MONTREAL, QUE.: JUNE 4, 2015 — Mercedes Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton during the pilot’s press conference on open house day for the F1 Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal on Thursday, June 4, 2015. (Dario Ayala / Montreal Gazette)
Lewis Hamilton didn’t have the best day to begin his fight back against the two recent results, which went against him.
Despite claiming repeatedly that Monaco was behind him in answer to the barrage of questions in yesterday’s driver press conference, Lewis doesn’t appear quite at ease with himself.
Hamilton tweeted on Thursday
https://twitter.com/LewisHamilton/status/606519216058068993
This had the hall marks of a pithy response from Lewis to whoever he feels is ‘hating’ him, and was typical of Hamilton’s heart on the sleeve approach to life.
Yet Lewis today appeared to be struggling on track at times. Of course he was quickest in both practice sessions, which bodes well for the one lap shootout tomorrow. But he made a number of uncharacteristic errors.
At the hairpin in FP1, Hamilton had a seemingly innocuous spin. Indeed, the track was green and others made the same mistake too.
Then in FP2 when catching a Lotus, he out braked himself into the final chicane and had to weave his way through the new route marked by Charlie Whiting before returning to the circuit.
A few laps later, Lewis violently launched his car across the left hand curb of the same chicane, landing his car awkwardly on two wheels before bouncing the floor fully on the sausage curb.
The rains came and Mercedes sent their drivers out on intermediate tyres. Nico Hulkenberg commented, “it probably wasn’t a good idea”, because by the time Lewis reached the hairpin when braking, he aquaplaned straight on. Almost in almost in slow motion, Hamilton’s W06 thudded into the tyre barrier.
The loss of a front wing is no big deal to Mercedes, though as the recovery vehicle pulled the embedded car from the tyre barrier, it appeared to damage the rear wing.
Lewis has experienced difficult Friday’s at many Grand Prix weekends and then returned in top form the following day.
Tomorrow is when it matters, and of Mercedes have turned their engine down by about a second a lap before qualifying – as has been their want, then the apparently resurgent Ferrari’s and Nico Rosberg will have their hands full containing Hamilton on the circuit where he took his first win.
I’m not sure if he outbraked himself into the chicane as such, I imagine he just thought that the Lotus would either be going at a ‘proper’ speed (or would have been told there was a car on a hot lap coming up behind). It’s standard etiquette for teams to tell drivers, and for drivers to give others room, so he might have just naturally assumed Grosjean would have been a bit more on it than he was. Lucky to not have contact though!
Did the car actually contact the crane? I heard the BBC commentary team suggest it had, but when I saw the replay it looked like it stopped just short of it. There didn’t seem to be the reaction from the car that would suggest it had hit (it just swung back as you’d expect), but I literally saw that one replay so if there were others that were more conclusive then you can disregard all this…
Yes the car did hit the crane. Paddy in the press conference said the damage was only minor and nothing to be worried about.
Paddy also said there was enough time for a pit stop LOL!!
Hahhaha
Did you notice the Mercedes suspension in action after Lewis spun out in the hairpin in FP1? Just before the car came to a complete stop, the rear and the front of the car lowered separately. You only see it in the closeup on the slow motion replay.
All not well, Lewis went out of his way to point out it was not his decision to run in the wet, an unnecessary jab at the team. Lewis needs to realize that barbs like that don’t help the team, and by extension don’t help his own cause.
When you say, ‘he went out of his way’. Did he happened to have called a press conference to announce it to the world or was he not being interviewed and the question was asked?
So now after what happened in Monaco, every word and body language will be micro analysed so as to identify if there’s any rift between team and its driver?
“This had the hall marks of a pithy response from Lewis to whoever he feels is ‘hating’ him, and was typical of Hamilton’s heart on the sleeve approach to life”….
