Is Lewis overrated?

[KBM]

We asked the same question of Kimi at this time last year, fairly enough. And he did win the WDC, eventually proving many (including me) wrong.

2008, three races in, and Kovalainen has outperformed Hamilton in 2 of 3 races. Lewis has outqualified Heikki, 2-1. Heikki has two fastest laps to Hamilton's none.

You might call it a wash between the two, especially as it's early days. However I can't recall, say, Schumacher or Senna, or even Mika in his hedyay, being shown up like this by a teammate.

Maybe Lewis is just very very good, instead of genius-good, as we seem to have made him out to be last year.

[JeremySmith]

Not at all...

[thejester]

No matter how good Lewis Hamilton actually is, (and he's very, very good), some people in the public and the media have decided that they will overhype him beyond what is reasonable. Does that qualify as 'overrating'? I guess it does.

I don't think he's overrated by McLaren. Or by his competition.

[Notso Swift]

Originally Posted by thejester

No matter how good Lewis Hamilton actually is, (and he's very, very good), some people in the public and the media have decided that they will overhype him beyond what is reasonable. Does that qualify as 'overrating'? I guess it does.

I don't think he's overrated by McLaren. Or by his competition.

Good post. He is not overrated in my mind, but then I have a lower rating of him than (say) James Allan
Watch ITV and it is the second coming.
The fact is we do not even know if he is the driver of his generation and it will be atleast 10 years before we find out. He is definately one of the drivers of his generation, but is he THE...
One thing is for sure he genuinely deserves his place on the grid

[Pro Racer]

no he isn't overated i just think McLaren are keeping up their 1 good 1 bad season pattern and i think Lewis in Malaysia and Bahrain has been a little guilty of over driving the car, not his fault BMW have mad ground and McLaren are keeping the pattern up.

[Teretonga]

He won the first race of the season.
Had a rough race at Malaysia.....
Missed the start at Bahrain and hit the slow Alonso, needed a new nose cone and damaged his car and now he's overrated??

No way. We had the same nonsense with Massa after two poor results.
And no doubt we'll have the same thing again with Kimi, Kubica and Kovalainen before the end of the season...

[al_sami]

Last year he was in a lucky position, he had Alonso in the team and benefited from his experience and development skills. He often copied his setups, but when he did not, ie france and silverstone iirc, his performances were poor.

Dont forget he also had the best car.

Now this year we are seeing he is simply normal, and needs a lot of experience and achievements before he can be compared to greats like MS, Senna, Fangio, Clark.

What amazes me he is already listed by autosport as a great! What rubbish! If heikki is not purposefully slowed down and team orders do not come into play I believe he can match him and beat him.

Its just a case of Henman all over again, Britain is looking for a hero, and last year we saw Lewis worship. A few more shabby results and be will be beaten down with the same stick he got built up with!

[CDK 7]

[quote=al_sami]



What amazes me he is already listed by autosport as a great!


dont forget itv as well

[Adam43]

I refer you to the latest Hamilton Sniffpetrol article Growing Hamilton Title Hope Is Fading On The Up.

Originally Posted by Lazy F1 punditry

With two races already out of the way in the 2008 F1 season, Lewis Hamilton’s hopes of securing his first driver’s championship already seem to be slipping away after his disappointing performances in Australia and Malaysia proved that the young star from Hertfordshire has renewed focus and could already have the ’08 title sewn up.
...

http://www.sniffpetrol.com/category/motorsport/

I think that sums this thread up (well apart from the usual troll).

[Graz]

I wouldn't say he's overrated, he is clearly very good but I do think there are more top drivers in F1 currently than there has been for a while. Kovi outperforming Hamilton and people's reaction to this more suggests Kovi is underrated (which he most definitely is) where in reality, both are top drivers and there is little to choose between them.

The media (particularly ITV) have been unbeliveably biased when it comes to Hamilton and I can't watch ITV's coverage anymore because it's just all about Hamilton. Even the start sequence and ad break sequence is dominated by Hamilton. None of this is Hamilton's fault by the way. Luckily I can watch F1 on Setanta which isn't fantastic but rescued somewhat by Gary Anderson's excellent insights.

It is noticeable about Hamilton that when things are not going to plan like Bahrain at the weekend and there have been other examples, that he gets quite impatient and drives erratically as a result. It was an approach that worked and was highly entertaining in GP2 but F1 is different (unfortunately). Also, not sure why he was gesticulating at various drivers during the race for not letting him through when fighting for position. Anyway, these things don't point to him being not as good as we thought or anything. Let's not forget how young and relatively inexperienced he is and he is still very much learning. Senna was often criticised for not using his head in his first few seasons and he turned out alright!

I've made this point a few times on other threads and above but I really think we are seeing a strenght in depth of real deal drivers like we haven't seen in a very long time.

[Born Racer]

Good post Graz.

I don't know what all the gesticulating was about either. Did he do it to other drivers other than Fisichella? I only saw him do it to him, but James Allen mentioned he'd seen him do it to others.

