What Is Lewis Hamilton Capable Of?

[JoStream]

He may be the driver youngest driver to have signed an F1 contract (at 13), but I guess the question is how will he fair with Alonso at his side in 2007?

There is little doubt that having a world champion as your team mate is easier than having a team mate with equal experience. Beating a world champion is a bonus, but is generally not expected. ;)

Hamilton has now some F1 testing under his belt, though not comparable to the testing marathon of Kovalainen for example :rolleyes: . He's won the Formula Renault UK (2003), Formula 3 Euroseries (2005) and the GP2 in 2006.

I think he's going to do quite well in 2007. He's quick and confident, but I don't really expect impressive results until mid-season.

[Driverdb]

He was pretty damn awesome in GP2. No one really expected him to win that one in his rookie season. His team mate Alexandre Premat was in his second season and should really have been the one running for the title as he was pretty competitive against his teammate Rosberg the year before...

Hamilton made Premat look like a nobody.

F1 is, off course, a different ball game altogether but I think Hamilton is there to stay for quite a while. I think he will be a lot closer to Alonso in speed than people expect. But he will probably also do his fair bit of rookie mistakes.

According to a certain site ( :D )Hamilton has won about 35% of the races he entered so far in his career.
www. driverdb.com/racingdriver282.html
(the 4? races of the Renault 2000 Winter Series 2001 are missing though as I haven't been able to locate any results)

[F1 Today]

Crashing!

But in all seriousness, I think he could possibly take the odd lucky win.

[Fahad_H]

I am sure he will do better than Nico, and will finish the year in 5-8 overall.

[Faisal]

Well he will surely perform better than undeserving F1 rookie Nico but this season he should sit back and learn the car while supporting Sir Fernando Alonso!!!Early application of previously learnt race tactics won't work for him!

[Carlis]

So far, his performance in testing during this 2007 has been, in my opinion, very poor. His times have been WAY off from those of Alonso, and he has even been making slower times even than De la Rosa. He also crashed (and destroy) the 2007 car last week, which I think should have not gained him any additional points in Ron's eyes.

I haven't seen him yet behind the wheel of an F1 car, so I will still give him the benefit of the doubt, but if we believe what he has shown so far this winter testing, he is all set for a very hard rookie season...

[Driverdb]

Well, testing is testing and can never quite be a benchmark as we have no idea what programs they are running.

For example Hamilton has been slower than Alonso and de la Rosa the recent past days of testing but then we can look at December 7 at Jerez when he was fastest of all 17 drivers. One second faster than second best man Fisichella and 1.5 seconds faster than de la Rosa.

One day one driver is running tyre evaluation on heavy fuel while the other one is allowed to go fast etc.

It's when it comes down to first quali, we can start to compare. :)

[tysoe]

They say that lewis hamilton is the first black person in f1
what about narain karthikeyan?

I think he wont do well in his first few races but towards the end of the season he will get on the podium or even win a race.

[Fahad_H]

He is Latin and Karthikeyan is Indian, but I guess there are black Latins and whites, same things go for Indians :confused:

[JoStream]

Just saw another picture of Hamilton today, and he looks extremely young. He could really use a beard or something (to replace those superslim sideburns of his)...

[Driverdb]

I think we can start to put Lewis up there as a pretty capable driver. Podium in his first GP and a fastest lap that was just 3 or 4 hundreds of a second slower than his team mate, who just happens to be a two time world champion.

Too bad the Toyota (?) and Super Aguri backmarkers just before his second pitstop made Alonso close right up to him.
I wouldn't be surprised if he manages to win a race this year. :finishfirst:

[Carlis]

Too bad the Toyota (?) and Super Aguri backmarkers just before his second pitstop made Alonso close right up to him.

Yes. Alonso should be grateful to them, otherwise, he would have been (even more) eclipsed by his ROOKIE teammate on his DEBUT race on a track on which he has NEVER EVER raced before...

Not a good record for the 2xWDC. He better improves, or his time at McLaren is going to be very difficult...

