[Omnitech]

Lewis Hamilton gets the fastest lap time in pre-season testing in Bahrain, making Mercedes and Team BlackBerry the favorites for the F1 2014 season opener in Australia.

BBC Sport - Lewis Hamilton sets the pace on final day of pre-season testing

Images:

Lewis Hamilton Of Great Britain And Mercedes GP Drives�€� News Photo | Getty Images | 476112039

[MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS]: A total of 89 laps completed for Lewis Hamilton today before a gearbox problem curtailed his track time at the Bahrain International Circuit. Quotes from the man himself and f.... | Veooz 360

[zyben]

[Cozz4ever]

I still say ferrari is the dark horse this year. It's going to about fuel consumption.

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[johnnyuk]

I still say ferrari is the dark horse this year. It's going to about fuel consumption.

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Ferrari's engine is rumoured to be the thirstiest of the 3 if Ted Kravitz of Sky F1 is to be believed, and his sources are better than most.

Mercedes, Williams, McLaren and Force India (all the Mercedes engined teams) are the teams looking the best all round so far. Ferrari could start out fighting for 5th placed constructor, not where Alonso and Kimi were expecting to be. Heads will roll at Maranello if that's the case.

The first race is going to be a test of who can make it to the chequered flag. There could easily be some upsets with back of the grid teams making it to the finish while richer teams up front fall short in a cloud of turbocharged smoke and electrical fire. It could actually end up more than a little farcical.

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[Omnitech]

The thing that disturbs me about Hamilton is that he doesn't seem to have much trouble getting a top lap time in pre-race runs, it's the actual competition where things tend to go sour.

That's speaking as a complete F1 neophyte who only paid attention after BlackBerry got involved.

[johnnyuk]

Last year Lewis often went backwards in the races thanks to the Mercedes chewing up its tyres but also due to him not being comfortable with the brakes Mercedes use after growing up in F1 at McLaren with bespoke brakes made just for their cars. There are however other reasons for why he can't seem to string prolonged success together in a season anymore that I'll elaborate on but first I'll come right out and say it, I'm no Lewis fan.

I don't hate the guy but I find him cheesy and immature at times. I don't like how he sulks on the podium when things haven't gone his way when he should at least put a brave face on and pretend to be happy for the sake of the fans, after all is in one hell of a privileged position. I also find him over rated by the UK media after having achieved far less in his career so far than his talent should have allowed him to.

He has frequently allowed outside influences from his personal life to negatively impact upon his professional sporting performance, whether it's spats with his over protective father or that Scherzinger woman. His 2011 season was a non stop hot headed unfocused car crash, usually involving side swiping in to Felipe Massa, who he should have been well ahead of and not fighting for the same piece of road with. Thankfully he seems to have had his head in a better place over the last 12 months, but you just never quite know where the guy's head is at from one race to the next.

I've heard a few F1 pundits who have spent time with Lewis over the years say that F1 is going in a direction that doesn't suit Lewis' natural driving style, that he just wants to push flat out 100% for the whole race with no technicalities to think about like protecting the tyres or having to save fuel, things that just get in the way of racing flat out.

That I can appreciate and respect, he just wants to drive the wheels off the car for the whole race distance, that's what F1 was about from 1994 to 2008 with in-race refuelling, it was 3 or 4 flat out sprints. Lewis can be quicker than anyone over a single lap in modern F1, but pushing 100% for the whole race is not what F1 is about any more. That's where Lewis' lack of focus on the technical side of racing a modern F1 car, and his frustrations at that, show up. That's why Nico Rosberg who is a more intelligent racer, and before him Jenson at McLaren, have used their calmer more methodical race heads to beat him on some Sundays where Lewis should have finished ahead on raw pace.

As a consequence of lack of focus, frustration at not being able to push flat out and a lack of racing intelligence (that's not to say a lack of intuitive natural driving skill or bravery) Lewis over the last few years has had too many "off weekends" where he just can't find any race pace and is at a loss to explain why. And unfortunately that's been happening while a certain Seb Vetted at Red Bull has been 100% focused on benefiting from a car that has been he class of the field, until now!

