Hamilton's new 'headspace' wins admirers. And races

>"on Sunday it was the Spaniard and Ferrari who got it badly wrong, and Hamilton and McLaren who called it exactly right"

I don't agree. Ferrari (and Red Bull) had no choice but to gamble on a one-stop strategy if they wanted to try to sneak a win. The McLaren was clearly much faster. The BBC commentators during the race said as much.

Jaime Alguersuari > "Lewis Hamilton is lapping a second faster than Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel. I don't think he will have any issue."

Perhaps Ferrari and RB should have gone with two stops and fought between themselves for second and third place, but they opted to try for the win. More power to them.

>"Before Canada, the talk was all about how McLaren had taken the fastest car and thrown away their advantage through operational errors"


That's still true. Look at Hamiltons starting position in the first seven races. 1st, 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 1st(24th), 4th, 2nd.

If Vettel or Alonso had the pace and track position which Hamilton has enjoyed thus far, they'd be enjoying a massive lead in the WDC right now. Probably sixty points or more.

Not that Hamilton is personally responsible - his teammates have been letting him down a lot. But leaving aside the issue of who's to blame, there can be no doubting that McLaren HAVE the fastest car and have been unable to capitalize on it until today.

Fantastic race, couldnt go online all day, for fear of finding out who'd won before this evenings highlights, what a shame there was no F1 Forum :C

I find it hilarious that your previous blog entry was about Hamilton's uncertain future, and just 2 weeks later this. Journalists, eh.

And I hope Romain, Kimi or even Schumacher wins in Valencia. Let's make it 8 out of 8!

@1 hamilton was faster because alonso and vettel decided early on to conserve tyres and take the riskier option - fair play to them but a little dumb

@2 qualifying pace is very different to race pace. McLaren may well have the best car on super softs with no fuel, but i think that the results in the previous 7 races definitively show that across the circuits, the McLaren doesn't have the best race pace.

@1. but in this season, where more than ever it's about accumulating points more than going for glory, they did get it badly wrong. they chose not to take 2nd/3rd place. alonso has talked all season about maximising the amount of points per race, yet somehow here they forgot about that. and they forgot the lesson of kimi earlier in the season when he famously lost 10 places in the last few laps of that race.

Much more simple, if we're talking headspace:

Last year Lewis and Nicole seperated for a while. Since they realised their mutual affection transcended the trivia of the gossip columns and reunited Lewsi has been transformed.

and next weeks formula one results, will be chosen by.....Guinevere

>"qualifying pace is very different to race pace."

No, as it general rule it isn't. There's a reason why the drivers on the podium are usually drawn from the first couple of rows on the grid.

Congratulations to Hamilton first of all. Can't say he didn't deserve it after all the bad luck he had this year and after a very good race. Well done.

Tyre degradation is very difficult to judge at the moment really. Considering Grosjean's performance, it's hard to condemn the one-stop strategy as a bad one. It's just that RedBull and Ferrari were not good enough with the tyres today to try it but it's all easy now to say with the benefit of hindsight.

McLaren was the car to beat yesterday and gambling on a one-stop strategy was the only chance Alonso had if he needed to win. It's all a guess game this year with the tyres and I don't think Alonso expected such levels of degradation at the end. Anyway, for me, the best strategy call of the day was the damage limitation plan of Red Bull to pit Vettel in the 63rd lap.

Benson still cannot say congrats, assumption of looney is still applied , JB has had sour grapes since you the press discussed LH 'new ? contract to be with huge sums. He has not recovered since the speculation of the new looming contract.

Congrats to LH, RG and SP, makes a very good change.

I am surprised what difference it will make if Mr benson you watch F1 from afar. Now that biased mentality you have against LH will not help you sportsman judgement of the F1. You assume if JB is sad its the end of F1, Oh dear listen to those engine revvs, whether he comes out of the sulking mood or stays, F1 does not rotate around him. I hope we still get unbiased reports about F1.

you guys cant seem to give Hamilton any credit without dragging out and rehashing every mistake he has ever made.Even the great Murray Walker in his article about the great drivers , suggested that that Lewis is quick but dont understand the engineering side of things as much as the other guys.....I mean where is the evidence for that,the constant need by the media to pull Lewis down is really annoying
while on the other hand you still gushing about about Button win in Australia 6 races ago and how he made Lewis look ordinary yet no criticism for Button for coming 16 while Lewis won.2 points in 4 races and the BBC still jumping up and down about last years and Australia wins.....while skipping over Buttons many crashes into
back markers,and the fact that cant seem to make it into q3 for the last 3 races,some how its not a reflection on Buttons ability....his is just being UNLUCKY

Benson and the lot are so bias to Lewis ,in that when ever Button comes on top ,its always narrated in terms of how he defeated Lewis and a reflection on Lewis,but some how when Lewis comes on top ,button poor performance is narrated like its happening in a vacuum........your TRIBAL allegiance is clear for all to see mr Benson

Good race, excellent drive by Lewis, but yet again Ferrari get their strategy wrong. Okay, so Nando may/probably would not have won, but if they had done a 2 stopper, he's have still got 2nd place.

Also, thanks for such a late showing, BBC - those of us who have to get up early next day for work, really appreciate it...

Shame we didn't get to see it live on the BBC. Watched the highlights though. Brilliant driving from Lewis. Far better than that procession race in Monaco.

I actually feel a bit sorry for JB. Whilst Lewis is flying, he is not. Mclaren it seems, are a long way off their first season together, where both drivers were competitive and racing each other.

Good to see Ron around too.

