Motor Racing thread

[StopTheWar]

well there isnt a generic one, so i thought i'd start one.

first i'll start with this,

now Mark Webber is taking a shot at Lewis Hamilton.

why is everyone so insecure about this guy?

surely the fact he went within a whisker of winning the F1 championship in his first season is reason enough for the British hype.

I say he's the real deal and he's here to stay. His only fault is he's not an Aussie.

Hamilton a 'novelty' says Webber

By Robert Grant
March 25, 2008

MARK Webber believes Formula One wunderkind Lewis Hamilton's "novelty" value will wear off.

The Red Bull racer says Hamilton has a uniqueness in the sport but it has a "shelf life."

Webber has also warned that the British McLaren star, who rocked F1 last year by almost winning the championship in his rookie season, will have to get used to a downside in his career.

Hamilton, 23, finished second to Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen last year and leads this year's series after his recent victory in Melbourne and fifth place in last Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix.

"His career has gone off like a rocket ship but it won't always be like that," Webber told The Independent newspaper.

"He's young and he's black which makes him unique in this sport, but that's got a shelf life. He won't stop being black but it will stop being a novelty.

"And he'll find that some of the column inches, maybe even this season, are totally negative and totally incorrect. That's not easy to deal with."

According to Webber, only the British are obsessed with Hamilton and comparisons with seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher are more than a little premature.

"He's talented, we all know that," he said. "But he's been in the sport for five minutes. People compare him with Schumacher. There is no comparison.

"When he wins the championship, then he's got six more to win before he can be compared to Schumacher.

"Year, he had a great first year. It was extraordinary what he did. But great sports stars are measured by their longevity. Pele, Steffi Graf, whoever."

Despite Webber's comments, the British press remain fascinated and focused on every detail of Hamilton's career, to the point of salivating over the fact he could not access the water bottle in his car during last Sunday's hot race.

Kimi Raikkonen won the race but the British press preferred Hamilton's minor troubles.

"Lewis suffers water torture", informed The Sun while The Times' race report went straight to the point, as they saw it, leading with: "Lewis Hamilton battled dehydration".

[BobDaBuilder]

^

Agreed.

Just good old fashioned British hype for one of their own.

Where is that Jenson Button guy they were harping on about a few years back.

Now they have a new darling, who just manages to come short of winning. You get the feeling the British like the guys who just come second.

Put Webber in a decent car and he will win the driver's championship undoubtably.

[akel6]

Webber... Who are ya?

C'mon Lewis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Webber couldn't win a race if it bit him in the ass. Just be pleased for the young lad who has done an amazing job. He's already won more races this year then Webber will EVER! If I may say so, not a bad effort for a 5-minute motorsport career.

[auslankan]

Originally Posted by akel6

Webber... Who are ya?

C'mon Lewis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Webber couldn't win a race if it bit him in the ass. Just be pleased for the young lad who has done an amazing job. He's already won more races this year then Weber will EVER! If I may say so, not a bad effort for a 5-minute motorsport career.

Yep "I never finish a race but its not my fault" Webber should keep his mouth shut!

[StopTheWar]

Originally Posted by auslankan

Yep "I never finish a race but its not my fault" Webber should keep his mouth shut!

exactly my point. he hasnt earned the right yet to make these kinds of comments.

what is it about F1 that brings out the bitchiness...

[akel6]

Even when webber is in a car that works, he doesn't seem to do much with it and overtake and win, let alone place. However I stand to be proven wrong, and I hope I am.

Still....Go Hamilton!!!!!

[BobDaBuilder]

Typical British attitude.

Lewis Hamilton is the luckiest guy on the planet. David Coultard was just like him when he started and now look where he is, Webber's personal whipping boy. Some people should know without being told that their time is up.

Webber is probably the finest driver out there, unquestionably. That smarmy European arrogance always assumes they are better than everyone else. Face it Eurotrash, Hamilton in probably the best car on the track could not pass a guy driving around in a shopping trolley!

[BrisbaneROCKS]

Originally Posted by BobDaBuilder

Typical British attitude.

Lewis Hamilton is the luckiest guy on the planet. David Coultard was just like him when he started and now look where he is, Webber's personal whipping boy. Some people should know without being told that their time is up.

Webber is probably the finest driver out there, unquestionably. That smarmy European arrogance always assumes they are better than everyone else. Face it Eurotrash, Hamilton in probably the best car on the track could not pass a guy driving around in a shopping trolley!

Webber is without a doubt one of the top 3-5 drivers in Formula One at the moment. Give him that McLaren and Lewis wouldn't look like the hotshot that the Brits desperately portray.

