Nico Rosberg dominated his team mate during the Spanish GP weekend winning all but one track session. Damon Hill questions whether Lewis should shoulder some of the responsibility for allowing this to happen.
Prior to the race, Hill questioned Hamilton’s negative mental approach to the Barcelona event: “Reading some of the things Lewis said, he’s not felt positive about this place. He says he’s never really gone well here and he’s only ever won one race”. Damon’s opinion is that, “He hasn’t expected to do as well here.”
However, Hill also is critical of Hamilton’s dedication to the cause. “I’ve just been looking at his schedule. He’s been all over the world. He’s been to the Mayweather fight, in LA – all since Bahrain.
Maybe he hasn’t been focusing and maybe Nico has just been thinking about the race.” Damon concluded that Hamilton’s schedule and the choices he made have been a contributory factor as to why “we haven’t seen him on top form.”
Lewis himself revealed he had just a couple of days off following the race in Bahrain three weeks ago. He then flew to Rome to take part in filming for the new Zoolander movie.
Lewis confessed he was “super tired after that because I had a training session that day as well, and then straight after finishing the Zoolander filming I went straight to Majorca to shoot an advert with Mercedes”.
Then it was straight back to Rome for more filming, before heading North to Milan and Monza, where Lewis spent time with Sir Stirling Moss filming.
Next stop was “a short trip to London” to pick up his brother and take him to LA for the weekend, before returning to the UK for some ‘Mercedes work.’
As TJ13 reported, Hamilton had tickets for the Mayweather fight in Las Vegas which was his next point of call before before heading off to New York for a few days.
Lewis finally returned to Brackley on Wednesday before heading out to Barcelona on the Thursday before this weekend’s race.
In his blog Lewis recalls, “sitting back now and talking about all this, it sounds kind of surreal, and often when I am doing it I have to pinch myself. But it felt a bit more normal this time around; I’m not quite sure why”.
Hamilton’s distractions from his Formula One career have been well documented. The latest being by Sir Stirling Moss who commented last week, “the thing Lewis is really interested in is music, not driving.”
Another race weekend has come and gone and still no contract has been finalised between Lewis and Mercedes for beyond the end of this year.
Hamilton will have to be on his game mentally in two weeks for the Monaco GP. This is another race he has won just once, and coming second to Rosberg two race weekends in a row would not fit the 2015 ‘Hamilton domination’ theme.
Wow! Lose one race and people start to dig for reasons as to why he lost. Show Rosberg a little respect, he had the better weekend and he won the race. It has nothing to do with whether or not jetting all over the globe affected his preparation. Nico did a better job today, just like Lewis did in the previous 4.
Bad Judge! You have questioned the son of god.
I thought the son of God drove the red 5?….
Maybe god wanted 2 sons.
😂😂😂
Yeah, half-brothers… God likes to play the field, haha!
http://sport.bt.com/more-sport-hub/more-sport/ecclestone-lewis-ideal-role-model-S11363971560035
F1 supremo Ecclestone claims Hamilton to be “the best world champion we’ve had”, not just for the two titles he has won, but primarily for the way he has turned himself into a globally-known sporting figure.
Too bad he can’t overtake…
Seems like when either of the Ferrari drivers, sees the back of Bottas’s Williams, they become mesmerised and then proceed to spend the rest of the race behind him…..
Fortis, you know exactly what we’re talking about. You were the one who screamed the loudest that ROS couldn’t overtake HAM at China. That was ROS against the same car. Today Hamilton couldn’t overtake a Ferrari that was 1.5 sec/lap slower. You lot have to eat your own words and it doesn’t taste good, does it?
Tbf it’s basically impossible to overtake at Barca unless:
1. You’ve got a huge speed advantage out of the final corner.
2. Your top speed is much higher .
Vettel spent the 50+ laps behind Massa in 2009 despite saying he was 3s a lap faster, and then there’s examples like Button-Schumacher (2010) or Ham-Seb (2011). In fact, in every race since the mid 90’s we’ve seen numerous examples of faster cars not being able to overtake at this track.
