Is Hamilton desperate or what?

[Giblet]

I wonder what the F1 equivelant is of Jumping the Shark? When he does that, we can see "Yes he is desperate" and close this sill thread.

[Just_a_fan]

It seems that most of the overtaking that matters happens in the first lap these days - often the first corner. Positions made in the first lap are extremely important in modern F1 becuase it's often the only time that overtakes can be tried amongst cars/drivers of otherwise very similar performance. Seeing a possible opening and going for it is what racers do. Sometimes he's a hero, sometimes a zero. More often the former, this time the latter.

The fact is that he was mature enough to say "my bad" afterwards. I can think of a number of drivers who would be blaming everyone else, including their own mothers, in such a situation.

At least he didn't park his car on a corner during qualifying to mess up a competitor's lap...

[Just_a_fan]

I wonder what the F1 equivelant is of Jumping the Shark? When he does that, we can see "Yes he is desperate" and close this sill thread.

Probably the point when, having retired for a few years, he comes back and is soundly thrashed by his younger, and hitherto generally underrated, teammate...

[ringo]

I was wondering if LH's stupid move last weekend was out frustration that he was beaten by Button in the quali?

I think he had it in his mind that if he did not pass button in the first 5 laps then Button would get priority over him on the strategy.

This is Hamilton's first mistake of the season.
Same for Button he made a similar mistake in spa with Kubica, where he damaged his wing. And then subsequently got knocked out by Vettel for being too slow.

I agree with whoever said that Hamilton gets too much attention for doing something as being a part of a race incident. The incident was also very suttle.
Hamilton has driven just as mistake free as Button this year.

looking at the standings i think it's the best time to make a mistake like this.
He'll take the experience with him moving forward.

He learned the hard way in australia, learned to be more aware.
Learned the hard way in turkey, learned to watch your teammate at all times.
Learned the hard way in Monza, learn to look out for certain drivers and not to be to hasty to pass on the first lap.
These should be enough to equip him for the last 5 races. And judging by the looks of things, Alonso is his biggest threat. Webber and Vettel don't seem to be as solid as Alonso in these last moments.
Button was overtaken by alonso in the standings and from now on will drive the same exact car as hamilton, so his hopes are gone.

hamilton can win this thing with clean weekends. He has the speed, that's all he needs; and a bit of luck.

[horse]

Alonso is his biggest threat. Webber and Vettel don't seem to be as solid as Alonso in these last moments.

I don't know ringo, when Hamilton was bemoaning that he may have lost the championship with this DNF, I don't think he meant he's lost it to Alonso. Red Bull and Webber are who he's worried about, without a doubt.

[SiLo]

+1 on that Horse. Although we won't know for sure until they get to Singapore.

I think that Hamilton is like Marmite, lots of people love him and lots of people hate him, I'm not ashamed to admit I love watching him race, because he will push things and take risks. Webber has done the same this year a couple of times too, especially in Silverstone. Overall I think is was just a mistake, that people will put down to pressure or anger because of the situation, when in reality, he just put the car an inch or two in the wrong place.

[Raftaar]

I think SiLo's comment is just appropriate! It was an error, maybe some bad luck, that is all. Let's move forward.

Talking of the error, this is what I feel - Out of Rettifilo he saw both Ferraris wheel-to-wheel, fighting each-other(perhaps both lost some ground due to that). He perhaps saw an opportunity there, he ran just behind Alonso heading up to Roggia, hoping maybe one of the two would break late or maybe run long; Instead Massa backed off, and Hamilton dived into his inside, making it very tight for himself, was unlucky to get trapped ackwardly, but he shouldn't have been there in the first place.
Let us just say, he got a little carried away and got trapped in the thick of the action !!

Bad luck / Bad move !! I am sure he will bounce back. He is a brave, aggressive driver, and ohh! VERY OPPERTUNISTIC !!

[ell66]

as hamilton admitted it was his mistake, but it was incredibly unlucky.
He's outpaced jenson all year long, but spa aside jenson's had an unbelievable amount of good fortune onhis side.
but at the end of the day, if red bull had decent driver they'd of allready won the drivers....

[Shrieker]

I just hope Hamilton doesn't change his approach in the coming races. The incident at Monza could've gone either way with a few inches in the mix. It was just unlucky he found himself in a situation where backing of wouldn't have worked. The fact that his front wheel would still have gotten squashed by Massa's rear if he had braked.

[andrew]

You mean you want him to still drive into his competitiors?!

Surely you want him to chill a bit at the start and learn to playy the long game especially as the race scheduled to be longer than 1 lap.

[Giblet]

Hamilton's approach is obviously not to run into people. Anyone smart can see that and arguing otherwise is lame at best. Certainly Shrieker means that he is not going to stop racing hard and going for opportunities.

Running into Massa was the result of an aggressive approach to the race. Being aggressive has won him won him many races in spectacular fashion.

Lewis making a mistake is not indicative of his approach.

[internetf1fan]

First real mistake in 14 races and he's getting desperate?... right. Hamilton has been one of the most consistent point scorers bar Button. If not for the 2 DNFs that weren't his fault, he would have been still higher.

Compare that to Alonso, so many years in F1 and still making rookie errors like jumping the start, cutting chicanes and not giving the place back, spinning out in the wet when he was one a wet setup on wet tyres.

[ringo]

You know i still thinks it's kind of easy for him to win this championship.
Based on who he is fighting with, they are more mistake prone than he is, especially at the upcoming tracks.
I even think Button is mistake prone. As soon as he tries to drive close to Hamilton's or Alonso's level of driving he's be making mistakes.
His pedestrian pace can bag points, but he's going to need to push even harder than Lewis to even be top 3 in the championship at the end of the year.

Hamilton needs front row starts to avoid problems this. The top 5 drivers are getting very fidgety, you don't want to be bunched up on the second or 3rd row with desperate drivers.

[raymondu999]

I tend to agree with Martin Brundle on this. That was the 2007-spec Hamilton and not the 2010-spec, calmer, calculated Hamilton

[Shrieker]

It's also worth noting that Hamilton had a slight brush with Vettel too, @ Valencia. He lost a small piece from his from wing. On both occasions he didn't take out the other driver.