[NFS]

Did anyone else go yesterday?

It was much busier than last year and there was a real buzz - what a difference it makes to have a British driver in the running.

Unfortunately Hamilton was off the pace right from the start. Before the first pit Raikkonen was really hassling him on every lap, and the ferrari seemed quicker. Hamilton was unlucky with his first pit, but then when Alonso got out in front of Raikkonen he streaked ahead.

There seemed to be a big difference between Hamilton and Alonso's cars, I thought maybe because Alonso had harder tyres, but the problem seemed to be in the braking so not totally sure.

Best entertainment on the day was Fillipe Massa, who went from the back (after his false start) to 5th - amazing. He managed to overtake about 5 cars in one lap, which just shows how good the ferraris are.

To be fair Kubica in the BMW also did an awesome job holding him back.

A great race really, much more interesting than last year.

[Paul330d]

F1 is no longer my thing, I'm afraid. I made an effort yesterday because of the Hamilton thing, but got bored after 5 minutes and switched to the Wimbledon final.

[dxb335d]

hamlton cracked a beaut.....

he is in the best car, and has so much experiance no wonder he is winning

just think about this

kimi raikkonen, from top european karting to F1 = 18 months and 23 single seater racers


lewis hamilton from karting to f1 = 6 years of single seater racing = one VERY EXPERIANCED RACER

and with the best car no wonder he is impressive, i know of better drivers who in my opinion have more talent and deserve to be where he is!!!

5million has been spent on him and yes it has paid divedends but he has had the support and all the money backed behind him... good luck to him he is very good, just everyone saying how amazing he is coming in so quickly and doing well

so did jaques villenaueve as did montoya, and YES you can compare him with them as they were too, very experianced racers coming into f1 and in a good car performing well

even alonso only did 2 years from karting to f1

button 2 years from karting to f1

schu 3 years of single seater and sports car racing and whay a genuis he was


you catch my drift....


alot of drivers who spend that sort of length of time miss F1 altogether as younger better talent show's through..

firman got missed etc so did wheldon..

also kimi raikkonen came 2nd in the european FSA karting championsip in '98

the f1 of karting

lewis won the FA european championship in 2000 the gp2 of karting as it were, moved up to FSA (formula super A) and got his ASS cained

so left and moved into a lesser single seater formulae where he excelled

his whole car has been abotu him being high profile etc,

they even created a kating class for him to dominate in 1996-1998 called something gay like

'champions of the future' which he won because all the top guns in karting didnt race in it becasue they concentrated on the 'british super one' championshp which was highly regarded and where the creme da le creme of karting in the UK raced..

there is a guy called davide fore, must be in his late 20's early 30's now

a FANTASTIC racing driver, so SO much talent, won 3 world karting championships and several european champs, gave sch a good run for his money when he came back to kartign events. He is a much better racing driver but will not give up his day job (as a kart racer earning 70k) to risk getting to f1 and spending the 400k + to do just a year of f3 etc

shame really, i personally wish he had tried to get there, he definately would have been the next m. schumacher!!






Carl

[NFS]

Originally Posted by dxb335d

hamlton cracked a beaut.....

he is in the best car, and has so much experiance no wonder he is winning

To be honest I think he showed some inexperience on Sunday.

Third place is still very impressive, but if Massa hadn't of stalled he wouldn't have been on the podium.

I think there were obviously differences in setup between Hamilton and Alonso's cars, which Hamilton admitted were of his own choosing.

It was very obvious that Alonso's car was significantly quicker.

I was sitting at Stowe Corner and Hamilton actually slid a couple of times near the apex. He seemed to be forced to take a slower line through, whereas the others took the corner much harder once their tyres had warmed up.

Either way - I think it was one of the best F1 races I've seen for years.

Maybe someone technical can answer a question about the engine noise.

Last year the ferraris had quite a different sound, like thunder when they got back on the power out of the corner. This year most of the cars had this same 'crackling' sound. Especially the Honda Earth Cars, which got progressively louder as the race went on.

I was trying to work out what the noise might be. Seemed as if theothe rmanufacturers had introduced a change to be more like the ferraris.

Oh .. and the SLK AMG pace car sounded terrific too.

[dxb335d]

Originally Posted by needforspeed

To be honest I think he showed some inexperience on Sunday.

Third place is still very impressive, but if Massa hadn't of stalled he wouldn't have been on the podium.

I think there were obviously differences in setup between Hamilton and Alonso's cars, which Hamilton admitted were of his own choosing.

It was very obvious that Alonso's car was significantly quicker.

I was sitting at Stowe Corner and Hamilton actually slid a couple of times near the apex. He seemed to be forced to take a slower line through, whereas the others took the corner much harder once their tyres had warmed up.

Either way - I think it was one of the best F1 races I've seen for years.

Maybe someone technical can answer a question about the engine noise.

Last year the ferraris had quite a different sound, like thunder when they got back on the power out of the corner. This year most of the cars had this same 'crackling' sound. Especially the Honda Earth Cars, which got progressively louder as the race went on.

I was trying to work out what the noise might be. Seemed as if theothe rmanufacturers had introduced a change to be more like the ferraris.

Oh .. and the SLK AMG pace car sounded terrific too.

dont get me wrong, yes he showed inexperiance compared to the people who beat him etc, but in general his performance this year has been down to the amount of financial and managerial support he has over the years and the amount of time behind the wheel of a single seater rather than outright talent!!

Carl

[- Paul -]

No-one can doubt Hamilton has talent, but I feel he is being setup for a fall with all the positive press he has been receiving of late. To compare him to Senna/Schumacher etc is wrong imo. Too young and he hasn't done anything really - yeah, I know he's won a few races - when he's won a few championships, lets rate him then. As has already been said, if not for the unknown stall of the Ferrari, he wouldn't have been on the podium, and before anyone says IF is F1 backwards - I've heard it!

Some pics for you
http://www.shell.com/home/content/fe...t_britain.html