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hopefully this season is going to be exciting to the end. l think after valencia, we will begin to see how the championship is going to shape up for the rest of the season. l doubt we will see a new winner, l think it's down to lewis, alonso and vettel, maybe throw in mr webber as well. it does look like tyre strategy is going to be key, and as for mclaren, pitstops errors could determine how hamilton fairs. hamilton is going to always need atleast a 3-4 second lead against his two main rivals because he's bound to lose time in during the pit stops.

as for jenson, were is he getting his set-up wrong. what a turn-around.

I hope this race puts an end to the commentators (yeah I mean you DC) saying how JB looks after his tyres and that Lewis is too aggressive and does not!!

Go Lewis

DC and JB 's interview before the race portrayed a hero who was going to win from the 10th space. Yeah right.

Since he played his stupid "race" card in Monaco, Hamilton will never ever be able to do anything to gain the respect of the many supporters he lost. He won yesterdays race, whoop-de-doo, I was more impressed with Grosjean coming second. The only supporters Hamilton is 'winning over' are the newbies - generally those that know nothing about this sports rich history.

hamilton had a firm contol over the whole race,at the start he only let vettel go around 2.5 secs ahead and no more probably to save his tyres and not run in the dirty air then closed in when vettel had used too much.well over due win for lewis,but it is so random.track,weather,tyres and strategy etc.had alonso/vettel pitted a lap or a alap after lewis's 2nd stophe would stayed ahead he was 3-4 seconds in front of them

what the hell is wrong with button shocking 4 races,7-0 in quali and 5-2 in races to lewis.

happy for romain and sergio both delightful happy talented young guys,though they were gifted the places by ferrari and rb.

FI were unlucky and what about schummy and massa,how much rotten luck can they get esp michael.i would rate the race 6.5/10 the end was good if not predictable

I am struggling to remember the last time an english champion still managed to get criticized even when he was winning...i think you would have to go back to the days of Daley Thompson.

Anyway, superb race by Hamilton, to beat Alonso and Vettel fair and square is no small achievement. But i think this weekend shows that these three drivers are a cut above the rest, how they all matched each other until about lap 55 was breathtaking to watch and reminded me of the days of Senna/Prost and Hakkinen/Schumacher.

Quick word on the coverage decided not to bother with the BBC this weekend as the show was on far too late for a Sunday and there was no Jake/EJ, so watched a race on Sky for the first time and having been one of the 'no to sky' people have to say their coverage of the weekend was superb. Herbert/Brundle are excellent and having Jacques added some spice to the occasion.

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark". How can two cars from the same team behave so differently ? OK allow some variation because of drivers but when you think that after the first two races everybody was saying Jenson was favourite for the title! Now look at the performance in the last five races ! I'm sorry but I've got to go with Shakespeare Something is definitely rotten in the state of Mclaren.

They only explanation I can come up with for Jenson if like a footballer going through a dry spell - he's lost his form. You don't go from being a good driver and finishing second in the WDC, to an also ran in one season. He will come back, I'm sure of it.

It is great to see Lewis finally maturing, though - pity he didn't do it three or four years ago, as he'd have had another championship under his belt by now.

Great to see Lewis finally get the win he has desrved all year so far, but has eluded him through poor luck more than anything else. As to the whole JB question, the simple crux of the matter is this.

If you give Jenson a car thats set up exactly how he wants and suits his driving style perfectly, then he is up there with the best, however if you give him a car thats not quite how he likes it, then he seems utterly unable to extract anything from it. Whereas Lewis and Alonso are able to take a car thats frankly not good and make it work, through sheer raw talent and by wringing it by the scruff of its neck.

I get the impression that Lewis has learned somethings about tactics from Jenson, unfortunately for Jenson, you cant teach natural raw talent, you either have it or you dont. Done get me wrong I like Jenson, he's a really nice guy, but he simply is not in the same league talent wise as Hamilton and Alonso.

Still not sure about Vettel, I think he appears to be somewhere between. Great when the car suits him, but struggles a bit more when its not quite right, but doesn't struggle as much as Jenson.

However if you put all of them in exactly the same car on exactly the same track, on the same day and simply asked them to go as fast as possible. I'd put all my money on Hamilton, his raw talent is truly exceptional

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Great win fro Lewis and Maclaren, come on Button, wake up. smell thd coffee.
Dont think Alonso / Vettel had any options once Lewis pitted for tyres, Maclaren forced their hands and they were praying for a miracle to keep the tyres going. They should have pitted when they realised Lewis was, at least they would have have retained 2nd/3rd - greedy ! Good opportunistic places for Lotus/Sauber

What I don't understand is why Ferrari didn't pit Alonso straight away - there were 1 or 2 laps after Lewis' pit stop (which was a bit slow with right rear tyre) when Alonso was about 15 seconds (i.e. 1 pit stop) ahead and could have gotten back out in front of Lewis with some luck. Saying that I am glad they didn't!

I misread the headline: I thought the article was about Hamilton having a new toupee!

Anyway, well done to Hamilton for a well-controlled victory, despite the now-to-be-expected pit stop glitches. Driver of the day, though, has got to be Perez: starting 15th, posting several fastest laps, and ending up third, only 5 seconds behind the winner. He might be the Chosen One for the next race.

It looks like Button is the new Massa.

Good race from Hamilton, no doubt the Haters must be crying in their corner after watching their darling driver get ripped to shreds in the same car. So much for being silky smooth and all, his lack of outright speed is just becoming increasingly evident to the watchers.

McLaren still try to destroy the races of their own drivers, again yesterday the second pitstop could have cost time to Hamilton but luckily for him he emerged in FRONT of Webber, and then went on to win. He also did the sensible thing of not trying silly moves and just waited for the DRS zone to come and breeze past Alonso and Vettel.

