Lewis Hamilton's technical Level?

[audifan]

ross brawn says that schumi was pretty hopeless at giving feedback to set up a car , he just drove what the engineers gave him [ OK , ~i accept that the basic car was designed arounnd his wishes ]

come to that , so was jim clark ; when he was a team mate of graham hill at lotus , hill would spend half the night with the mechanics changing things to what he thought would suit him best ; clark just told his mechanics to set the car up to be as fast as possible , and he would drive it in the manner to get the best out of that

[ISLAMATRON]

funniest thread!



lewis hamilton's technical level... ha

yh you know alot about hamiltons technical level...

dont know what you are b*tching about, but didn't schumi do similair things? a normal driver gives his input about how the car handles to his engineer, so why it is a problem with hamilton, i dont know. Why couldn't hamilton have any technical knowledge? because he's black? i guess so, since he is in f1 everyone is b*tching about him how 'aroogant' he is etc. but none of it is really proven and every time he gives an interview he seems a nicer person then most of the other drivers.
It is probably just that none of you guys can actually take that a black person has technical knowledge, and can drive well.

No its not that he's black , its just that his father makes "funny faces" or that his girlfriend jumps up and down in the pitlane.

[wesley123]

well if that is the problem i still dont get it, he has a family supporting him, so that makes him arrogant?

[PNSD]

I dont agree with Wesleys argument about racial background, but I agree in that for some strange reason there are alot who dislike Lewis, and yes Wesley is fully right in saying that Lewis comes across as one of the nicest, most approachable guys out there and that is not arragonce.

What I think the problem is people still can not accept that he came in and so easily felt at home racing the other 20 odd or so top class drivers. I certainly did expect and I doubt they did too.

He might think of himself as the best but why not?! Im sure they all do!

Apologies for going off topic there.

Talking about technical ability though it's useless in this enviroment. Rosberg and Alonso, who both apparently have an awesome understanding of the cars dynamics have not really shown any more or less ability than Lewis these past few years in terms of racecraft or setting up a car. Drivers should not concern themselves with such aspects of the car, and imo should primarily focus on driving it. They will find the limit without knowing what each nut and bolt does. Its what theyve been doing for their whole lives.

[marcush.]

ross brawn says that schumi was pretty hopeless at giving feedback to set up a car , he just drove what the engineers gave him [ OK , ~i accept that the basic car was designed arounnd his wishes ]

come to that , so was jim clark ; when he was a team mate of graham hill at lotus , hill would spend half the night with the mechanics changing things to what he thought would suit him best ; clark just told his mechanics to set the car up to be as fast as possible , and he would drive it in the manner to get the best out of that

Still schumacher is perceived as a setup guru these days and I guess it is no coincidence sseing Ferrari fail with strategies when he is present at the pitwall .
His word have weight ,but not sitting in the car you tend to err on the risky side as it is not your bag of points wich is going to be hurt...
I cannot imagine Hamilton to be any better in terms of technical understanding but
really that should not be a worry as he´s obviously a great motivator for the team ,never willing to give up, slowing or just standing still and obviously he´s a very talented driver who can get results out of machinery which isfar below par and the guy is going for it if theirs only a sniff of a race win to his nose...and thats before anyone else realises that there even was something like a possible win.
My guess is he wanted to point out that he really has deep discussions with the technicians and reporting his experience in the car to them allows for good decisions to be taken and being firm about his perception he might one time or another have guided the boffins to take a route not in line with calculations.But this also shows that their calculations did not take into consideration all relevant parameters ... even if it might be just the second wind as you really want to make YOUR change work...but thats another story altogether....

[Ray]

He certainly has helped McLaren deal with making the rear tires last longer, he's sure killed a few sets in his time!

(I mean that humorously. Don't get your 'racism' panties in a knot ISLAMATRON. Lord knows you're a bigot when it comes to making jokes about Lewis)

[ISLAMATRON]

Where's the proof Ray? I been watching Lewis closely and I havent seen it... I have seen him roast thru some front tires though.

I joke about all the drivers, nobody is spared, but some bring it upon themselves more than others.

At the end of the day, whether Lewis is as techical as Alonso or not, would you want the driver who is in the car thinking about going fast or actually doing it? Lewis just seems to have that little bit of extra speed that the others dont, a la Senna, always putting his car further up the starting grid than what it would be in the hands of even a great teammate.

Cant wait till low fuel Q3... no more of this fuel corrected crap just an outright duel to see who gots the balls to take it around the fastest.

[audifan]

I second THAT motion!

[Richard]

Wouldn't normally be so pedantic but I really think their PR girl should learn the difference between "your" and "you are". What was she employed for? Tea making?

Twaddle ... its an interview written up by the F1 magazine features editor (male) and transcribed by some F1 Hami fanboy distracted by salivating over the F1 mag centre fold.

--------

Ciro, as a native English speaker (that's real English ) may I add with more than a little tongue in cheek ...

"infectious" is often used for describe transferring enthusiasm. It is also applied often used in the term "infectious laughter". "Contageous" is only ever used for disease.

"And, ..." - Agree, it is a poor way to start a sentence.

"Close season" is correct and is used in many sports.

Agreed, it should be "it's one thing..."

