Hamilton tells critics of his domination to ‘get over it’

135 comments on “Hamilton tells critics of his domination to ‘get over it’”

1. 

   Meander (@meander)
   18th September 2015, 0:10

   I wish Hamilton would stop talking about Senna like that.
   1. 

      ADD (@addimaf1)
      18th September 2015, 0:19

      He’s not even that bad, its the media. Sky has been shouting the Senna comparison about Hamilton all week. All of Hamilton’s questions last race were about his hair. All the questions this race will be about Senna. He’s going to answer the questions, don’t you wish to be mates with your hero’s.
   2. 

      Philip (@philipgb)
      18th September 2015, 0:24

      Why?

      He’s sharing insight into how Senna inspired him. And it will probably make interesting reading for future drivers that Hamilton will inspire, it will be nice for them to know that a normal person just like them, prone to hero worship just like them can go on to do great things.

      Drivers like Schumacher, Alonso and Vettel are exceptional, but they aren’t relatable to normal people. Hamilton for all his ‘faults’ comes across as far more flesh and blood.
      1. 

         Robert (@)
         18th September 2015, 1:37

         I wouldn’t call Lewis Hamilton a normal person, he seems to have changed his personality traits a lot over the last few years. He is almost a different character compared to the man who started out in a McLaren 8 years ago. How can anybody relate to someone who changes so much as a person?
         1. 

            Ed
            18th September 2015, 4:10

            Looks like you’re just wishing to find something to bash about him.

            I watched Canada 2012 again the other day, and that Hamilton, from his last days at Mclaren was just like the one on Meulbourne 2007. A bit more frustrated, maybe.

            He said more than once that Mercedes gives him space to be what he want to be and to look how he want to look. So, it’s not like he changed that much from his start. He changed from his Mclaren days. Had he stayed at Mclaren, he would still be that guy,
            1. 

               Egorov (@egorov)
               18th September 2015, 14:42

               Mercedes will give him space as long as he is winning, once that stops expect them to be like McLaren..
         2. 

            Terry
            18th September 2015, 5:16

            Because no one changes between 22 and 30…
         3. 

            Maza Raap (@maza)
            18th September 2015, 9:41

            Just the contract with Mercedes allows much more personality than the one with McLaren.
            1. 

               JerseyF1 (@jerseyf1)
               18th September 2015, 12:01

               Sadly McLaren has also changed, I don’t think they have the same authority over their drivers at the moment which comes as a direct result of failing to produce a decent car for several years. It is now changed positions whereby McLaren needs the drivers more than the drivers need McLaren. Look at the fact that both current McLaren drivers are sporting uncorporate scruffy beards despite having Dennis back in charge. If Dennis had the authority as he did when McLaren were a leading team he would have made them both have a shave (see David Coulthard’s relaxed attitude and appearance in his immediate post-McLaren phase).
         4. 

            Philip (@philipgb)
            18th September 2015, 12:13

            If you can’t look at yourself from 8 years ago and see big changes then either the you from 8 years ago was awesome or you’ve stagnated. I think most guys hitting 30 can probably look back at their early twenties self and see a lot of progress.

            Hamilton’s become comfortable expressing who he is, that’s all that’s changed. At McLaren he felt pressure to meet certain expectations and be a certain way which he made the mistake of trying to meet because he thought that would give him his goals in life. Moving to Mercedes he’s felt liberated to just be who he is and love him or loathe him you can’t argue with the results.

            I don’t share his tastes, but I don’t get why people criticize him as a person given what he’s achieved, is achieving and all the evidence from the effort he makes with fans and good causes that he’s actually a decent lad.
            1. 

               pirespt (@pirespt)
               18th September 2015, 13:15

               @jerseyf1

               “Look at the fact that both current McLaren drivers are sporting uncorporate scruffy beards despite having Dennis back in charge.”

               Are you for real? Do you want to check how polished their helmets are as well?
            2. 

               JerseyF1 (@jerseyf1)
               18th September 2015, 13:42

               @pirespt I have no interest in checking how polished their helmets are, but then I’m not Ron Dennis. I’m pretty sure Ron would be checking if he wasn’t preoccupied with more significant matters!
            3. 

               socksolid (@socksolid)
               18th September 2015, 13:49

               I always cringe a bit when people post about how they view some drivers and their personalities. 99% of the time what you see is not that person but the pr image he wants to project. The 1% is when something surprising happens and the driver has not been pre-programmed for that peculiar situation.