At least the race wasn't just a borefest like Monaco, there were overtakes and some actual racing going on. And thankfully this track is rewarding to drivers who attack, that's part of the reason why Hamilton enjoys good success over there. McLaren still need to seriously up their game though, because Valencia will be a pretty hot race (literally) and the McLaren's are not that good at keeping their tyres in good shape in hot temperatures.

Great races from Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez too, both one-stopping, which is quite an awesome feat but the Sauber and Lotus are probably the best cars out there when it comes to being easy on the tyres while getting great performance out of it. Hats off to the both of them because it's a good achievement.

Alonso was unlucky with the tyres, he made a gamble and this time it didn't pay off. Otherwise he would have finished 1st or 2nd, or at least Hamilton wouldn't have come up on them as quickly as he did.

Let's see how Valencia goes. I would not be surprised at all to see Red Bull and Ferrari fighting it out with Mercedes in 3rd and McLaren a distant 4th (unless they somehow manage to make their tyres work AND last in temperatures of 40-something degrees).

@ Helloramsfans

It's sour, personal grievences, for whatever reason… and a bit sad really. They don't appear to want to discuss F1 intelligently, only that they have to let the world know how much they dislike a person (to the point where they don't even rate him as a driver) and to call anyone who does rate him, some juvenile derogatory term such as 'fanboy'…

There's even one bright spark claiming that…
'Since he played his stupid "race" card in Monaco, Hamilton will never ever be able to do anything to gain the respect of the many supporters he lost.'

Oh really? The master speaks… for himself!

Poor joke though it was, at the time I was actually relieved that finally a driver was brave (and angry) enough to speak-out against the ridiculous inconsistency of penalties meted out by race stewards over the last few years. And for a period it seemed that he was getting punished for every contact with another driver whilst others (particularly Massa and Webber) were getting away with it and that 'racing incidents' no longer seemed to apply when Hamilton was involved.

Back to this season and despite the tyre 'lottery' and the fact that Mercedes and Lotus have almost joined Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull for sheer pace, a pattern is beginning to emerge and it's no big surprise to see the best three drivers at the head of the table. Refreshing though it would be to see Rosberg, for instance, winning the championship, I can only see these three gradually opening a gap on the rest.

I'm not the biggest Hamilton fan but hats off to him and Mclaren, they were on top all weekend and deserved the win.
I do find it baffling though, that some teams (Ferrari and Red Bull for example) ever consider to do a one stop strategy given how delicate the tyres are. Exciting to see Grosjean and Perez mugging Alonso and Vettel in the last few laps, probably why Lewis was so happy, that two of his rivals had lost even more places towards the end of the race.

I don't know how many black cats have crossed his path this year, but Schumacher's luck just has to change, as Crofty and Brundle pointed out, had he taken the points from the positions he's been in when he has retired, he'd have been right in the mix.

Notice that Benson has conveniently failed to mention that his boy "i got no grip" also got lapped by his teammate lol.

Its nothing to do with the car or set up,like Martin said "it's the same car" .Button is just getting a royal seeing to and being exposed for the average driver he is. Last year he had the help from the Benson F1 bbc team who hounded Lewis at every opportunity and got under his skin,this year they can't do it and Button is shown to be an over hyped middle of the road driver,i'm loving it lol.

The only thing that guts me is my team will never win the WCC with "Jenson slow mo,i got no grip" driving the other car.

Let Romain Grosjean take his place.

15. At 07:31 11th Jun 2012, spactus wrote:
you guys cant seem to give Hamilton any credit without dragging out and rehashing every mistake he has ever made.Even the great Murray Walker in his article about the great drivers , suggested that that Lewis is quick but dont understand the engineering side of things as much as the other guys.....I mean where is the evidence for that,the constant need by the media to pull Lewis down is really annoying
while on the other hand you still gushing about about Button win in Australia 6 races ago and how he made Lewis look ordinary yet no criticism for Button for coming 16 while Lewis won.2 points in 4 races and the BBC still jumping up and down about last years and Australia wins.....while skipping over Buttons many crashes into
back markers,and the fact that cant seem to make it into q3 for the last 3 races,some how its not a reflection on Buttons ability....his is just being UNLUCKY

Benson and the lot are so bias to Lewis ,in that when ever Button comes on top ,its always narrated in terms of how he defeated Lewis and a reflection on Lewis,but some how when Lewis comes on top ,button poor performance is narrated like its happening in a vacuum........your TRIBAL allegiance is clear for all to see mr Benson
--------------------------------
Absolutely spot on, Benson how can you expect anyone to take you seriously after this article??? your two-faced bias and sheer sour grapes is soooooooooo obvious to all.

Poor Benson,go cry more lol.

I bet Eddie Jordon has sent buttons dad a message saying,wait for it "we love your boy" lol,how pathetic was that comment in Monaco.

If no grip Button thinks it's bad now then he ain't seen nothing yet,Lewis is about to bring him some serious pain.The demons are already starting to haunt Button,get into his head lol.

I'm lost lol,what the hell kind of comment is that,oh wait what he really means is "i've lost" lol.

Lewis hunted them down like his life depended on it, a demonstration of hunger, skill and determination, with an aggression that had us on the edge of our seats, picking them off one by one, leaving blood on the dance-floor and bodies in his wake; a dance with the devil. This was one of F1's greatest drives. A shame that Andrew again only manages(are you capable of more?) to make it sound pretty ordinary.

Jake the snake and his Jenson groupie team are gutted,this is what you get when you convince a driver that he is something he is not.

Jenson started to believe his own hype.

Remember this line from no grip at the start of the season.

"Alonso is not the threat" lololoolo,how pathetic was that comment.

