[karthik247]

Here's the championship standings as of now..
01 Lewis Hamilton 62
02 Kimi Räikkönen 57
03 Felipe Massa 54

Kimi might not have done well recently but hes still in a very good position to defend his title..

And here's the constructors standings..
01 Ferrari 111
02 McLaren-Mercedes 100
03 BMW Sauber 90


The thing about Hamilton is that whenever he's in front, he can drive like crazy and pull away from everyone and win the race in the end. But then if he's not leading, he tends to push the car too hard and end up screwing himself. If he's in a situation where he has to start from the back with a 1stop strategy or something, he might have a hard time as he probably will shread the tyres.. But then, everyone has their own style and since hes leading the championship so....

[MaserQ]

Originally Posted by jraj

"Lewis Hamilton has vowed that Felipe Massa won't overtake him again after the Ferrari driver made him eat his words by forcing his way past his startled McLaren rival at the start of the Hungarian GP".
More here Hamilton: It won't happen again - Planet-F1 News - from planet-f1.com

The above quote might or might not have been uttered, but for the love of F1, I wouldnt quote from a tabloid like planet-f1.com!

Originally Posted by akrish01

He's got everything - typical British attitude but all this is extremely irritating when he's yet to win a championship. The Brits (they're all over 1) are celebrating him as the greatest F1 driver of all time already. Let's wait & see if he lives up to the billing or just crumbles under their immense expectations.

Let me try a different angle. While Hamilton is typically British, he is also a proud coloured british male. Now if you look back at history, you will find that sportsmen/women from the said community while being ultra competitive, also tend to wear their hearts on their sleeves.

Take brits like Linford Christie and Lennox Lewis for example. They have indulged in gamesmanship/showmanship at some point in their careers.

My point being, these personality traits have never been seen as a negative in them. They fought hard, conquered the world and told the world about it. Nothing wrong with that.

Whether or not Hamilton will rise to those levels is a different question...

[jraj]

Originally Posted by MaserQ

They fought hard, conquered the world and told the world about it. Nothing wrong with that.

Exactly MaserQ.The grudge here is he is behaving like a conquerer while the truth is he still is on pursuit.

[Sandeep_K_Ram]

I care two hoots about his attitude off track. On track he is as good as it gets. And all great ones have had an attitude so this is not an exception.

[dkhatau]

my personal view is that let alonso come to ferrari and than lets see how hamilton performs against him. i can assure you alonso would beat him hands down, because the he is too good for hamilton in a competitive car. (While in mclaren alonso was given 2nd grade treatment thats why).lets wait and watch.

[Aditya]

Do you really expect Ferrari to treat Alonso better? Ferrari clearly has a No. 1 and No. 2 driver strategy. I don't think Ferrari will want to get rid of Kimi. Also, if Kimi stays at Ferrari, he will not want to be No. 2.

[Dine]

Ferrari will not accommodate Alosno.

Will wait till this year end and lets watch.

People tend to confuse success with aggression. These are two different traits. You can be aggressive on the field and not off the field (bad mouth).

[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by Aditya

Do you really expect Ferrari to treat Alonso better? Ferrari clearly has a No. 1 and No. 2 driver strategy. I don't think Ferrari will want to get rid of Kimi. Also, if Kimi stays at Ferrari, he will not want to be No. 2.

I do not agree with Ferrari having No.1 and No.2 these days. They had when Schumi was there. But since 2007 season started both Kimi and Massa are given equal treatment. That is not going to change anytime soon.
Secondly, Alonso coming to Ferrari is more of a rumour as of now. It all depends on whether Kimi continues beyond 2009 or not. If he does continue then there is no space for Alonso. Alonso wouldn't have any problems, but Ferrari can't afford two expensive drivers.

[speedzak]

Originally Posted by dkhatau

(While in mclaren alonso was given 2nd grade treatment thats why).lets wait and watch.

That's another big reasoning by Hamilton haters that Alonso was treated as a 2nd grade driver at Mclaren which is completely baseless. He was brought into the team with lots of respects and expectations which he himself decided to screw up as the season went ahead.

He could've maintained a good respectable position in the team only if he didn't choose to behave like an ungrown child.

Ferrari and Alonso will be a deadly combo. The only thing is, it may turn out deadly for themselves more than to others. :(

[dkhatau]

My presumption of alonso moving to ferrari is if kimi decides to leave F1 otherwise history has proved that 2 big drivers in the same team is definitely disastrous for the outfit. Seeing the recent perfomances of kimi i think he has lost the motivation completely otherwise i do not see why massa qualifies ahead of kimi again and again. I personally am a big fan of ferrari so would like any of the ferrari drivers to win the world championship.

[im_srini]

Originally Posted by jraj

Exactly MaserQ.The grudge here is he is behaving like a conquerer while the truth is he still is on pursuit

I'm reminded of this line from "American Beauty" - "To be successful, one must project an image of success at all times"

Originally Posted by dkhatau

my personal view is that let alonso come to ferrari and than lets see how hamilton performs against him. i can assure you alonso would beat him hands down, because the he is too good for hamilton in a competitive car.

If I remember correct, Lewis was no slouch to Alonso last year & in fact out-qualified his much esteemed team-mate & double world champion in 3 races, viz. US, Hungary, & China - which is not what you'd expect a rookie to do ! I'm no fan of WonderBoy myself, & perhaps he shoots his mouth off a tad, but he's an accomplished racer nonetheless.

It's pointless debating who would wipe the floor with whom if who goes to which team as nobody knows how things are going to turn out come March 2009. The least of all worries is who's driving for whom - as such, the cars themselves would be undergoing quite a transformation.

[srishiva]

@speedzak, there was another feature done on him not by british media but by NY times (for those who think british media is over hyping him). By the way why are people reading british media so much ?

The guy has been racing for a long long time since he was a kid with a sole purpose of being a F1 champ.

Michael Schumacher was also not a saint when it came to racing tactics.

[karthik247]

Valencia Qualifying Results
1. MASSA Ferrari
2. HAMILTON McLaren
3. KUBICA BMW
4. RAIKKONEN Ferrari
5. KOVALAINEN McLaren
6. VETTEL Toro Rosso
7. TRULLI Toyota
8. HEIDFELD BMW
9. ROSBERG Williams
10. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso
11. NAKAJIMA Williams
12. ALONSO Renault
13. GLOCK Toyota
14. WEBBER Red Bull
15. PIQUET Renault
16. BUTTON Honda
17. COULTHARD Red Bull
18. FISICHELLA Force India
19. BARRICHELLO Honda
20. SUTIL Force India

[redrage]

Massa at his best, he must have taken Hamilton's comments a bit too seriously! Great Track, awaiting the race tommorow.

[speedzak]

Time for the European grandprix!
Massa on pole, followed by Hamilton. Another hot race to watch it seems.