The cars are too aero-dependent and lose out heavily when chasing slower cars through S1, S2 and the quick final corner. Unless they reduce the aero dependence of these cars, you’ll always get the same result on quick tracks, hence why modern circuits use the hairpin-straight-hairpin layout instead.
>Tbf it’s basically impossible to overtake at Barca
Same at China, yet Rosberg was mocked when Hamilton backed him into Vettel. So either people correct what they said then or accept the same ribbing for Hamilton. Simple as that.
The tyre limiting applies just the same here.
Whatever Hippo, everyone knows that China is a track that’s far easier to overtake than this circuit, so let’s not come with that nonsense.
And I did not say ROS could not overtake HAM in China. I said if Lewis was driving that slowly, then speed up and overtake him, problem solved.
So why didn’t lewis speed up and overtake? He was almost two seconds faster per lap, Hell he was faster on primes than vettel on options. Same reason as in china. You have two laps to get the job done, any longer closely behind the car in front and your tyres are shot. And unlike Lewis, Nico didn’t have a car advantage. It’s the same in China as it is in Barcelona. I know it makes your heart bleed, but the grim reality is, like the rest of us, Lewis has to bend his knees when he takes a shit.
Deal with it Fortis, your boyfriend was crap today – simple as that. Couldn’t overtake a German who only wins because of his car.
The same reason why Seb spent 50+ laps behind Massa in 09, despite being 3s a lap faster (thanks Anil 😉). This circuit is one of the hardest to follow and overtake on. Look at Kimi, he was on the faster tires and his Ferrari is faster than the Williams, but could not get pass either.
But hey, keep ignoring the blatantly obvious…..
When Kimi caught Bottas, his options were 20 laps old – your point?
@Anil Parmar
There’s no point in citing Vettel in a Red Bull as an example regarding overtaking. The Red Bull was always configured for low top speeds and high corner speeds. That meant if you got stuck behind a car it became incredibly tough to overtake. This design flaw was eventually solved in mid 2013 and from there on Red Bull won 9 in a row. The Mercedes isn’t configured like this, it’s normally mid table in the speed traps, as Merc have the most powerful PU they can zap a bit of extra downforce on and get gains in overall lap time without compromising the cars ability to overtake in a straight line. The speedtrap date from Qualifying: http://www.fia.com/file/27515/download?token=0wNuHT3D
But it was you, fortis, who took a stab at vettel for not being able to overtake bottas. In a better car. So it seems only fair to take the same argument now for Lewis. He couldn’t pass on track so the stab against him is justified…
Lol. Ecclestone thinks F1 should be targeted to Rolex customers – wants double points – fake rain during races – megaphones strapped on the back of the car exhausts – SOME SAY, he wears incontinence pants too 😉
“Another race weekend has come and gone and still no contract has been finalised between Lewis and Mercedes for beyond the end of this year.”
From Kimi’s body-language (well, on the radio, but not only) it looks like he’s with one foot out of Ferrari, a bit a la Massa. Last GP he showed something akin to desperation to get a good result and relief when he ended up on the podium in front of Vettel; this weekend he sounded positively pissed, even more so than usual. I suspect that at this point only a miracle will keep him in the 2nd seat at Ferrari.
But who will be lined up then instead? JEV, Hulkenberg, Bottas, or perhaps Hamilton? We can be fairly certain it ain’t be Gutierrez…
Hamilton came in second. On a track he doesn’t like. So what?
It’s not like he’s constantly crashing out. He just made the best of his day.
…plus he got to drive around Monza, act in a movie and watched the fight of the decade.
Your comments suggest you may have never worked within a Formula One team. The drivers are repeatedly reminded that they have huge numbers of people working unsociable hours to deliver them with the machinery which they get to drive for a few hours 19-20 times a year.
What was highly surprising and probably inadvisable about Lewis blog for the BBC – is that set against the background of the above, it will be a PR own goal with some of the foot soldiers who work for Mercedes.