Well done Lewis Hamilton on an excellent win, totally deserved this victory and i hope that you have many more by the end of the season, job well done!!!!

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@ buck rodgers

not necessary son, it's a new season.

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how about the pit stops, first one 4.7 seconds and the seocnd 5 seconds. poor jenson hamilton is killing him, 16th and 1 first.

@buck rogers

You mean like Bernie E who said on his five live radio interview that the monkey suits and chants from the Spanish fans was just a bit of fun,yeah i agree with you view of Bernie E.

Best thing you have said in this forum.

@44
haha, don't think he's tall enough to 'shoot hoops'

ive always been of the impression that Button is a great driver when its all in his favour,when its not he simply cant be bothered,whereas ive never had that impression of Lewis

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@22 Buck Rogers, very disappointed to read your comments.

I read this forum a lot, and am frankly amazed at the amount of bile that is constantly flying around from all sides. There are obviously some very good posts, where a great deal of well-reasoned and interesting points are made, but I really have no time for those of you who seem to like nothing more than to hurl abuse after one driver or another. Of course you are going to have favourite driver(s), but please do not use this forum to belittle the rest; it just makes you come across as incredibly petty.

I am more than happy to say I am a fan of Hamilton. Why? Because he is quite simply the most exciting driver out there, and I will also - as others have done - put him alongside Senna, because he can and often does provide that same thrill factor Senna did, and I have been watching F1 since the eighties. Do I always like the way he behaves? Certainly not, but I won't completely condemn anyone for losing the plot for a time (as he did pretty much the whole of last season), and I certainly applaud the way he has gone away and had a good long think and made a real effort to change the mental side of things. What a difference this season!

I put Hamilton alongside the greats of their respective sports - the Sennas, the O'Sullivans, the Woods' of this world. I may not necessarily 'like' them, but I most certainly respect them. And if you are a true fan of any sport, then that is the very least they deserve.

Keep it up, Lewis!

@50 duck bodgers

Yeah i agree with your view about Bernie saying the suits were just a bit of fun.A racist is a racist no matter what season.

Why is it that people can't seem to support both British drivers at Mclaren? I think they are both great.

@Buck Rodgers, I bet you are crying your eyes out that Lewis is doing well this season. Why do you want to get yourself depressed about a guy you don't know personally? Pathetic!

Perez is the driver everyone should be talking about from this race. Great drive. Hamilton was good, that's a given. But Perez was on fire. Grosjean also was impressive.
I'm delighted for Mclaren, they needed this win badly, they have been fumbling this year, as much as it hurts to say.
Schumacher is having the worst season so far, what goes around, comes around? Very unlucky to get his DRS jammed, but then again, if the team had a 'normal' DRS, it would not have happened, or the chances greatly reduced.
Vettel, and Alonso closely matched, Hamilton just quicker on the day, and it shows you what a job Perez and Grosjean did, doing similar strategy to Vettel and Alonso. (of course Vettel went to the pits late on, but was attempting the Alonso strategy)
All in all, it was a great race, it just would have been better if the DRS was not there. Hamilton chasing down Alonso and Vettel with 15 laps to go was intense, but once he got there, it was easy to overtake. For sure, due to the grip levels it may have been easy anyway, but I'm sure Alonso could have made it more difficult for Hamilton to pass, as well as Vettel. And that, for me, would have made it a much more exciting race, even though it was still fantastic.

@54

duck bodgers is an uptight person who really dislikes Lewis for one reason only and that is the same as the Spanish fans who had the suits on,he aint man enough to admit it so he hides behind pathetic excuses.

I didn't see the race but as LH won I presume he didn't have to make up for the usual pit stop errors made by his team.
Mclaren are a joke when it comes to pitstops, shouldn't this be the focal point of the journalists and for many seasons now.

Just like to add to the the critism handed out by the BBC toward Hamilton.

For decades Mclaren have been 2 seconds or more slower than Ferrari in the pits and the last few seasons more than 2 seconds slower than the whole field. That Mclaren's drivers manage what they do is a miracle.
I can not see where luck or bad luck comes into it when it's perpetual incompetence.

@ thejurymustdie

on the contrary, i am delighted that we are actually having a competitive season for once. in my first post i stated quite clearly, that hamiltons win was insignificant compared to grosjean's second. we all know that given a competitive fast car, any driver can win a race from the front of the grid - but to do so well in a relatively poor car, from low down on the grid, is all about great driving, and great resource management. so, you can blow bubbles out your noughtous tortoise about hamilton, but in reality you have been brainwashed into believing what you say.

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@ Buck Rodgers wrote:

"his penalties were completely justified, and if anything should have been a bit harsher. He was reckless, inconsistent and a danger to everybody else on the track. Maldonado had a chance to push him into the wall at Spa, and should have done so. After he won his championship, he felt he had a god given right to do what he liked, and say what he liked - he needed to be brought down to earth. Pity he didn't get a years ban to allow him to think things through."
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
So why wasn't Webber punished for taking Hamilton out both in Oz and Singapore 2010? Did Vettel get punished for taking Button out at Spa in 2010 or either of the two Red Bull drivers get punished when they took each other off in Turkey?

And of all the incidents between Massa and Hamilton, Monaco, where Massa turned in way too early and even clipped the back of Webber's car, India where Massa looked in his mirror several times and still moved over and Japan where Massa tried on the 'outside' at the chicane where no-one passes… all Hamilton's fault?

Undeniably, Hamiton had a very poor season last year and was rightfully punished in SOME cases but undeniably he was wrongly and over-severely punished for others and particulary in relation to what some other drivers got away with.