Lewis could learn a lot from Kimi. When the Finn hit F1 in 2001 he was very similar to how Lewis was in 2007/2008, a flat out natural racer who would push 100% for 1000 miles if races were that long. But as F1 changed around him Kimi matured and developed more than just sheer speed in order to win races. Now in the Autumn of his career Kimi is one of the safest pairs of hands out there. He rarely ever risks contact with anything, races with respect for others, rarely ever makes a mistake in a race and so has been one if the most reliable points winners over the last 2 years and yet still has the pace to win in a competitive car and the race craft to out smart any one.

It helps that when Kimi is in a racing car he is an ice cold, fearless, emotionless robot but maybe Lewis should stop wearing his heart on his sleeve and beating himself up so much when he puts a foot wrong. Kimi sure doesn't waste time moping around and dwelling on things when he has a bad day. It's shrugged off and forgotten immediately, tomorrow is another day, like a professional sportsman with the right psychology to face winning some and losing some.

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[byex]

Haven't followed F1 in years. Use to be a huge fan. Watched a couple races last year and it made me cringe.

Being a smaller fan of F1 now I have to watch older races just to remember that F1 wasn't always like this. Late 80's to late 90's.



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[Omnitech]

Being a smaller fan of F1 now I have to watch older races just to remember that F1 wasn't always like this. Late 80's to late 90's.

I assume you're referring to the various restrictions that seem designed to "equalize" the competitors?

Perhaps some of that was safety-related. I mean technology could produce cars that go 300mph but I'd imagine the eventual carnage on the track would be nasty.

I admit I was kind of shocked when I learned how they have these "booster" things that can only be engaged if you're trailing someone and on a particular part of the track when it has been authorized... that was a real eye-opener.

[BBPandy]

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bhp2dIyCQAAu1ZB.jpg:large

Has Hamilton always had those tattoos?
I've never noticed them B4

[johnnyuk]

Has Hamilton always had those tattoos?
I've never noticed them B4

At McLaren he had to cover them up with long sleeves, I think he may have had more done since the Mercedes move where he is allowed to be himself more.

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[93Aero]

Last I'm no Lewis fan.

Wow no kidding, that was quite a mouth full.
Wipe your mouth Hater-ade is running down and dripping on your shirt.


Hamilton said: "If someone doesn't accept me for who I am, that is their problem. You need to be proud of who you are."
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Hamilton has more wins than Rosberg and Button combined and you still call him an unintelligent driver.

This reminds me of what they used to say about Larry Bird being a more intelligent player, and Magic Johnson his media created rival as the practiced brute athlete.

[johnnyuk]

Wow no kidding, that was quite a mouth full.
Wipe your mouth Hater-ade is running down and dripping on your shirt.

Did you miss the part where I said I don't hate the guy?

I've been a motor sport fan long enough to be able to recognise his faults, as with quite a few superstars of F1 both current and past. I don't pretend the sun shines out of his behind like some in the press do.

Hamilton has more wins than Rosberg and Button combined and you still call him an unintelligent driver.

I wasn't contesting the number of races Lewis has won compared to his team mates, but regardless of that the number of races a driver wins is no proof of intelligent driving. Mark Blundell won 3 races in CART (precursor to ChampCars/Indy Cars) and although he is a nice guy he is as thick as they come and was a long way off ever winning an F1 race on intelligence or pace!

And hey! Jenson and Rosberg combined are only 4 wins shy of Lewis' total of 22! Hardly a chasm, superstar Lewis should have many more wins under his belt after 7 seasons.

Lewis is mega quick when he is allowed to drive the wheels off the car, that doesn't take intelligence, that's his natural ability. He can do it on feel alone and that's something pretty special, but the opportunities F1 gives a driver to take advantage of that in races are decreasing. Lewis is not mega quick compared to his rivals when he has to nurse and protect the tyres and the fuel load. That's when he has to think about and modify every single thing he is doing and can no longer push the envelope, that's when other drivers often out perform him.

That's the scenario where Lewis can lose his cool and do stupid things (the 2011 season). That's the scenario where the majority (if not all) of Jenson's wins over Lewis happened, where a driver who is ultimately slower over one lap but with a cooler, calmer and more intelligent race head could overcome a driver who relies on raw pace but who was suddenly not able to capitalise on raw pace alone. Often for Jenson that scenario cropped up in wet/dry races where he certainly excels at making tyre choice calls and his own natural feel for grip comes in to play.

If you study the racing career of "the Professor" Alan Prost you will learn that there are other approaches to winning races than just raw speed alone.


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