Can name one person on here, but I would be indulging in baiting…..😂😂😂
Hi Fortis, can only assume you’re referring to my comment? I can assure you there’s no hate, I cheer on all drivers simultaneously (makes for very interesting viewing but that’s another story). My comment simply was to say that in spite of all the PR attempts to say all is happy it would seem to me Lewis is very much still hurting and not in a 100% state of trusting the team, as evidenced by his shall we say briefly letting the PR guard down, in happier times would think it easy to say ‘we’ wanted to check etc. Things do tend to get micro analysed, that’s the business unfortunately. FYI I expect a Hamilton pole easy today, and win and championship to follow, doesn’t mean the relationship with Merc management is all perfect at the mo. Like Graeme Lowden said, it’s not a criticism, only an observation. Anyway, enjoy qualy, I know I will, cheering on all drivers, even Pastor 🙂
Don’t call me a hater, but what’s with the necklace?! Someone needs to tell him that this is not Mardi Gras and that he is not in New Orleans.
So people should only wear necklaces during Mardi Gras in New Orleans?
You do know wearing necklace/chains aren’t a new phenomenon right?
Ok, so clearly you missed the joke here…would a couple of smiley faces help next time? (Insert smiley faces here. Many of them.)
My gay friends’ gaydar is signaling that Lewis may be closeted. They’re like, he’s no rapper; he’s gay. Now that could be wishful thinking on their part. I have no idea. If true, it would be awesome for him to win another WDC and come out.
@ kik
To paraphrase Fortis96:
So people can only be a rapper if they’re not gay?
(you can fill in the rest yourself!)
It was banter.
Someone mentioned something about Lewis appearance.
Someone said you know I hear he’s a wanna be rapper.
Someone who is gay said no no he’s gay. Cited a few things about Lewis to back his theory.
There was more support of the theory was another gay guy.
And then someone mentioned something else and conversation moved on.
You can be gay and a rapper. Its just not how our conversation flowed.
Since then I view him as gay and because I fill in my biased stereotype, things he does that bother others don’t phase me.
In my biased mind, gay guys do some things differently than straight guys. When they do, they get a pass because it not weird, its just gay.
Just suggesting that IF he is and comes out, he’d make huge in roads for gay acceptance. There are still people who are creeped out by gays. More gay celebrities, more gay heroes help change the narrative.
Very apt choice, Lewis.
A kid hiding behind shades. Choice…..
Pole 44 for #44 – separating the sheep from the goats ?
(Sheep being notoriously reluctant to lead.)
Stole that for Quali Review Title. Thanks!!
It is my understanding that Lewis was sent out in the wet because some setup work had to be done on the car for wet conditions should they occur on Sunday. Lewis is a racer. He was probably frustrated after the damage to his car in practice. He wants an absolutely perfect car that will put him in the best possible position to with the GP on Sunday.
As far as Lewis’s choice of clothing, jewelry, sexual orientation, taste in music, wanting to make music when he’s not driving his Formula 1 car, his relationship with his brother Nicolas, that’s his business and his life. Lewis is who his is, has achieved many things in his life/his career, has been supportive of his brother and his desire to be a racer even though he has a disability, and has shown that if you believe in your dreams and work hard to achieve them that you can. Yes, I know that he’s a public figure. As long as his actions, the way Lewis dresses, etc. does not put Mercedes AMG Petronas or the Mercedes brand in a negative light, let him live his life and be happy.
Lewis is a celebrity – by his own design.
He is not a private figure, and hence will be afforded the same level of comment and opinion as do all the rest.
Some people thought Beckham the soccer celeb was a god, others….
In today’s, every second can be a social media second (Jenson’s in-garage tweets from last race a case in point), who, participating in a public venue ISN’T public figure?
It seems “public figure” is a die cast by whoever the press chooses to hound, ummm, follow. I find it interesting that a person like Jenson a Button isn’t known as what he is – a man who performs his work under the shiniest of lights and performs what appears to be his primary hobby/love and charity revenue generator- triathlons, or, a public figure.
It’s interesting that Button can get away with his constant on-track complaining and snide off-track barbs toward the state of McHonda. It’s all net by the press with a chuckle and a wink ‘n nod, when actually his incessant puling, for other drivers would be categorized as “divisive,” “team rending,” or worse.