Judging by your completely biased opinion and advocation of draconian penalties, I can only assume that you must have been one of those race stewards.

@58 DUCK BODGERS

so the undercover bottleless R is now showing his true colors,not that we didn't know why he hates Lewis so much but it's refreshing to actually get it out of the duck.

Go crab a box and take that picture down of Lewis which is hanging on your girlfriends wall lol.

@ MacauBlue

the incident you cite involved one driver making the odd mistake, or falling foul to a 'racing incident'.

Hamilton was being reckless and inconsistent in every single session of every single event.

go figure.

@ dane

boo hooo....

you actually wasted time writing that pathetic rubbish?

@ 64 what's wrong duck bodgers?

i think i have ruffled a feather on ole duckie bodgers,come on, man up and admit i'm right.

ill send her a post card if you want lol..

Jenson is suffering from PERFORMANCE anxiety,nothing to do with the car,he outscored an inconsistent Lewis last year and was told that by Benson,Culthard and Brundle that he is the best in F1.What he didn't realize is that they were just using him to have dig at Lewis.....Jenson drank the cool aid and believe the hype

quit surprisingly every ex British driver and all the media came out in favor of Button for the championship over Lewis.....Button was now put in a situation that he has never been in before, a driver favored to win the championship ,where he has to competing week in and week out with the best drivers with no car advantage
But whats worst is not he Button Buckling under the pressure of expectation,but his inability to contend with a consistent performing Lewis,its as¨if Lewis performances sucks the life out of him,there is a grudging feeling thats affecting his performance and it shows.....His swagger is gone,the constant giggling and gloating among he and the BCC boyz is disappearing..... ironically Benson,Martin Witmarsh and Autosport all were writing articles saying that Lewis was unraveling because of Button success.......now the tide have turn they all MUM....

The great white hope has been exposed as being just average and is at risk of showing a lack of ability to fight mano amano with the big boyz

Its one thing fighting for distant 2nd place in the championship where there is no pressure of failure.......Its another to risk it all to fight to be at the top

So to The Button fan club its all in his head

It's terrible that we are paying our licence fee to have biased BBC f1 journalists mislead us on what is actually happening in F1 just because they have a prejudice for Button and against Hamilton.

The selective reporting in this article is truly shameful. Whilst dredging up negative facts about Hamilton from previous races to include in this article, lets look at the facts from this race Benson carefully ignores...

. Jenson was lapped by Lewis in the same car.

. Hamilton is two points short of DOUBLE THE POINTS Jenson has.

. As well as being lapped Jenson got beaten by both Torro-Rossos

Also notice that while Benson has lots of criticisms for Hamiltons driving (the guy who just won) He has no criticisms for Jensons driving (the guy who got lapped) and true to past form just blames the car and setup as usual.

What's next Mr Benson Seb Vettel ahead of Hakinnen and Hamilton in the Greatest Driver posts. Would be a disgrace. I would also expect you to put Schumacher and Fangio ahead of Senna as well. I dont want to see records from a driver I want to see moments of brilliance.

Great job Lewis - about time and well deserved.

Canada instead of Monaco next year please!

Oh dear J/Benson. At the end of last year the warning to Hamilton was that you (JB) were going to be, quote, "even harder to beat this year." The light fingered genius who had by then usurped the leadership of the team, was master of set up, strategy, tyre management, charm... while, the "things we thought we knew, Lewis is faster than Jenson..." just kept flooding out of the BBC.

As someone perceptively wrote the narrative is predictably savage for one side of the garage and benign for the other. Any up-tick in performance by Jenson (which will surely occur) in coming races will be fulsome and down to intelligence, grit and well..can't wait to read it all here.

Having said all that, Jenson is as good as anyone on his day but it is the exaggerated praise on success and muted or absent reporting on failure for JB that rankles - you were never going to report JB was lapped but would have done the other way round - as but one example.

Less tyre management more racing please.

@ Buck Rodgers

You must be watching the Buck Rodger's world of F1 rather than reality. There's no reasoning, intelligence nor the remotest objectivity in any of your comments.

Well son, hopefuly you're in for a few years of stewing in your own abject misery coz it looks like Hamilton ain't going anywhere soon!

Enjoy!

@66,67,69..

Brilliantly said.

I was so hoping that this race was one of the "chosen few" that the BBC were fortunate to pick up - instead, we had to wait until 10.30pm to watch the two hour highlights, and we've got the big yawn-fest of Valencia to look forward to on terrestrial TV instead...
After watching the highlights last night, I was wondering - do the commentators on BBC TV actually know what's going on during a race anymore? I listened to the race live on BBC radio, and they had a fair understanding that Lewis was going to catch up to Alonso and Vettel when they immediately picked up on the fact that Hamilton was lapping 1-2 seconds quicker than the front two after his second pit-stop. Alguersuari never had any doubt in his mind that Lewis was going to win this race. And yet, watching the highlights last night, both Edwards and DC had doubts to whether Hamilton was going to be able to catch Alonso and Vettel, even when he was only six seconds behind with about ten laps to go! When Lewis eventually passed the front two, there was no excitement from the commentary team whatsoever, like they knew that it was bound to happen...
Really disappointed in the TV coverage of the race - the guys on BBC radio sounded enthusiastic all throughout the 70 laps. Maybe DC and the rest of the TV guys couldn't be bothered, as it was only a "highlights" race, so they decided to "phone in" their performances. Pitiful.