And about Hamilton; hard to say if it was him or it was his car. Nico Rosberg had an amazing racing at Bahrain last year just to lose ground throughout the season. If Hamilton can put those performances on a daily basis... :eek: :thumbsup:

[Harakimi]

Is Hamilton really fast or did Alonso just had superb car for last 2 years?
Time will tell, but I'd like to see Alonso having huge problems with this englishman! :D

[JoStream]

If Hamilton can put those performances on a daily basis... :eek: :thumbsup:

I have a feeling he will...:wonder:

[delirme]

thank you very much

[saltysurprise]

thank you very much

For what STUPID! Everyone wants something for nothing:mad:

Yet another toolshed who wants to pilfer Darcy's DL's. Not cool dude!

[whapakk]

He will be a world champion. sweet driving and excellent push. reliable car and fast pitlane team.. awesome!!

[AM Vanquish]

Impersonating...

(removed link here) :lol:

[EIR Loe.307]

I think he's going to do quite well in 2007. He's quick and confident, but I don't really expect impressive results until mid-season.

Oops!! Hehehe:lol:

[AM Vanquish]

Time is not on Hamilton's side. People are starting to see that he is cold and calculating, that he shows a sweet innocent face when in reality he is immature and a petulant brat to say the least, and in worse case scenario, devious and a traitor to his team to whom he has everything to be thankful.
Were it not for Alonso's 10 sec delay the world would have never seen the dark side of Hamilton. And what is his father's role in the team anyway? How is it more prominent than Norbert Haug's? Alonso should go to Ferrari or BMW or even back to Renault. I'll be glad to see how McLaren's development fairs. Alonso needs fairness; he has proven to be professional and a gentleman. It is Hamilton who needs a poodle for a team mate. Maybe Barrichello would be available.:mad:

[Driverdb]

Time is not on Hamilton's side. People are starting to see that he is cold and calculating, that he shows a sweet innocent face when in reality he is immature and a petulant brat to say the least, and in worse case scenario, devious and a traitor to his team to whom he has everything to be thankful.
Were it not for Alonso's 10 sec delay the world would have never seen the dark side of Hamilton. And what is his father's role in the team anyway? How is it more prominent than Norbert Haug's? Alonso should go to Ferrari or BMW or even back to Renault. I'll be glad to see how McLaren's development fairs. Alonso needs fairness; he has proven to be professional and a gentleman. It is Hamilton who needs a poodle for a team mate. Maybe Barrichello would be available.:mad:

Wow, has Hamilton stolen all your toys? :p

[Harakimi]

Heh, this was some flood of words...Are you spanish? :lol:
I personally think that whatever Hamilton is doing, Alonso shouldn't CRY about it so much. I think he is the one who is immature and a petulant brat and acting childish, the way 2 times wc shouldn't act. :thumbsup:

Is Hamilton really fast or did Alonso just had superb car for last 2 years? Time will tell, but I'd like to see Alonso having huge problems with this englishman!

This is what I wrote in March, and it seems that Nando is having those huge problems now. :cool:

[Ryan]

The thing is is if Alonso leaves McLaren, after this season or before his contract is up, his driver credibility goes to naught. What kind of double World Champion is forced out of a team by a 22 year old rookie. If I were a team owner I wouldn't want a driver who runs at the first sight of a challenge from his team mate.

Even Prost lasted 2 years with Senna, whom Hamilton very much reminds me of. But Senna already had 6 years of F1 experience and was 30 before forcing Prost out of Mclaren.

I started off not really liking Hamilton, he seemed like the kid who could do no wrong. But after the Nurburgring and now the qualifying at Hungarorng I've seen that he really is human and am starting to like him.

[JoStream]

The thing is is if Alonso leaves McLaren, after this season or before his contract is up, his driver credibility goes to naught. What kind of double World Champion is forced out of a team by a 22 year old rookie. If I were a team owner I wouldn't want a driver who runs at the first sight of a challenge from his team mate.


Exactly. That's another reason why I'm sure they will try to work something out for the benefit of all parties :rolleyes:

But Alonso can easily claim that he is not receiving the same support from his team. With a British driver in a British team (add to that his marketing potential and McLaren history), that will make for a very believable argument :stop:

[Harakimi]

I'm wondering when Lewis is going to switch his current girlfriend to a model. Paparazzis have already spotted him with some "mysterious brunette" and now rumours from England say that she is 18 year old daughter of Mansour Ojjehin, a McLaren shareholder.... (see picture attached)

Atleast Kimi made a player move when he signed with Sauber, he instantly gave the boot to his long time gf, Minna :D