But then again, Button has been deemed to deserve a profession-long pass – from any real criticism and from being a public figure; a figure whose sexuality can be challenged just because some arsehat deduced that thrusting himself into another person’s life in a negative way would give him a supreme amount of pleasure – or whatever narcissistic whim it is that causes people to engage in churlish behavior.
I do wonder what media outlet, which media person who is allowed a voice, will refuse to follow the herd and refuse to take liberties with other peoples’ lives because others deem them to be “public property.”
On all levels it is a frustrating scene to watch…
“a figure whose sexuality can be challenged…”
http://www.formulaf1.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/77543.jpg
Not that there’s anything wrong with that…
Yes, I remember the furor surrounding this photo. If it was true, Sutil, when he was skewering Hamilton in the press, would’ve filled every tabloid in the world by dropping a tidbit of innuendo. He’d already called Hamilton a coward and immature, etc. – all he had to drop an aside that an example of his cowardice is that his relationship with Nicole was fake.
But I’m still more concerned at why some people are made into public figures while other, just as prominent people whose faces are regularly seen by the public aren’t public figures.
Another “for instance”: what happened to the rumor mill after a thoroughly trashed Rosberg in the company of not his wife photo came out?
I don’t know about any Rosberg rumour, hopefully one doesn’t exist that potentially impugns his good character. He’s not a self-styled celebrity like Hamilton, which is clear from the picture below. We should reiterate that Rosberg is a family man, healthily-heterosexual and happy with being a loving father and husband – not to mention a Mercedes man, through and through; a team player. This means he’s probably more focused, smarter and has fewer distractions. It’s likely that he will engage in marital sexual intercourse in a moderate and responsible way, possibly 2.5 times per week, between giving to charity and his modelling commitments where all proceeds going to PETA.
http://s29.postimg.org/qcz8utizr/image.jpg
Hamilton on the other hand…
Black, gay, stupid, sparkling with jewellery, covered in tats, making the devils music and hateful of his own father. This leaves him confused, easily agitated, reactive, disheveled, monosyllabic, possibly deficient of Vitamin D and all together his own worst enemy undermining his God given raw talent, a talent that he didn’t earn and is lucky to have.
Is that what you mean, DWil?
Ohhhhhhhhh, it’s a perfect day… I’m glad I spent it with youuuuuuuu… Such a perfect day; you just keeeeeep me hangin ooooooonnnn…
😀
THAT —– was golden. 😀
…sorry I missed your message the first reply!
Why would they send him Out in the wet when there is no prediction of a wet quali or race?
They sent both drivers out to do practice starts. It’s just the conditions got worse whilst they were on the track.
Who made the tyre call. WTF were they thinking??
Some of you are reading way too much into this. If anything, he looks even more relaxed than usual. He also made a post on instagram regarding his ‘crash’ in FP2, making a joke out of it. Meh, he was just having a bit of fun with the car in free practice. That pace advantage he had in monaco looks to have given him another boost in confidence and sense of calmness above all else.
@formula
“he looks even more relaxed than usual”
I would beg to differ. He said “cool” and “100% confidence in team” and “don’t look back” and “really irrelevant what’s happened in the past” and so on and so forth during the presser, that the only plausible conclusion I could reach was that Lewis was mighty pissed off and at boiling point. I wouldn’t insult him with “relaxed” this weekend… 🙂
“Okey Dokey” was an interesting moment too
In his head he was thinking “what a fu*king prick”. Some of the journalists get way too emotionally involved when asking the questions to invoke a reaction
Really. Most of them are dry is old boots, no charisma and little personality
Indeed it was, Judge… I chuckled at that.
Lewis was not the only one who was caught out by the downpour – a flight landing at Montreal Airport at around 03.00 PM skidded (aquaplaned?) off the runway.
All passengers disembarked safely – no info on whether the tractor hit the plane while being recovered!