               You learn more about the cashier in your local supermarket during the checkout than you learn about f1 driver over a season. Even during a career of any f1 driver you can’t be sure whether you are seeing a more mature and grown up driver towards the end or just better actor and more flawless and smooth behaviour based on experience. Not mental change.

               I personally try to avoid as much as possible trying to figure out what kind of person some driver is based on his public appearances. Some drivers are really good at spinning their own stories so if you go by analyzing their own behaviour you are just not getting one side of the story (a team will never comment on a driver publicly) but you are getting something you have no chance to verify at all.
         5. 

            Rodney (@)
            18th September 2015, 22:58

            Complete nonsense.
      2. 

         Johanness
         18th September 2015, 2:23

         Give me a break. Senna would hold himself to a much higher class than LH as of late, and certainly wouldn’t be ‘buddies’ with a bleached out fashion nightmare.
         1. 

            Luca Nuvolari (@nuvolari71)
            18th September 2015, 7:06

            Agree 100%. I would never see Ayrton being buddy with a rapper. I can see some great fights on the track between the 2, but that’s it. Plus, Ayrton died way too early and he would possibly win another few championships in a good car. Ayrton was a much more balanced person off the track and of a class that I haven’t seen yet again. Lewis is phenomenal with a helmet on but they should immediately close him in his room right after he crosses the finish line. I remember we were all dying to hear what Ayrton had to say, in any circumstances. His speeches were all very intelligent and very deep and he was very discreet about his private life. Lewis is completely the opposite in this sense. My opinion
            1. 

               lockup (@)
               18th September 2015, 10:30

               Senna balanced? Hahaha, he couldn’t even play with his nephew without weighting up his kart to make sure he won. Senna was so up himself it was unreal.
            2. 

               JerseyF1 (@jerseyf1)
               18th September 2015, 12:04

               Senna was probably no more discreet about his private life than Lewis might like to be. 2015 is so very different to 80s and 90s with social media, image rights and constant media attention meaning life is very different for a current F1 driver and not just as a result of their own decisions.
            3. 

               pirespt (@pirespt)
               18th September 2015, 13:17

               What’s with today, is it post something ridiculous day?

               @nuvolari71
               “Agree 100%. I would never see Ayrton being buddy with a rapper.”

               What a load of tosh.
            4. 

               Robbie (@robbie)
               18th September 2015, 13:28

               Well said. I think people will always have differing opinions of the types of egos that come from F1 racers, and especially the WDC level ones. But I think you have nailed it. Senna was imho and many peoples’, an ultra-religious deep thinker and very philosophical, and I get nothing of that whatsoever from LH. I think of Senna as a genius and there is nothing about LH that is relatable to AS.
         2. 

            Excuse me :D (@square-route)
            18th September 2015, 7:11

            bleached out fashion nightmare

            haha :D:D:D:D
         3. 

            Egorov (@egorov)
            18th September 2015, 14:46

            Is Lewis regretting the blind look?
      3. 

         zekeri
         18th September 2015, 9:34

         Really? Do you really see Hamilton as a more flesh and blood person than Vettel??
      4. 

         Philippe (@philippe)
         18th September 2015, 19:51

         I can see your point about Hamilton beeing more relatable to normal people, but that depends on how you are as a person. In that regard, I think that anybody can relate to pretty much any driver.

         Personnaly, I absolutely cannot relate to Hamilton flying around the world every week, partying with celebrities, with his constently changing wardrobe and posting his life on twitter.
         I relate a lot more with how down to earth Sebastian Vettel is, and his sense of humour, how he wants to keep his private life private and also is a new father.
   3. 

      Becken Lima (@becken-lima)
      18th September 2015, 0:29

      Why?
   4. 

      Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
      18th September 2015, 1:35

      Me too. Hamilton is sounding really depressed now that he’s at the top. He only seems to get excited with his statues is worth outside the world of F1.
      1. 

         knoxploration
         18th September 2015, 5:27

         That might have something to do with the fact that he knows his domination is due in very large part to the engine, the fact that his engine is not available to any (truthfully speaking) competitive rival, and the fact that the rules (truthfully speaking) do not allow any rival to catch up by preventing them from investing in the required development and testing.

         He sees his own records, and you’d better believe he knows they ring hollow.
         1. 