"galvanizes" NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! English uses "s" where americans use "z". So it is "galvanise" ;p Also note that English English only allows this construction for very few verbs. For example "burgle" not "burglerise".

"But another entirely to have..." is wrong in so many ways - agreed. Yes "However" would have been correct.

"the nitty gritty". Yes!

Sorry, I would say Mr. Hamilton is having more input. We can all give input, but only a few get to have their input built into the car.

---------------------

Back to topic....

All good drivers will be part of the team, give feedback to the technical guys, and as a result have input into how the car is designed.

How anyone on here can possible know how one driver has more input than another is beyond me. It is into the realms of fanboy ying yang, fuelled by team spin doctors and news outlets desperate to fill column inches during the close season.

[ringo]

I think the play station generation has a massive advantage over the older drivers. Lewis, Rosberg and Vettel play enough racing video games to be able to deal and adapt better to the simmulator and other computer tools that the engineers use.
I think they would have it easier to understand what the engineers are showing them.
Hamilton admits to being a game head and he also grew up playing with RC cars. Things like these can develope a child's mind. Maybe his dad was indoctrinating him about the world of motor racing from the get go.
His technical skills seem to be displayed more vividly in the practice sessions. Remember the Singapore road circuit when he made the call to change the tub?
He clearly has some feel of what is happening with the car, no way the engineers could have picked up that one.

The only weakness i think he has is with strategy in the actual race. Maybe it's because he is young; but i think he listens blindly to the team engineer a little too much.
Alonso on the other hand is experienced and confident enough to make on the spot tough calls. I can't remember which race exactly this year, but i remember the race engineering radioing in telling him to turn down the mix and get out of the dirty air, since the car is over heating etc. Alonso was following behind a much faster car so he didn't see the sense in turning down the power and giving up the chase. He simply said "No I cannot do that" and carried on.
That is what i call taking charge of the situation, I don't think most F1 drivers have enough confidence to go against what the pit wall is demanding that you do to improve your race.
Maybe with more experience Lewis can make some tough calls on track to avoid potential strategical mistakes and take a favourable gamble.

[Richard]

Oh, and could the mods please merge this and the Alonso thread to call it "Driver technical ying yang" please?

What about other drivers? Surely those specialised test/development drivers are highly specialised at testing car performance and giving techical feedback.... err.... the clue is in the job title.

Personally I'd say Piquet Jnr had the most technical input into his car design with his invention of the "Crash now" button

[ISLAMATRON]

NP Jr? gimme a break... MS could do it and didnt even need a button.

[Ciro Pabón]

Richard, thanks for the corrections. I learned a couple of things. About your suggestion, I think it's better to have all the discusions about one driver in one thread. I'll keep the one on Alonso and this one separated for the moment, we are in the... well, close season, and I think more threads like this one will come out of the "forum bag".

So, this one is about Lewis. Here you can analyze how he drives, please (actually, I beg to try hard to provide the forum with facts, videos and hopefully some data about his driving: what makes him so good? Drivers, explain to the young what he does differently).

For example, here you have Lewis exploits as a kart driver. Incredible:

Check how he snaps the steering wheel on entrances and how he steps on brakes under rain (we've wrote about why some people thinks you should do that)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt_PJqM-sRc[/youtube]

Now, check how he inclines ahead before some curves
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDgpS4kx88s[/youtube]


Wesley, with all due respect, I find very dumb to think we all are against blacks and even dumber the custom of some people when claiming that everybody is against them because of their colour/nationality.

Inferiority complex, I call it. I don't deny the existence of racism in this world, but to claim that everybody here suffers from it is such a disproportionate claim that it doesn't need more adjectives from me.

Lewis behaves arrogantly and that's patent in his own declarations about his ability. That's the reason why many people, some mods included, think he behaves like a moron sometimes.

I believe those declarations are at the root of this thread and I also believe many people don't give a damn about Lewis family origin (which, btw, is partially South American, ehem) but is worried about his self-evaluations. After Schumacher domination era many people is really tired of drivers attributing to themselves only the success of a team.

You ask for proof of his arrogance. Well, here you have the estimation of Hamilton about his value as a driver, as recently as 3 weeks ago, when he received Button in the team:

“I love having No.1 on my car”... “I love being recognised as the best driver out there. (NOTE: I find nothing wrong with that. But wait! There is more! ... as they say in TV commercials)

“At the end of the season the No.1 was taken off my car, but that doesn't mean anything changes in that sense. I still think I am the best – but I know you can always be better, get more pole positions and win more dominantly. That's what I want to do next season – and get the No.1 back on my car!"

-- November 19, 2009, Lewis Hamilton --

QED.

[xpensive]

Agreed master of moderators, thinking that you are the best is xtremely arrogant indeed, not PC at all!

Xpressing it is even worse, what was he thinking?.

[WhiteBlue]

I think that is a poor example for arrogance. Racing drivers must have strong ambitions and supreme confidence in themselves. Like tennis players they must be able to perform under immense pressure. Obviously the car is a big factor and not always the best man sits in the best car. Hamilton would probably get even more sympathies if he were less outspoken about his believes but that would also make him less credible. Some drivers are pasteurized, homogenized and stream lined to a degree that you believe they are clones (for sure).