LEWIS HAMILTON
McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh has this week defended his driver Lewis Hamilton following a Formula 1 season inundated with criticism for the Englishman.
Hamilton’s driving has been deemed too aggressive and away from the circuit he has been labelled lazy and arrogant (amongst other things) during what has been a frustrating season for him so far.
Victory in the Chinese Grand Prix was a rare highlight for Hamilton and he has been forced to watch Red Bull – in particular Sebastian Vettel – dominate the 2011 season so far.
There is no way Hamilton should have received so much criticism though. He is a thoroughly entertaining driver and a good personality for Formula 1. Yes, he might say the wrong thing sometimes, but he is a great character for the publicity of the sport.
What you have to remember is that Hamilton made his Formula 1 debut in 2007. He is still relatively inexperienced when it comes to tough times and the immediate success of Vettel shouldn’t overshadow this fact.
In his defence of Hamilton, Whitmarsh made an excellent point when comparing the 26-year-old to McLaren team-mate Jenson Button.
He said: “We must not forget that Jenson (Button) is older, has more experience and has experienced very tough times, so I think that his career has made him very rounded.”
“Lewis's career has developed significantly differently. He broke into Formula One in 2007 and he was on the podium for his first nine races, which will probably never be equalled.”
“He could have won the Formula 1 championship in his first year; he did win it in his second year; and could have won in the third year. So he has never really experienced such a situation as he is in now.”
This is a really good assessment of where Hamilton is at. He is perhaps struggling with the fact that he isn’t in contention with the podium each race, but can we really get on his back for being a sore loser?
If anything, it is refreshing or an English sportsman to be frustrated and potentially angry when they are not winning. This is certainly more admirable that the ‘valiant loser’ tag so many adopt.
Hamilton is a winner and is desperate to get that back. If they means he sometimes goes too far in post-race interviews or pushes the limits on the race track, then so be it.
Formula 1 would be a much more boring sport without Lewis Hamilton and if there were 24 versions of him on a racetrack every other weekend we would, amongst the carnage, have consistently thrilling races to enjoy.
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