            Optimaximal (@optimaximal)
            18th September 2015, 11:09

            @knoxploration In relation to the very point Hamilton made in the article, which champion hasn’t enjoyed a (relatively) crushing car superiority?

            Even Alonso & Button’s championships cars were class of the field at least most of the time.
   5. 

      Mashiat (@mashiat)
      18th September 2015, 5:29

      I’m not a Vettel fan, but Hamilton never got over Vettel’s domination. Here and here are proof:
      Says Vettel’s dominance is killing F1, yet F1 viewing figures have dropped even further since Hamilton started dominating and no talks of it “killing the sport”. And don’t even start on Rosberg; he’s not up to the task of challenging Hamilton.

      Maybe I’m ranting, but Hamilton doesn’t nearly get as much hate and complaining as Vettel got. And as a neutral for both these drivers, it gets on my nerves.
      1. 

         Nic Morley (@robocat)
         18th September 2015, 6:44

         It’s because of the British media, which is only natural for a compatriot driver. Although I find it extremely frustrating too, Vettel’s cars were not as nearly as do inant as Hamilton’s yet everyone says Hamilton is a racing god where as Vettel only won because of the ‘car’.

         I’m not a fan of either driver, so from the perspective of a neutral viewer it comes across very hypocritical. I don’t mean to take anything away from Hamilton’s success but his victorys of late do seem ‘hollow’, he only has Rosberg has competition whom I only rate as a decent F1 driver.
         1. 

            Optimaximal (@optimaximal)
            18th September 2015, 11:19

            @robocat Alas, Vettel is also now doing interviews about how the Mercedes is so strong.

            At the end of the day, all competitive drivers want to be in the best car and any media is going to feed off trolling them for answers that they feel aggrieved about.
      2. 

         matt
         18th September 2015, 9:24

         context…. When I hear that, I think to myself that they are kind of missing the point.

         All the top drivers who have had periods of dominance, whether it be Sebastian Vettel or Michael Schumacher or whoever, they have all been in top teams with great cars. So people need to get over that.

         Motorsport is not like tennis or golf where results are solely down to the athlete.

         But there are still significant differences between the drivers. They might only be a tenth of a second in terms of lap time, but in our world that is worth a lot of money.

         Teams spend millions to find that amount of time in the cars.
      3. 

         dynamite
         18th September 2015, 9:40

         During Vettel’s championship era, viewership figures was pretty consistent. It was one of the most consistent periods of time actually. I think there was only some drop during 2013 or something. Other than that it was constant, even increasing. And that’s really unusual, considering the fact that more and more rights were given to pay tv each year.
      4. 

         Hypnoid
         18th September 2015, 11:22

         @mashiat and I still remember Lewis saying he wouldn’t want to win like vettel so far ahead in a dominant car, He said he prefers to fight for his win. No one seems to remember that, not lewis and not the media
         1. 

            Egorov (@egorov)
            18th September 2015, 14:49

            @hypnoid Did he really say that?
            1. 

               Philippe (@philippe)
               18th September 2015, 20:00

               @egorov Oh yes. Several times.
               http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/motor-racing/lewis-hamilton-claims-he-wouldnt-want-to-win-in-the-same-way-as-sebastian-vettel-following-his-8835157.html
            2. 

               Philippe (@philippe)
               18th September 2015, 20:06

               “I tried to imagine what it would be like if I was winning races the way he is winning races. Me, I don’t want to be able to be that far ahead, I want to be able to fight with him or whoever.”
               – Lewis Hamilton on Sebastian Vettel, Singapore 2013
      5. 

         JerseyF1 (@jerseyf1)
         18th September 2015, 12:08

         @mashiat It sounds like you are saying that it gets on your nerves that more people don’t hate on Hamilton? Surely a much better position is that neither Hamilton nor Vettel deserve any hate, their records stand to make them the best two drivers of the current generation and I don’t see why they deserve any hate at all!
         1. 

            Mashiat
            18th September 2015, 14:05

            That’s not at all what I’m suggesting, but maybe it does have to hold true. It can’t be denied that Vettel and Hamilton are being treated unequally by the fans, media etc. And I don’t know, whether Hamilton ‘deserves’ more hate, or Vettel deserves less (the latter would be more favorable, but let’s be honest). All I’m saying is that Lewis is coming across as hypocritical, with him previously saying things such as “Vettel is making F1 boring” and “I don’t like dominanting by myself”. Well, where are those complaints now?
   6. 

