There has been a great deal of twittering going on since Sunday after Lewis Hamilton tweeted a graph that showed the difference between the performance of the two McLarens, based on their choices of rear wing. Button chose a new wing, while Hamilton stuck with the old one. Button got it right. Hamilton did not, at least not in qualifying. We will never know if it was a better choice for the race because Lewis was taken out at the first corner.
There are some who have made a big fuss in the media about the Tweet, saying that it gave away a great deal, but McLaren’s Paddy Lowe, a sensible down-to-earth bloke, reckoned that it is all a bit of a storm in a teacup.
Lowe said that the tweet was “not great” but added that “the actual data in there is not going to be of any great use to any of our competitors. It’s a mistake that Lewis made, he understands now. It was a genuine mistake on his part, he didn’t really appreciate the nature of that information if not the specifics. The engineers don’t like to see that because we spend our lives trying to keep things secret and it’s more what it represents than what was actually given away.”
Earlier in the weekend I had had a long chat with Paddy about all kinds of things, from holidays to the Olympics Games and odds and ends about F1. In that conversation we touched on the new wings and he made the point that the cars these days have very different set-ups from one track to the next, in order to maximise the potential for a given circuit, and so one needs to be a little careful about the use of the word “upgrade”, as new parts may be circuit-specific. Spa is an unusual track and so Lewis’s tweeting was probably of very little value to the other teams.
However, what the story does do is raise questions about Hamilton’s state of mind at the moment. Why on earth would a driver want to tweet his team’s telemetry? Anyone who has any idea about the sport will have known that there was no way that Button and Hamilton would be that far apart were it not for different set-ups, and so one is left wondering who Hamilton was trying to impress. Certainly, any team thinking of hiring the British driver would have realised the situation and, as a result of the tweet, would be LESS likely to sign him on the basis that the tweet showed an unexpected and unreliable side to his character that has not been clearly seen up to now.
There are many in F1 who feel that perhaps Hamilton lives in a bubble that is today far removed from the real world. If he is going to take on the likes of Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel in a fight for the World Championship, Lewis needs to rely on more than his natural talent. There is no question that he is a great driver, but he needs to be able to relate to the people around him in the garage, and at the factory. Ask Ferrari about Alonso and they will tell you that he spends a lot of time at Maranello. And the people in the garage are not going to be impressed if you are tweeting such things.
Winning is all about the people and if you want to win in F1 you need to spend more time in Milton Keynes or Woking than in Hollywood.
In his favour, Lewis is one of the few in F1 to have realised the power of tweets to relate to the fans. It is good that they can be brought closer in to the sport and that they have a star like Lewis is willing to give them insights. He is seen as a cool guy and it is great that his Twitter feed is not PR-policed like so much in F1 these days. This means that fans can get a sense of Lewis’s real character. If the sport is to have a future with Generation Y (a term that some F1 bosses these days have not even heard of) then it must not ignore the attitudes and desires of these people. They are tech-savvy and plugged-in around the clock. Their’s is a world of gadgets, of iPads and Blackberries; they seem to value family life more than previous generations, perhaps because the technology gives them more flexibility; and they are less into cars than earlier generations and are happier to use other means of transport.
Capturing their interest is something that F1 needs to address seriously as the current audience gets older.
joeblogsf1 
He’s not working with any of Kevin Pietersen’s advisors by any chance…?
Love it 🙂
Gen Y may well be tech savvy but it doesn’t mean they are smarter. This is just another example of Lewis not engaging his brain before reacting. Unnecessary lost points at Monaco, now this? And of course it’s all compounded by a Gen W leader of the sport who still thinks deleting fans’ posts from youtube is a good idea…..
I expect Lewis to win at Monza, just because by then he will have worked out that he can and he’ll just get on with it.
Lewis is pretty good when it comes to twitter. Mark Webber & JB are also pretty good with it. JB keeps fans updated on his triathlons & charitable works. LH tells us what music he’s listening to to pump up. Webber usually ends up taking the mickey out of something…
Indycar is street-circuits ahead when it comes to their drivers and the series interacting with their fans. That might be because they need to to survive. The drivers banter with each other, communicate with fans, participate in Q&A.
Brad Keselowski in NASCAR also is a good example of engaging with fans via twitter.
Wasn’t Keselowski the driver who was tweeting behind the wheel? 🙂
Maybe Jenson Button should enter Lewis into a few triathlons. A good way to meet, and compete with, people from (or a bit closer to) the real world – and to vent some frustration.
Good to see McLaren management have Twitter in perspective (unlike the tiresome babbling about it by presenters like Jake Humphrey) – but a bollocking from Ron Dennis wouldn’t go amiss. The guy’s in his 6th year of F1 and ought to know better.
Couldn’t agree more Joe. As this video may suggest, I think he is spending too much time with his home boys in Hollywood. Where on earth does he get that accent from?? Welcome to my crib in Barca, word up !!
That is only a promo video for Mclaren sponsor Hilton.
He does realise he’s from Stevenage not South Central LA?
Now THAT was funnyy!!!!!
this looks like a promo video, advertising mercedes, hilton etc, i,e, work, not hanging around, this is the sort of stuff he is trying to get reduced in his new contract, so i read, seems reasonable too.
lot of fuss about nonsense re the tweet. I know Mclaren are highly secretive and like getting rival’s secrets as well (ferrari!), but this was just more opportunity to talk about the boy again.
The McLaren drivers do various new-media type things for Hilton, including stuff which ends up on Peter Windsor’s webcasts.
Explains then the two hangers on featuring several times in the telecast, taking up space in his pit.
His girlfriend and AN Other? Jenson had his Dad and girlfriend at least. Was there something different about Lewis’ hangers-on that make them appear less suitable?
