[NFS]

Carlos .. whilst I understand that you were in the karting scene at the same time as Lewis Hamilton your summary on this seems way to simplistic.

I would be very interested to talk about some of the things you may have seen first hand, but I suspect that much of this is about perception rather than hard facts.

Some things which you have said that I struggle with ...

1. I was there and saw it all ..

Well you might have been there for some of LH's early races, but there is no way that you 'saw it all'.

2. This kid aint creme da le creme, but has had millions plowed into him. THATS why he is good.

It stands to reason that Maclaren would ONLY spend millions of pounds funding LH's early career IF they were absolutely convinced of his ability and potential. I doubt very much that they are in the habit of wasting money. I also doubt that they would have given him a drive in F1 if we had not proved himself to be a winner.

3. Lewis Hamilton took 6 years to move from karting to F1 ....

Actually he took longer than that. His first F1 testing was when he was around 20 and he started karting aged around 10. He was hardly going to get an F1 position after 18 months aged 11 1/2 was he?

4. Seeing someone, who was not the best in his game, now at the top of international motosport and doing well DILUTES WHO WHOLE ASPECT OF IT

He was the best at his game. He was a strong consistent winner in karting and in single seaters. Yes he had sponsorship for much of that time, but not all of it. In fact he actually left Maclaren for a year and then came back to them. They would not have taken him back unless they felt he was the "best at his game".

5. He first drove an f1 car in 2004, but then didnt get a full drive with the team who have paid for everything for him for another years. He just wasnt ready

Of course he wasn't ready in 2004 he was around 18 years old, with limited experience of single seater racing. Bit unlikely that anyone would be ready for an F1 drive at that age.

6. They created a karting class in britain called ''maclaren mercedes champions of the furure'' yes maclaren paid for this series to be started so there lewis who they were paying for could win this televised series to boost his profile

They didn't create this for him. And why would maclaren want to publicise him in this way? Maclaren had nothing to gain by letting him win a cushy series. They don't need publicity - as an F1 team they already have enough. The series was about finding other LH's and bringing them on.

7. You must see why i am annoyed it taken ALL THAT time and resource for him to get there

How could it take less time? He couldn't have started racing F1 any earlier than he did - he was just too young.

8. Look back to last year, he was always there, thats why he was so close at the end.. Not because he was ballistic. He won less races, had less fastest laps and relied on Kimi being ''off'' throughout the year to be in with a chance.

This is nonsense. He led the championship for most of the season. He was in the top 3 for almost every race. He took most of the poles and he put in the fastest laps.

There is no doubt that the ferraris and maclarens are the best cars. Would he be winning in a honda ... probably not. But does that make him a lessor driver than Jenson Button. Definitely not.

I appreciate that you have some knowledge and first hand experience of LH's early career and I'd be interested to hear it. However, to simply dismiss the lad reflects badly on you mate. You may have some driving talent .. or you may not .. I don't know.

What I do know for a fact is that no-one on this forum could even drive an F1 car round a GP circuit fast enough to get the tyres and brakes working properly. Just keeping one of those things on the track behind a safety car requires immense skill.

When the tyres are cold they have no grip. When they are cornering slowly they have no downforce. You need to drive the thing hard to even get it to perform and none of us here - including you Carlos - would stand a chance.