      BasCB (@bascb)
      18th September 2015, 6:19

      I think that If Hamilton feels they would be friends, he really does not get Senna @meander. The only way they could be would be after the Career of Senna was over and being somewhat impressed with Lewis.
      Senna would never be friends with anyone who would pose serious competition, but as his relationship with Prost changed after Alain stopped racing into one of mutual respect and even friendship something like that would be possible, I guess.
      1. 

         Girts (@girts)
         18th September 2015, 7:04

         @bascb I thought the same thing, I love Hamilton and Senna is probably the best driver ever but I highly doubt that they could be friends and competitors at the same time. Their rivalry would be fascinating to watch but fur would fly and talks about ‘friendship’ is most likely nothing more than wishful thinking.
         1. 

            David Not Coulthard (@davidnotcoulthard)
            18th September 2015, 13:48

            @girts Although realistically it’d be talks of them being rivals being unrealistic…..except maybe as team owners (or principals) in the future.
            1. 

               Girts (@girts)
               18th September 2015, 15:04

               @davidnotcoulthard Come to think of it, perhaps he was really talking about a friendship between him and a 55-year old Senna, who obviously would not be racing in F1 against him. Somehow it seemed to me at first that Hamilton was talking about a parallel reality where Senna would race alongside him in the same era (like in those surveys where you have to create a dream team and can put e.g. Vettel & Fangio in Colin Chapman’s team…).
      2. 

         William Jones (@williamjones)
         18th September 2015, 9:06

         Senna would be 55, so I think we can be very sure that yes, his career would be over and he would have matured a little from the surly nonsense-spouting pseudo-intellect he was off the track.
      3. 

         corap
         18th September 2015, 10:00

         Maybe he should be just honest and say “I want to emulate Sebastian”.
         Or, “If we weren’t rivals, I think we would be great friends”.
         That sounds more realistic now.
   7. 

      Tiomkin
      18th September 2015, 9:25

      Yeah, people should not have heroes or personalities. How dare Hamilton like somebody. This has been going on since he was a child and nobody has stepped in. Being on the top of your game should not be allowed and all dominant teams should be hobbled to stop them winning.

      I really don’t understand F1 fans.
      1. 

         russ
         18th September 2015, 15:03

         I thought the same.
         Winners win,Losers hate. Its all good its called sport.
   8. 

      gary
      18th September 2015, 9:33

      For some reason, it’s so annoying and ridiculous.
2. 

   @HoHum (@hohum)
   18th September 2015, 0:21

   Cotd; Well of course it’s about the money, it’s always about the money for the smallest teams and maybe the FIA should amend the rules to allow an unrestricted number of drivers drivers per season, that way the teams could hold an auction for the drives at every race. :-)
   1. 

      Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
      18th September 2015, 1:42

      I know that Manor said Mehri will drive at Russia and UAE but, wouldn’t you bet Manor is trying to sell both races to someone else. I say Sirotkin.
      1. 

         BasCB (@bascb)
         18th September 2015, 6:25

         I don’t think that will happen @peartree, if they were going to do that, they wouldn’t confirm Mehri for those races now, they would just stay silent over it
3. 

   Michal (@michal2009b)
   18th September 2015, 0:36

   I think all this talk of Hamilton’s life is because there are not many topics in F1 itself. If the cars would have been much more spectacular for people to watch (like in pre-V6 era) and the field would have been competitive then things like Hamilton’s hair colour or gun or his dog or (insert want you want) would have been simply overshadowed by racing. People have enough seeing Hamilton vs Rosberg with threat-behind-but-no-materialising. They want racing not bussiness show with Rolex boards in the background.
   1. 

      PeterG
      18th September 2015, 0:58

      There was a lot of attention on Hamilton’s life even before the current V6 era.

      Much of 2011 for example was focussed on stories about if Lewis & Nicole’s relationship was in trouble.
      1. 

         Michal (@michal2009b)
         18th September 2015, 1:01

         It was but in tabloid press, not in professional motorsport media (including F1’s official twitter account) as it is now. But I am not blaming the media.
   2. 

      Nick (@npf1)
      18th September 2015, 2:20

      I think the F1 media talking about Eddie Irvine and Jenson Button (believe it or not) in the early 2000s did the same thing, but we had ‘amazing’ V10 engines and utter Ferrari domination then. It’s almost as if the engine format doesn’t have anything to do with it, just a lack of news in general.