Add to that, Lewis failing to deliver this weekend and that his ‘jaunts’ and ‘lack of focus’ becomes an open topic for debate in the paddock. Its maybe not been a smart thing to do.
But Lewis is not F1 politically correct – which for many is a good thing – and so this kind of thing will happen.
You do these sort of “Lewis better watch out” posts frequently enough that it all sounds so stupid when nothing happens in the end. Did Lewis wizz in your cornflakes one time, or something? I don’t get it.
If you did a private survey of every Mercedes AMG F1 team employee, and asked them if they only could field one car and one driver in the championship, who’d they pick between Hamilton and Rosberg, I think we all know who’d be the landslide winner.
Your first assertion is rubbish. I know exactly how many posts we have done on Lewis Hamilton this year and it is minuscule compared to the hundred’s of others written.
Please do not make sweeping statements you cannot support about the editorial decisions at TJ13.
We reported the comments of an ex-F1 driver. Unlike the less capable sites who just type out the quotes of people – we offered an Op-Ed piece – the like of which which you will find in every newspaper every day, on a whole range of topics.
Damon Hill and many others in the paddock this weekend questioned Lewis Hamilton’s behaviour – TJ13 asking questions, drawing conclusions based on that opinion is fair game.
Maybe you should go and spend your days reading the sites that do not offer opinion and comment – and BTW don’t bother commenting in future as you do – unless you wish to engage with the issues raised within the piece.
Then again – you predominantly react this way – only when Hamilton is questioned in any way.
You can choose what you read – TJ13 will choose who we allow to comment. Proper engagement and criticism is welcomed, because opinion pieces will always cause differences of opinion.
Mud slinging commentators are not welcome anymore
The good Judge wrote, “I know exactly how many posts we have done on Lewis Hamilton this year…”
Wow! That’s an impressive fact!
I am with you regarding the ‘ my favorite driver is God’s gift to F1’ weirdness in the comments here.
But since you’re counting, care to share the number?
409 posts this year.
And considering Lewis is box office I think you’ll find he has been the primary subject of less than 4% of articles.
Bob Fernley and Force india have had more than double the coverage.
People are trolling this site, making regular cavalier assertions about TJ13 content, which are just wildly inaccurate and slur the quality of what is being produced – predominantly by fans and me for FREE.
As of today it stops.
All comments will now be moderated before published.
By the way, yesterday 17,395 individuals (unique IP addresses) read articles from TJ13.
Glad the horrible little chap (no, not Bernie) found time to pick up his bro and take him to Spain. And what a brilliant idea to have him conceal himself in the front row of the Mercedes (black-clad) team by wearing head-to-toe Ferrari red.
These folks really are something else.
I think I may be slight dyslexic… Whenever I scan read your handle I see “professor-skid-row” 😀
So Damon Shill claims Hamilton looked unfocused. Let’s break down what actually happened.
In qualifying, Hamilton was asked to drive a smooth lap, i.e., take care of his tires. Now, after Nico’s qualie tire-saving debacle, one would think Toto and crew would think better of asking either driver to ever do the same. Instead, they repeated Nico’s error and told Hamilton to, basically sacrifice a shot at the pole.
Once stationed in the grid’s #2 slot, Lewis momentarily lit up his tires and spun off into 3rd place. Wait, I forgot something – Merc installed a new clutch in their cars. The reason: to get off to smoother and therefore faster starts! Hmmm, maybe in Monaco…
That combination of events, plus a slow pit stop that put Hamilton back out on track behind Seb resulted in a 2nd-place finish for the 2-time and defending WDC.
Sounds like it was a less than stellar team weekend. A snippet of edited conversation resulting in us hearing Lewis say something to the effect that it was impossible to pass Vettel (it would be nice to hear an entire conversation when a driver says something like that, but what would that do to ratings?!), has led to derisive cheers from the anti-Hamfosi contingent but so be it.
All-in-all it wasn’t a lost weekend; just one with enough minor errors to equal a second-place finish. In a pressure-filled 19-race season it’s bound to happen a few times.
“So Damon Shill claims Hamilton looked unfocused”
And I stop reading your post..