Hamilton admits 'mishandling' Alonso

[vall]

This is a bit oldish article but interesting IMO. This bit is particularly confusing:

"At the beginning of my first year I was up alongside the two-time world champion and he was seen as the guy to win the world championship and I think at the time I misinterpreted and misunderstood the goals and the understanding of how the team worked," Hamilton told the BBC.

LH has been with Macca since his childhood and he still claims he did not understand how this team worked

[roost89]

to me, that sounds like he forgot that his 1st year is supposed to be a rookie year. Not one where he's fighting for the championship.

He started fighting when he should've been learning.

Misunderstanding how the team works doesn't make sense to me though.

[Just_a_fan]

This is a bit oldish article but interesting IMO. This bit is particularly confusing:

"At the beginning of my first year I was up alongside the two-time world champion and he was seen as the guy to win the world championship and I think at the time I misinterpreted and misunderstood the goals and the understanding of how the team worked," Hamilton told the BBC.

LH has been with Macca since his childhood and he still claims he did not understand how this team worked

My guess is that he's admitting it was the first time that McLaren weren't putting him first in their dealings with him. Up until the
at season his dealings with the team were as sponsors/help/management. That season was the first time he was actually driving in the team for the team. He was still viewing them as his supporters rather than the reality which is that he was there to help the team with its primary concern which is the constructors title.

[PlatinumZealot]

It's a good thing he didn't understand the political dynamics, because that means Alonso could have won the WDC in 2007 AND probably 2008! That would have left Lewis as a castrated number two driver up until now.

Alonso's negligence to his rookie team mate is partially responsible for Lewis' overconfidence (which is what lead Lewis to run rampant). Alonso being of a higher level should have put Lewis in his place from day one; show him a thing or two to keep him humble. This would communicate to the rookie that "you are not on my level yet junior, stick around you might learn something." But, what really happened was, even with aaaall Alonso's skill and experience, in their little time together, there was nothing new he showed the boy, nothing that Hamilton hadn't seen before. So Lewis probably was thinking: "Hey this cat is not so hot! he aint got no big guns, I can beat this guy! I think I might give it a try and see what happens!" From there it was all over.. the floodgates were open. Hamilton's reticule was "Lock on." There was no stopping Lewis Hamilton. It was like trying to stop a raging bull. Ron Dennis knew there was nothing he could do to the situation. Too hot to handle, he said. "This boy is a beast! everybody get out the way! red alert!"

So it was Alonso's slack hold on the chains that caused Hamilton poke his head in and smell blood.. totally blinding from any an all forms of high level understanding that season.

[mx_tifoso]

I've heard that Hamilton has also mishandled Sutil.

[ringo]

The words mishandled alone show that Hamilton had Alonso's ticket. He is basically saying he had the power to roll him in his fingers like a booger, but the team wanted him to hold back and let Alonso get things easy. It's a good thing Ham did not hold back, i personally thing a WDC should win because he was the best driver in the right car. He should not be granted a championship, much less with the clemency of a rookie teammate.

A 2 x champ should not be able to be handled or mishandled. All other drivers should be at his mercy, not the other way round.
When i hear Ham talking about handling Alonso, I just that's how you know he's above Alonso. You think anyone could speak of handling shumacher in any way? blasphemy!


In short Hamilton went there to fight as hard as he could. He did not think he would be held back to let someone slower walk away with something he has dreamed of since childhood. That's what he misunderstood, he didn't get the message, since they would not directly tell him a rookie doesn't challenge the no. 1 driver.