He can get a bit hotheaded in the process of racing. In China, he should have come in for tyres earlier, but that was a small amount his error, and probably a larger amount the rest of the team's error.

Trying to race Alonso directly just before he went off into that left-hander in Brazil was just silly though. There was no need to get all racey like that.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Born Racer

I don't know what all the gesticulating was about either.

His gloves were damp with sweat and he was just drying them in the airflow........

[Greenback]

LH is the next Michael Schumacher...Period!!

[tristancliffe]

Yes, very much overrated at the moment, but could grow into the shoes he's been given for no apparent reason.

[Marbot]

Too many threads about why so and so is the best driver and not enough about why so and so's car is allowing him to be the better driver.Which should be the reason why we all watch F1 as opposed to other series anyway.If Ferrari,BMW,McLaren or whoever win the championships it will be 90% (10% luck) down to the fact that they have the better car and not because somebody turned up with their "6/10ths!"

[Ralf's Girl]

Overrated? I don't think so. Overhyped? Yes, probably. I have absolutely no doubt that he's a very good driver already and will become better with experience.

The issue is really with the way the media portrayed him last year. I can't blame them for getting excited at a new British sporting talent, but the British media (and this is probably the same in a lot of other countries) do have a habit of going into overdrive when one of their sportsmen or women looks even remotely like they're going to win something.

Every driver will have their bad races - Michael Schumacher won 7 titles but he still had his off days. Hamilton struggled in Bahrain, but it doesn't suddenly mean he's overrated - he was just hyped up to such an extent last year that anything not going according to plan this season was going to be a big disappointment. If he comes back strongly in Spain, last weekend will be forgotten about.

[TFHarv]

I think it is probably more a case of a hyped rookie that was in the right place at the right time and almost pulled off the dream first season having confidence issues with himself within the team and the sport. He is now looked to be team leader in a top team with only one years F1 experience in car setup for conditions which are still going to be new to him.

I think we should look to him being back at the front next year once he has setups being sorted out in his sleep and knowing what to do in weird race situations.

If he had been racing 2-3 seasons on the tyres that shredded last year he would have demanded they change them before going out of the race but his inexperience let him down.

Once he hits the bar on setup and strategy and starts turning good qualifying into good racing his expectations, at being expected to finish on a podium, may become reality and put him at ease, so when he does have bad races he doesn't throw away a chance at some points because he thinks he is expected to be on that podium.

Britain always does this to its motor racing drivers as mentioned. Jenson, Damon, David C, Nigel all have been expected to be contenders at every race since they started winning. They all get the same treatment as tho its something personal that they didn't win for Britain >< and in the main its media driven.

I really do think he will be WDC but probably not this season, not because he has not got the talent or the car, just because he has not got the needed experience.

[RussianFriend]

Lewis is one of the best drivers of current grid. But he's still not mature enough. if the team and he would have a good cooperation he has very very good chances to be WDC sooner or later.

But at the same time we saw many talented drivers whose skills didn't developed on their highest possible level. Eg. Montoya... Considering the fact that Ron is very fond of finnish drivers there's a risk for Lewis if he would be overraced by Heikke.

[Scream'n_Demon]

I agree with what most of you have said so I won't go into that, I just wanted to add that I think that last year he was a lot more hungrier than this year because of the Alonso rivalry. He isn't going out there every race now to beat Alonso. He's now the leader, and its easier to be the chaser than the leader.

[Ralf's Girl]

I don't think that means that Lewis wants to win any less than he did last year - there's just more pressure on him now because everybody knows what he can do. He's still young to be leading a team, and that's easy to forget because at times he seems as if he's been racing in F1 for years.

[MRJUCY]

He is obviously one of the best drivers out there but some media do get a touch over excited & forget he isn't a god.

[Greenback]

Originally Posted by Scream'n_Demon

I agree with what most of you have said so I won't go into that, I just wanted to add that I think that last year he was a lot more hungrier than this year because of the Alonso rivalry. He isn't going out there every race now to beat Alonso. He's now the leader, and its easier to be the chaser than the leader.

I fully agree with you. When you are a follower, it is always easier to observe and improve what the leader is doing, however now that he has become a leader, he will have to set his own direction and lead the team. And I guess this is where experience really count and the only person who is going to benefit from this situation will be Heikki.

[Aysedasi]

I fully agree with the 'overhyped but not overrated' view personally. I expect him to be challenging for wins at most races this season and believe that the title will be between him and Kimi at the end. I think over the next few years his relationship with McLaren will net him an awful lot of wins and more than one WDC.

IMO.

[mp356a]

IMHO he is good but not comparable to MS. I doubt he could do what Alonso is doing with the Renault at the moment. I suspect/predict that his "good relationship" with HK will also suffer as the season progresses.

[fieldodreams79]

as others have said, LH may be overhyped and not overrated. he is talented, young, the first black driver to perform VERY well in the highest form of motorsports, and most successful Brit to drive F1 in some time. all of this make he a great media magnet. but he is still young and somewhat sophomoric, as was shown at Bahrain.

i think there are 3 or 4 others in F1 who are better drivers. LH's second and third years will definetly tell the tale.