It's really a little bit of history repeating itself. The British are utterly useless, and frequently aggressive, in not being able to objectively analyse a grand prix when one of their own are involved. The absolute tripe torn up about Alonso was just horrendeous. Ok, he did some silly things, but people don't just act like that for no reason. Hamilton was playing nasty games behind the public's back to him. But of course you'll never read about that will you.... In bahrain Lewis clearly fucked up his judgement of space and ran into Alonso, yet within a split second both Brundle and Kravitz in the pits started screaming 'brake test!'. I lost alot of respect for Brundle in that one short moment, and gained alot for James Allen, who put his patriotism behind him and called it as it was (basically, Lewis ran into the back of him, Alonso clearly didnt lift and is offensive to suggest so).

Lewis is good, but how good is OBJECTIVELY hard to judge, as he's the rookie with the best preperation for his first season in history, and slotted into the '07 macca which masked his overdriving and gave him a race winning package. This year and next (with more mechanical grip instead of this over-reliance on aero) will really hang his undies out in the open and show us all just how good he is.

One aside, Jarno Trulli is really shutting those twirps up now about his race pace. Mark is the best in the business and Jarno held him off in Bahrain and Lewis in Malaysia with ease. The TF108 is back around where they were in 05. Look out for them and the ever improving Honda RA108 in the next handful of races.

As for Red Bull, the RB4 is just on the heels of the Toyota, and looks quite handy in race trim. If they maintain this level, they'll be in for 5th in the constructors with ease, with the likelyhood of a podium or 2 looking good at this stage.

The Renault is by far the worst car on the grid for me at the moment. In Melbourne I watched it struggle to turn anywhere, such is the car's inherent tendency towards severe understeer. I can't see them fixing a fundementally flawed car (akka 07 Honda). This year is a complete write off for Renault I believe. Alonso will massively flatter them on occassions, but as it stands, they'll have to climb mountains to catch Red Bull, Williams, Toyota and Honda, as the first 3 of those are a good .5 secs a lap quicker, and the Honda is prooving to be an emerging threat to that chase for best of the rest.

[christarrant]

Jamie Whincup and Garth Tander would beat em all !!!!

[RSG]

Originally Posted by christarrant

Jamie Whincup and Garth Tander would beat em all !!!!

I doubt it. Well maybe if they are all driving V8 supercars. I am not convinced though.

[StopTheWar]

the A1 GP level playing field gives us some idea where our drivers are at internationally. before you bag out A1, what other comparison is available?

...and so far we've been pretty non competitive at that with a few different drivers

Aussies are far better on 2 wheels. must be our crappy roads.

[BobDaBuilder]

Didn't even know that series was still going.

[StopTheWar]

Originally Posted by BobDaBuilder

Didn't even know that series was still going.

well im guessing you dont have foxtel.

[akel6]

a1 is such a joke. I can't believe anyone actually watches it, but each to their own.

[renell]

Originally Posted by StopTheWar

well im guessing you dont have foxtel.

if you're really desperate Nine shows highlights, I'm not entirely sure how far behind it is. But I see it sometimes when I flick the channels during F1 breaks.

I don't know what the hell this bullshit is about Hamilton, especially bob wafting around 'Mark Webber World Champion'; it makes the argument even more ridiculous.

There's a lot of hype about Hamilton but I believe it's not all hot air - he's a real talent who showed consistency and speed in his first year. Mark Webber scored two points in his first race, that's about it.

Hamilton did well beating two-time champion Alonso and Schumacher's apprentice Massa - Mark Webber whinged a couple years ago in Monaco about not being able to beat his teammate Nick Heidfeld. For some reason I'm starting to think the fact that wherever he goes his car fails is no coincidence.

[BobDaBuilder]

The fella who started in up, got out a year or so ago.

They should have just fixed up Sports Car racing, aka Le Mans racing. That has a bit of potential the old prototype racing.

[StopTheWar]

sportscar racing would have to be the most boring motorsport i've seen. Le Mans 24 hours, woop woop.

then we had that Panoz series race here about 9 years ago. They wanted to come back and the State govt was like, thanks but no thanks, then they started the Clipsal after that.

fundamentally, i cant see anything wrong with the A1 package.

- open wheeler racing, similar to F1 cars
- close racing (unlike a lot of F1 of late)
- up and coming F1 drivers
- plenty of crashes
- nation v nation
l- level playing field

it does quite well in a number of countries, but Sydneysiders snubbed it when it was at Eastern creek. I think most Aussies just dont get it. Its too far fetched.

[BrizzyChris]

Schumi came 3rd in a motorbike race the other day. Seems like he can do anything well.

[RSG]

Anyone see Hamilton's crash? I can't wait to watch it tonight. Good to see the F1 is on early at 10:10pm tonight.

[BobDaBuilder]

Yep, Hamilton is a dud.

The novelty value is starting to well and truely wear off.

He's another Button.