      One of these days I’m going to read on this site how the current engine regulations kicked someone’s kitten.
4. 

   Colossal Squid (@colossal-squid)
   18th September 2015, 0:37

   What baton is Lewis referring to? What is he carrying on for Senna? It strikes me as a bit presumptuous to talk of a deceased man’s legacy in such a way, to say they will carry on something of theirs – without the others say in the matter.
   1. 

      Meander (@meander)
      18th September 2015, 1:22

      This is exactly what I meant with my first remark that people have been questioning so much. I’m glad you managed to put it into words.
   2. 

      darren
      18th September 2015, 9:42

      +1
   3. 

      Robbie (@robbie)
      18th September 2015, 13:20

      Yeah, that was my first thought too. LH is in no position to pick up Senna’s baton, no more than any driver. SV already reached Senna’s numbers in fewer starts, and there was no baton-pick-up then either.

      I don’t fault LH for dominating. Virtually every season, the WDC winner needed the WCC winning car to get the trophy. But I think Senna would absolutely hate this current formula of conservation and would have been doing everything in his powers to have swayed the powers that be from this type of racing, which I don’t think he would even consider racing nor the essence of F1. I think AS would have been frustrated to the point of leaving F1.

      I’ve never been an LH fan, nor am I a hater. I’m just not a fan of his incessant self-promotion and he comes off as disingenuine. As if he doesn’t know Senna’s numbers nor his own. Saying he wouldn’t want to win the way SV did, and then saying get over it.

      But that’s fine. He’s gotta be who he’s gotta be. That’s him. Nobody is going to be for everybody even as much as LH tries to sell himself. As they say, most WDC’s, indeed most F1 racers, have pretty big egos, as did Senna. But Senna’s was a totally different ego…that to me being of a genius. All I can say is for me personally nothing about LH has ever reminded me of Senna.
      1. 

         Egorov (@egorov)
         18th September 2015, 14:55

         @robbie COTD for me
      2. 

         Drg
         18th September 2015, 16:39

         Really?

         What is it about current (or old) F1 fans that have cloaked Senna in some kind of mystical ‘genius’ layer.

         He was an outstanding driver but he was not in anyway some kind of immortal ‘God’ he was just like us all, flawed and it showed under stress. Some of his life threatening moves, would today have you lot up in arms and banning him for life! Yet LH changes his hair or flies to NYC between races and the world falls in on him? He is 30 years old. Senna was 34 when he died. Did no one on here change between 22 and 30 or even 34!

         You miserable hurting lot out there try to name any single move LH has made in his 8-9 years as anywhere near as dangerous as any single one of Sennas first corner ‘I will die rather than lose to you’ moves. Or even Shumi in his heyday… Nope – thought not.

         Get real people – Senna had a completely different championship scoring method to deal with and it was get to the front ASAP and hope for no more than 5 blow ups in a year. The cars were tuned to that. Shumi had incredible ability, an amazing team and unlimited testing along with unrivalled reliability to work for him when the scoring method changed. Alonso and his ‘consistency’ benefited from it completely during the SV years, KR got a championship out of it!

         LH won without and despite such team type ‘help’ in a tight fought season and frankly (22 race wins before Merc! Beating the two times champ as a rookie and a race and pole in every year including more wins than Button in his Angus horrible of 2011 and a WC teammate for most of his career) was always being done over by the Macca Achilles heel – reliability even in the best or third best car (his 2008 car was evaluated as the third fastest on the grid using a mathematical and quite reliable model – not a bad result frankly)

         Yet all around crowed it was the end of his career when he upped and left…

         All I see these days is absolute hatred towards the fact the kid took a decision at 27 that proved everyone wrong (and then some!) and now at 30 with absolute confidence in himself and the car, the chance to win and win huge. We know your hurting but really pipe down please. It’s not his fault he is an excellent racer.

         He is however thankfully, a racers racer. More than happy in a dog fight just like say V Rossi. And as such it would perhaps be nice to reflect that at least he races when necessary rather than compute some mathematical model in his head about how the pits can get him through a given bad race. Or hope for reliability issues, or crash into people flat out, or get better engines, or claim immortality when some French and British chap scare the crap out of you, or God forbid, a German or Irish youth comes along and gets right up y