Special" very much so and i do expect him to mature and move on, what schumacher lacked was a ying for his Yang , this will not happen to lewis as there are a bevy of really good drivers currently in F1 , unlike most of schumacher's era . With 2 WDC currently to compete with AND more are on the way , we should be in for some good times .....AGAIN

BlueRiver86

I don't know much about Hamilton, I didn't study his career before F1, but what he did last year at Fuji, both in qualifing and the race was enough to convince me he is the real deal. I have a hard time buying that he is a middle-of-the-pack driver sitting in a wringer.

Circuit Motorsports

You need to go to a major kart race nowadays. There are many, many kids that are getting the type of money that was spent on Lewis. It is AMAZING the money that is going into karting for kits. First time I saw a big time outfit was at an open day at Moran Raceway a week before a big national. We were paddocked next to a fullsize rig. There were 3 kids under 10 racing out of the trailer. 9 karts. 2 mechanics. 1 coach. Catered food. This was just for a practice day. The type of money/help/training LH say isn't that out of the ordinary.

While Hamilton did have the Mclaren help (which can only be a plus) there are a number of kids who have had equally lots of money thrown at their racing career and have not turned out as fast.

He's really good and has won at all levels of motorsports. He deserves his ride at Mclaren just as much as anybody on the grid. And yes he hasn't been as impressive as MS/Senna/FA but that can be attributed to a whopping 18 races so far in his career.

<-----really looking forward to the first rain race this year.

500

The “professionalization” of the junior ranks is the natural evolution of the sport, reflected in many other sports as well. Tiger Woods is a good example. Lewis may have had the golden spoon with McLaren, but there were good reasons for that, not just because Ron Dennis thought Lewis was a nice guy who would be fun to have on the team!

There have been some accurate points here about Lewis not having lots of maturity/experience yet and it is true that he has not had the challenge of sitting in a second-rate car. However, there are a few things which really impress me about him and lead me to believe that he will in fact evolve to one of the really top drivers:

1) I am constantly amazed by the in-car footage of him. Very quiet hands and very smooth. Sure he’s in a good car, but his sensitivity and control belie his age.
2) In GP2 and last year he has shown that he can be a forceful, effective passer.
3) He has adapted very well to the TC ban – showing that he is not just a “Playstation” racer. He drove fast all weekend and did not make any significant mistakes that I saw.

Flying Finn

Really? Remember Schumi & Benetton...?

MTosi

I say we put lewis hamilton in a Mclaren M23, Lotus 49, Maserati 250F, or Ferrari T4 then see how good of a driver he is. I give him 2 laps before he crashes into the wall.

Lothar

I think too much has been made of the fuel strategy as a means of advantaging or disadvantaging one driver within a team. It would take very little for the chance events of the race to change what fuel strategy was best. In the blink of an eye, the best strategy becomes the worst and vice versa.

Kovalainen was not horribly disadvantaged compared with his teammate, except with respect to his ability to complete for the pole on Saturday. Under the current rules, the qualifying and race strategies are inseparable. Hamilton's fuel strategy could easily have been turned into a disaster, if a safety car had appeared at the wrong time and Kovalainen's load could have been rendered the more favorable strategy.

Lets look at the fuel loads of some of the top finishers. Heidfeld and Rosberg, who both pitted on lap 21, were on loads that were more similar to Kovalainen than Hamilton and they seem to do just fine. If McLaren wanted to advantage Hamilton in qualifying, they only needed to add one or two laps worth of fuel to KOV, not 4 laps.

The split strategy was wise on the part of McLaren, especially seeing how the race played out and the number of cautions. Despite that, it seems that someone will always accuse them of using a split strategy solely for the purpose of promoting one driver over the other. So does that means that McLaren doesn't care about the constructors championship? I don't think so. Track layout, the elimination of traction control, weather (although not this weekend) and other factors determine when fuel loads and strategy need to differ by more than one lap.

If any team has put one driver over the team and the other driver, it is Renault. By knuckling under to Alonso's ego, they dealt away a better driver then they currently have in Piquet. Piquet's performance this weekend proves that.

ltc

You've been talking to my wife, haven't you ?

Yes, you need to budget $100K/year on a Junior driver in order to have a chance of running up front.
Karts, engines, parts, tuners, mechanics, coaches, travel, lodging, tires/entry fees, etc.

It is amazing to see a full size transporter/18 wheeler parked next to a UHaul being pulled by a minivan; both kids competing in the same class.

