Re: Re:
highlandsflyer":29isalv2 said:
Good stuff!
it cuts both ways with public images, we are assuming an awful lot because we really don't know too much. I think the esteem Lewis is held in by the likes of Sir Jackie and Moss, as well as his fellow professionals speaks much more than the collective views of the tabloid eating galoots.
Ignoring multi-21-gate, though, and wouldn't / couldn't that be true of a lot of F1 drivers that people either like, or dislike?
Plenty out their latent, and often not-so-latent opinions of people in the public eye. There may be uniformed opinion, reasoned opinion, carefully worded press articles, or otherwise. Point being, though, hardly any empiricism - just shades of grey.
There's no denying Hamilton's driving talent - by whatever yardstick you wish to measure it, it would be truly daft to try and suggest that he doesn't have some magic. Are some wrong at times to castigate some of his choices and emotional resilience? Well even those in the press / media with FIRST HAND contact have said as much, over the years, including the commentators we see on F1 coverage.
My take on him... well Button went through a period where he was criticised for his behaviour / lifestyle during period where it was suggested he'd underperformed. Seems to me, Hamilton went through that phase - maybe he's come out the other side, now - as did Button. I can't help but think that having some lean times in terms of car performance perhaps helped the maturing process for Button.
All the same, Rosberg delivered a good fight, but he was mature enough to accept that Hamilton was more deserving. Kudos to him on that, as well as his speed. To be able to beat Hamilton, though, he needs to be able to out-race him, which in contemporary F1 isn't just about going flat-out. I do think the events of the year undermined him a little - I understand his position, he'd got to the point where he found Hamilton being a bit ruthless on track, and appeared to decide he needed to assert himself, otherwise he'd always be the victim. That kind of backfired, but I do think the team should have been rather more circumspect at least in public about it. In some of the other battles between them, prior to this, it was probably as much luck, and centimetres between similar contact at other times, when maybe Hamilton would have looked more culpable.
As to Vettel, well I've never really been a fan, but all the same, you don't just win 4 WCs purely because of having the best car - I suspect if Webber had dominated Vettel in those 4 years, he'd have swung the gravitas in the team to his favour (look at Alonso in 2007 to see how expectations and relative performance can undermine any presumptions to status). Go back to 2010, and the latter part of the season, Webber was ahead on points, he fought quite hard with Vettel in '10 - came down to the last race again, so some parallels with Rosberg and Hamilton. Yes, Ricciardo looks to be the man - but to me, that's a mark of his own exceptional talent, rather than necessarily undermining Vettel. He's also put manners on Alonso in wheel-to-wheel.
Using the same logic as here, I'm sure plenty in the paddock respect Vettel's abilities, as well as plenty in the press / media - even if this year has given them some ammunition.