66. At 10:35 11th Jun 2012, spactus wrote:
Jenson is suffering from PERFORMANCE anxiety,nothing to do with the car,he outscored an inconsistent Lewis last year and was told that by Benson,Culthard and Brundle that he is the best in F1.What he didn't realize is that they were just using him to have dig at Lewis.....Jenson drank the cool aid and believe the hype

quit surprisingly every ex British driver and all the media came out in favor of Button for the championship over Lewis.....Button was now put in a situation that he has never been in before, a driver favored to win the championship ,where he has to competing week in and week out with the best drivers with no car advantage
But whats worst is not he Button Buckling under the pressure of expectation,but his inability to contend with a consistent performing Lewis,its as¨if Lewis performances sucks the life out of him,there is a grudging feeling thats affecting his performance and it shows.....His swagger is gone,the constant giggling and gloating among he and the BCC boyz is disappearing..... ironically Benson,Martin Witmarsh and Autosport all were writing articles saying that Lewis was unraveling because of Button success.......now the tide have turn they all MUM....
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Again absolutely spot on. Remember when Jenson pulled ahead of Lewis last year and EJ and the rest of the F1 pundits jumped up and down and said "Jenson has psyched Lewis out".

Notice how quiet they are and will be on the subject now.

Great win Lewis.

Also loved the late show - so good not to have to waste two afternoons inside over the weekend to watch qualifying and a race. Enjoyed the weekend then switched on to watch the highlights at night - beautiful. Just wish the BBC would do an evening highlights package for the live races they have - then it would be perfect.

@6 You're absolutely spot on. McLaren cleary don't have the faster car and that fact was borne out in the previous six races. The tyres, the climate, the circuits and the evolution of the circuits respectively dictate which car is fastest on any given race day. When Nico won his maiden Grand Prix, the Mercedes was clearly the fastest car, and the same is true when Maldonado won his first race. In Malaysia when Alonso won, Sergio Perez clearly had the fastest car in those wet race conditions and only his error when charging to pass Fernando cost him the race victory. Red Bull can't claim to have had the fastest car in either of their race wins so far where strategy and a 'no over-taking' circuit played into their hands. If I had to pick a car to call the fastest this season I would have to say the Lotus has looked consistently handy in every race - especially in the hands of Grosjean but driver error and a bit of naivety has cost the young Frenchman this season - although I believe he will come good. And even after taking his first win of the season yesterday, Lewis said it himself, McLaren need to keep pushing because he knows that Ferrari wont stop tinkering until they get their car absolutely right - and every one knows that Adrian Newey - and to some extent, Ross Brawn don't sleep. Lewis knows himself that the McLaren isn't the fastest car, the track in Montreal and the climatic conditions were both conducive to a McLaren race win. Incidentally, I don't want to speak ill of any of the racers but somebody please tell me why Narain Karthikeyan is in the sport at all.

OK I am going to be in the minority here and say something sensible. I like all three British drivers but for different reasons. Also I do think the BBC has some sort of vendetta against Hamilton and prefer button (not sure why that is) and that Hamilton's win yesterday was one of his best.

Woke this morning to find that comments left were interesting to read. 2 hours later and its a slinging match between various trolls.

That said, race was amazing to watch. Congrats to Hamilton for seeing the pole through to a fantastic finish. A much better race than the procession of a fortnight ago.

Great race by Lew Ham and fully deserved to win. As for the people criticising Alonso's one-stop strategy, decisions are made with the information you have BEFOREHAND.. yes in hindsight, it didn't work but hindsight is not information.

Information beforehand: Alonso currently 2nd on 18 points, almost certain to stay there if he shadowed Lewis' strategy. Staying out for one stop: Will gain track position for potential win, prime tyres stayed the distance in Monaco.

Decision: stay out for a potential win to gain 7 extra points - while denying Lewis 7 points minimum (so 14 point swing on a strong competitor). Again, you'd have to go on what you have regarding tyre deg (previous race) and this was the key assumption.

Outcome: Stayed out, and slipped up to 5th and lost 8 points. That is a bad outcome but NOT a bad decision.

@1 and others,

Got to agree that the McLaren was faster than the Ferrari and Red Bull. Despite this I think that Ferrari had a chance to get Alonso the lead after Hamilton's second stop and keep it for Alonso's out lap before the tyres are up to full temperature...

Alonso was closing as Hamilton's tyres started to go off, the gap was 2 seconds when Hamilton pitted. Lewis had a slowish stop as he had a delay on the right rear and another small delay again with the anti-stall as he tried to get away. Looking at the live timing sector times Alonso set on that lap versus Hamiltons out lap before his tyres were fully up to temperature, Alonso made a few seconds here as well. It wasn't till the next lap Hamilton clawed time back. It looked like Alonso could have pitted for a second stop and rejoined far enough ahead of Hamilton to get his out lap tyres up to temperature and not be mugged so easily in the DRS 'push to pass' zone, as he was after jumping Hamilton after the first stops.

Anyway I wish is could have gone that way as I want to see a full on Hamilton VS Alonso battle, that would have been a great race as Lewis was fast, not a strategy mistake taking away wheel to wheel racing, but that was Ferrari's fault.

When Massa's tyres went off not long after Hamilton, Ferrari should have pitted Alonso and raced for second place. It was nuts that Vettel pitted behind Alonso with 6 laps to go and still beat Alonso by 6 seconds, hitting the wall and lapping in the 1:15's!

Red Bull though, couldn't have stopped Vettel at Hamilton's 2nd stop as they were a few more seconds back from Alonso and may have rejoined behind a fast Grosjean, who I thought had a beauty of a race along with Perez and his great overtakes.

The DRS zone was way too easy at this track. It devalues the overtaking. I want to see them battling into the final chicane, not passing half way down the straight.
It also meant nobody wanted to overtake into the 180 degree bend before the DRS zone. Schumacher made a good pass into the hairpin bend but was mugged by the DRS too easily.
How soon before we see a tactical letting through before the DRS activation line to then use DRS to pass back and maintain the lead?