MTosi

Why does every form of racing have to descend into a money war
you're making me glad I got out of karting a few years ago. I hate slow people who have to win, so they spend all sorts of money to have a faster car, kart whatever........grrrr story of my life

multi21

I will reserve judgement on Hamilton right now. He is the most polished rookie to ever come into F1 in 2007 and his results proved it. In the end he did what is expected of a rookie, he felt the pressure and lost the WC twice, once in China by beaching his car and another time in Brazil by challenging twice for a past on lap 1 when he didn't have to. Hitting the pit limit button later on is just bad luck (or is it Heikki?). In the end, given a good car, he will be a multi-WC driver when he retires.

Although somone mentioned that there are many very good young drivers at the same time in F1 right now, there is a lack of 1 or 2 grizzled old veterans to really use their experience to challenge the younger ones. FA is probably the most experienced old veterans, but he too is considered young, Kimi as well. It would be nice to see a MS or Mika, Prost, etc. in a competitive car go up against the young guns of experience vs. youth.

I believe if Heikki was running up front last Sunday, he would have won the race. The meyhem that occurred that day behind the leader was just a crap shoot. Do we really believe Seabass to be running that high in future races? Vettel outclassed him Q1 to Q3 in qualifying. That race is not what will happen this weekend.

Re: the karting. There are a lot of people that put in $250,000 per year into their kid and get factory chassis help from Italy, have mechanics, 6 engines to 3 chassis in one class and run three different junior classes etc. That doesn't guarantee their success, but it sure does help. Given all that, I'd rather had a name like "McLaren" behind my karting with their expertise vs. what others have to bring a kid along.

A.Wayne

I don't believe that ITC, yes you can spend that kind of money , but necessary ? i don't think so unless you want average talent to run at the front ....

ltc

It was a number used in a past issue of Racer magazine (how much does it cost to land a seat in an F1 car....IIRC, the total was $8.7M before you turned a lap). They used the $100K number for one year running the Snap On Stars of Karting series presented by the IRL (considered to be the top level of karting in the US)

An 'arrive and drive' program with one of the top teams is about $5K (give or take) per event. Factor in airfare, hotel, rental car, entry/tire fees, engine rebuilds (after each and every event) consumables, damages, mechanic, tuner/coach and you are at say $9K.
Multiply this by the number of (national) events you attend (remembering there is no substitute for seat time)
Add in testing (yes, even kart teams test at a track for a week prior to an event)
You quickly come up against $100K/year.

Is it necessary? Little of what we do is necessary, especially spending more in a year on karting than a 911 Turbo would cost (for a kid who can't legally drive)

In the end, IMHO no amount of money will make an 'average' kid into a National champion. If the talent isn't buried somewhere in there, it simply can't be instilled; only developed (remember, you can put tap shoes on a rhino, but it still won't dance).
If the appropriate amount of seat time with the right team and right equipment isn't made available, then the true potential of the kid won't be seen/appreciated.

I've seen folks sell their home, buy an RV and spend every $ on a kid, hoping they'd be the next (fill in the blank famous driver), the kids drop out of school, spend 5 days/week driving and when they're in their 20's, they have no ride and their parents have no money/home/life.
I've also seen folks spend upwards of $1M/year and not even bat an eyelash.

It's an odd sport.

mad

Some of you are taking the OP's post to an extreme. I don't think anyone here is questioning whether LH deserves his ride at McLaren. And I think we can all agree that he's certainly got the talent to be at the front. What I can't stand is the constant sack riding by Varsha, Hobbs, Matchett and most especially Windsor. They are the ones constantly comparing LH to Schumi, Senna etc. They really need to tone it down a bit.

Nico's career in F1 has been far more impressive in my eyes. Granted, yes, he did receive the same level of support before F1, but he has consistently put the Williams, a car with nearly zero development last year relative to the big boys, in the top six. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I believe Mclaren passed over Nico for fear of LH having to compete for#1 on the team. We all know that's not going to happen with Kov.

MTosi

The problem I see with the karting, is the kid with the most talent but not even close to the amount of money will get beat by the kid with talent (not as much) but twice the amount of money. To relate that back to hamilton, its hard to judge his talent because he has always had the best prepared kart/car or the best car or kart. There are alot of kids who if you put in his shoes, could have 10 wins and a WDC under their belt by this point, he in my opinion has a solid amount of talent (obv) but when I watch him drive, I see cultivated and learned car control, as opposed to when I watch kimi and his car control just reeks of raw natrual talent, not car control developed over years of mclaren coaching and seat time.

ltc

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