@9 That's so funny, lol!

Well done to lewis surely one of the greatest comebacks ever! Team made a mess of it yet again but he came back through and its obvious that the red bull and ferrari isn't great on its tyres compared to the Lotus and Sauber. Grosjean and Perez were brilliant. Button just can't find the speed at the minute.

@55 f1ajd
Schumacher is having the worst season so far, what goes around, comes around? Very unlucky to get his DRS jammed, but then again, if the team had a 'normal' DRS, it would not have happened, or the chances greatly reduced.

Starting to look a bit dodgy now thought that Schumacher's cars the one with all the faults I know Rosberg is ahead in the championship and the focus is on his car but if Schumacher hadn't had all these faults on his car then he would be in at least 6th place in the championship and Mercedes would be further up in the constructors.

Loved martin "bitter" brundles comments on sky "schumacher had all his luck in the ealry part of his career" waaaaahh waaaaahhhh waaaaahhhhh put your violin away.

@3. rfj787

Yes the BBC seem intent on throwing away 7.5 million cumulative viewers.

Early indications show that the BBC's new F1 contract will actually cost more 'per hour' and 'per viewer' than the old one.

And Sky aren't filling the gap either.

Benson and the BBC F1 pundits need to take responsibility for the hammering Jenson is getting from the fans.

If they didn't attack Hamilton at every opportunity(even when he wins) and hype Button at every opportunity (even when he looses disastrously) there would not be this backlash from educated fans resentful at the BBC's attempts to mis-lead and mis-inform.

Just look at this article and go back and look at the article Benson wrote when Jenson won his race and see the clear bias and difference in how its written.

@75
"I don't want to speak ill of any of the racers but somebody please tell me why Narain Karthikeyan is in the sport at all."

Couldn't agree more. I honestly think, after a couple of goes in a single seater round the 3 sisters track and Donington park, coupled with a ps3 wheel and a copy of F1 2011, i'd do a better job than him!

Why not stick one of last years Toro Rosso's drivers in there? He is, worse than awful.

Re Hamilton and Button, it's common knowledge they have very different driving styles, so why the hysteria. Button is very smooth, and when the car works for him, he's quick. But his strength certainly isn't wrestling with a car that doesn't work for him. Hamilton has a naturally more agreesive style, is quick when the car works for him but will wrestle with it when it doesn't work for him. I think very few people will argue with this.

Last years car and tyres tended to work for Jenson. In the last few races, Lewis has had to work the car to get energy into the tyres. This is a strength of his, but not the way Jenson likes to drive, hence he just can't get the tyres to work for him. Again, no great surprise, just different conditions playing to different strengths. None of his makes either one of the them a bad guy, or mean they shouldn't have their fans. It's just the way racing is!

Regarding the BBC, Jenson seems to be a more chilled guy, who is much more open with the media and gives them more time. Maybe this has come with experience and maturity, maybe its just the way he is. So of course he gets more BBC coverage, and of course he feels more like their guy. You get back what you're prepared to put in! And I say this as a Hamilton fan.

Personally, I like Hamilton as a driver because he has the spirit of a pure racer and is exciting to watch. That said, I don't see why you have to like one of them therefore dislike the other. Surely an objective fan can see they have different skills and bring different things to the table at McLaren. Arguably, a very good balance to have in a team. Afterall, when Lewis was struggling last year, Button kept things pretty steady at McLaren.

Finally, I listened to the end of yesterday's race on the radio. I have to say I enjoyed it and after the barage criticism he received of the telly, I thought Jonathan Legard did a pretty good job. Don't normally follow it on the radio, so don't know how this compared with James Allen but I really enjoyed it.

@82
You're right, sky showing every practice session, qualifying and each race live isn't filling the gap....

@22 What are you talking about Buck Rodgers. Of course Lewis had to play the 'race card' at some point in his career, it may have taken him four years to do it but it was inevitable. Why? Because out of all the nations and creeds on the planet, the black race has been treated the worst (historical fact). Even in our own lifetimes we've seen governors of American States personally come out and block black students from attending universities (George Wallace on this very day in 1963). Today we see racism rearing it's ugly head in the world's most popular spor - football (how many incidents have we seen in recent times). Whether you want to admit or not, some of the penalties given to Lewis throughout the whole of his F1 career have been disproportionate. The FIA and Alonso (his puerility) cost Lewis the mantle of being the first rookie and youngest driver to win the championship in his first season, and he even when he did win it the next year, the FIA did their best to scupper his chances - it should never ever had gone to the last race of the season. Bob Marley once sang, 'who feels it, knows it.' If you're not black, you'll never know how it feels to be regarded as a second class citizen and in some quarters, sub-human. I personally believe that Lewis showed great restraint before drawing that card, if it was me, I would have played it no later than his second season in racing, it was justified.

Sky had 4.15 hours of non stop f1 fun,it was great.The bbc f1 team are paling in comparison.

Sorry but all the people who have not got sky really need to get it now,it kills anything the beeb has to offer.

BBC is happy to publish all this racists comments from buck rogers? Is it way of agreement.

@82, As predicted the UK F1 audience collapsed. It's noticable on a small scale. At work today nobody watched the race yesterday, most of them annoyed the BBC 'highlights' were on so late. These are all people who watched all the F1 races last year. I'd say most were casual F1 fans but a few were more than that.
No longer thanks to the disgusting fudged TV dealings, worst decision the BBC has made in my lifetime. Fortunately nobody talks about Jessie J, Will.i.am, or The Voice either ;)

A couple of colleagues read the pathetic race report in the Metro paper which doesn't even mention that Lewis went for it on a 2 stop while Fernando and Seb had tyres going off as they went for 1 stop!

>"McLaren cleary don't have the faster car and that fact was borne out in the previous six races."


That's a rather startling thing to say, considering that in one of the previous races - the first race in fact - a Mclaren WON THE RACE.

Apparently not only does pole position not tell us anything about how fast a car is, but where cars finish in the race is equally uninformative.

Come ON, people.

@87
In all fairness, didn't Massa win more races than Hamilton in 2008? With a much better team mate than Lewis? I.e. he wasn't the clear number 1 all the way through the season.
and when he crossed the line, he actually had won the title, until Timo Glock went round the last corner like an OAP in a Hillman Imp.

>"What's next Mr Benson Seb Vettel ahead of Hakinnen and Hamilton in the Greatest Driver posts. Would be a disgrace. I would also expect you to put Schumacher and Fangio ahead of Senna as well. I dont want to see records from a driver I want to see moments of brilliance."


You don't strike me as being a person whose wants should be taken seriously.

All these people talking about Lewis playing the race card. THE COMMENT IN QUESTION WAS A JOKE!!!!! He was asked why decisions were going against him. He didn't know, so he mimicked Ali G - AS A JOKE. Not a very very advised one. But a joke none the less.

It's like Andy Murray's infamous "anti England" comment. It was a joke, in the middle of some banter (with Tim Henman?).

We want some character from our sports people, but when they try to be a little human, we pillory them. Maybe we get what we deserve!!

>"If you're not black, you'll never know how it feels to be regarded as a second class citizen and in some quarters, sub-human."


As I've said before, I have a lot of respect for Hamilton. But absolutely none for his stupid and bigoted fan club.

@dane no88

no disrespect to you but sky suck.they are copying the bbc.trying to be funny when they clearly arent unlike the 3 amigos for the bbc,plus they havent got the massive ego of kravitz and brundle who crave to be the centre of attention

@85 you are so wrong on so many levels

You say:
Re Hamilton and Button, it's common knowledge they have very different driving styles, so why the hysteria. Button is very smooth, and when the car works for him, he's quick. But his strength certainly isn't wrestling with a car that doesn't work for him. Hamilton has a naturally more agreesive style, is quick when the car works for him but will wrestle with it when it doesn't work for him. I think very few people will argue with this.

I say:
It's a load of rubbish, you can say for any driver that when the car works for him, he's quick. This is just the usual excuse making for Button to try to blame the car or set-up when he is not quick instead of his driving.
-------------------------------------------------------------
you say:
Regarding the BBC, Jenson seems to be a more chilled guy, who is much more open with the media and gives them more time. Maybe this has come with experience and maturity, maybe its just the way he is. So of course he gets more BBC coverage, and of course he feels more like their guy. You get back what you're prepared to put in! And I say this as a Hamilton fan.

I say:
Again, total rubbish!!. You completely forget how accessible Lewis was when the BBC first got the coverage and he gave them just as much interviews as Jenson. The only time he did not was during pre-race mental prep which is understandable.

What you fail to understand is the drop off in interviews with the BBC followed their negative campaign of constant damming articles against him.

I say this as someone who can think for them-self rather than accepting the pro-Jenson and anti-Hamilton agenda we constantly get spoon-fed by the likes of Benson and the BBC.
-------------------------------------------
You say:
Personally, I like Hamilton as a driver because he has the spirit of a pure racer and is exciting to watch. That said, I don't see why you have to like one of them therefore dislike the other. Surely an objective fan can see they have different skills and bring different things to the table at McLaren. Arguably, a very good balance to have in a team. Afterall, when Lewis was struggling last year, Button kept things pretty steady at McLaren.

I say:
I think Jenson is a good but not great driver and a very likable nice guy. I like Jenson but find myself talking about the negative aspects of his driving because I'm setting the record straight when the BBC constantly try and artificially hype him up to be something he CLEARLY IS NOT!!!!!!!!!!

@96
I'm sorry, but after watching F1 on another channel, I now can't watch more than 3 seconds of Eddie Jordan, he got away with it when there wasn't an alternative.
His endless, pointless rants and two faced ness were at times cringeworthy.

Not saying the sky coverage is perfect, but it's getting better. Will it be as good as previous years on the beeb? Who knows, only time will tell, but at the minute, a direct comparison between sky and the beeb, no contest.

Only one i'd take from the beeb coverage to sky, DC, he talks some sense some of the time.

>"Lewis hunted them down like his life depended on it, a demonstration of hunger, skill and determination, with an aggression that had us on the edge of our seats, picking them off one by one, leaving blood on the dance-floor and bodies in his wake; a dance with the devil. This was one of F1's greatest drives."



That's an inspired parody of the comically over-the-top hero-worship of the typical Hamilton fan.

Right?

94. At 11:25 11th Jun 2012, Long Suffering Toon Fan wrote:
All these people talking about Lewis playing the race card. THE COMMENT IN QUESTION WAS A JOKE!!!!! He was asked why decisions were going against him. He didn't know, so he mimicked Ali G - AS A JOKE. Not a very very advised one. But a joke none the less.

It's like Andy Murray's infamous "anti England" comment. It was a joke, in the middle of some banter (with Tim Henman?).

We want some character from our sports people, but when they try to be a little human, we pillory them. Maybe we get what we deserve!!
---------------------------------------------
Lets just see it for what it is, there will always be Hamilton haters out there and that will never change, they don't care about the Ali-G comment but want to use it to pretend to be offended so they can pour out their hateful bile.

The only reason this is being raised now is because they are gutted Hamilton won and want to change the subject to something negative about him.