Oh dear goodness….. his Monaco comment was on to something… Ali G wants his shtick back!
I can see your point but I think it is irrelevant. Lewis is not someone who I would have a lot in common with, and he goes about his life in a completely different way to how I think I would in his position. However, I do not have any problem with that, and he can speak in any accent he wants, and meet whoever he wants as far as I am concerned. He could even dress up in a gorrilla suit if he wanted and I would not be bothered in the slightest.
Now that is one of the most vapid things I have ever watched, but magazine shows of this ilk are rarely known for their quality.
Agree entirely. Lewis appears to be one of the few drivers who can make a noticeable difference to a sub-par car and he appears to be a nice boy from a nice family (showing my age) – but fame appears quite frequently also to have gone to his head. And the tweet about the data was a big mistake as far as any other potential employer is concerned. Martin Whitmarsh appears to have the patience of a saint
I know they are playing down the significance of the guilty Tweet but it reveals an appalling lack of judgement on Lewis’s part. What else might he accidentally give away in future?
That is THE key point and the onlyreason this whole business is important.
No wonder GB is trying to get rid of Julian Assange, I suspect he has a nasty influence on Lewis. Before you know it, Lewis will spill the beans on how clean the McLaren factory looks, but that there is actually a fly in the corner of the design department and other terrible secrets…
His tweets have nothing to do with his driving. He is a talented driver but not a great team member at certain times. I’ll always take a fast driver with a poor attitude over a slow driver with a great attitude.
“Lowe said that the tweet was “not great” but added that “the actual data in there is not going to be of any great use to any of our competitors.”
Well he would say that, wouldn’t he. Plenty of information to interest engineers from other teams. If it had been a Technician or Engineer that did that, I can assure you, that in my engineering world, their feet wouldn’t have touched the ground between the hotel and the airport. Fired would be the most polite way of describing it. I can imagine that the McLaren Engineering staff are wondering if he has given away any other information. Engineers when faced with this sort of thing, end up being ‘uncooperative’ in many subtle ways. I can also imagine Lewis getting less information from the other side of the garage. Of course it’s a conspiracy 😉 McLaren throwing everybody a curved ball.
“McLaren would be mad to let Hamilton go.” – Joe.
Nobody is indispensable. Lewis to Williams! (?)
Not in the future, he’s given it by that tweet.
I always imagined that when we see the drivers in their cars in the garage staring intently at their screens or poring over print outs, they were learning something useful…plotting a course. It’s clear now that Lewis hasn’t the first frickin clue what he’s looking at………what a waste of space.
I took a look at the graph he uploaded this morning – I was genuinely interested in working out which line represents what value.
As both a fan and an engineer, I’d love to see a bit more of that side of F1, get into the details of what parameters the drivers and engineers are looking at.
But yes, evidently sharing confidential information during a grand prix weekend probably isn’t the best idea for the current or future employers. At least he’s less erratic in Tooned.
I AGREE! – profound technical details and insights would be a treat!
Can’t have the mantra “….we’ve brought some updates here’n there” anymore.
Fans would appreciate a little precision in the drivers and engineers explanations. Or, we simply need more ScarbsF1’s!
And to Lewis…, h’ll figre itout
McLaren would be wise to not renew Lewis Hamilton’s contract. As much as I respect his driving abilities, the older he gets, the more I find it difficult to cheer for him due to his problems on and off the track. While this Twitter incident isn’t that big of a deal, Lewis should know better and it shouldn’t have happened. To me, it says that he does not appreciate his seat at McLaren. McLaren seem to be getting too soft and they have let Lewis cause far too many problems for them over the past few years, with little to no pay-off on track. In regards to his maturity, he seems to be going backwards in every way possible. It’s hard to watch and it’s getting to the point where I am embarrassed to be a fan of McLaren.
If McLaren and Lewis decide to stay together, McLaren need to put their foot down and keep this guy under control. The bottom line is, McLaren do not need Lewis Hamilton — he needs McLaren. As much as I like the idea of having two super-drivers, McLaren only need one number-one driver to succeed, and they have that with Button. They could focus on him and build the car around him. If they do that, and get a decent number-two driver to bring in extra points, McLaren would be unstoppable.
McLaren would be mad to let Hamilton go.
He’s not had the best few years, as much as he’s dragged a performance out of a bad car, he’s messed up by making mistakes (particularly with a certain F Massa). Pricey to keep, lots of drivers would jump at a McLaren seat and Lewis doesn’t have an awful lot of options to go elsewhere.
They would be crazy to let him go. Let his on track ability speak volumes over his fake personality. Yeah his maturity level in ways does appear to go backwards, and likely has some further regression to go. The pop star like swagger will hopefully subside and a more adult driver will emerge. As it is, for me he’s still a kid in every sense of the word.
Inclined to agree with this.
It wasn’t all that long ago that Jenson Button had a similar reputation as too much of a party boy.
yes! apart from being the driver he is… Mac and the sponsors must love how much he is talked about… maybe that’s why this twitter thing is out of proportion, encouraged by the PR people
Indeed, and they are surely experienced enough to smile wryly at his current growing pains.
Even this, “very disorientated” Lewis is a contender, on a super grid.
Aside:
Reading this article of Joe’s is like hearing all the media fuss, then pedalling round to Joe’s Cafe for a refreshing cuppa-tea, and the sensible overview.
Marvellous Sir!
Keep raising the standard of F1 journalism!
Most birds grow up and leave the nest. Most employees get valuable experience when they move on; it’s character-building to gain experience elsewhere… rounds off sharp corners.
Kudos to his achievements to date but all the poor sod knows in Macs – do him good to try somewhere else but he’s been so mollycoddled by McL, I suspect the thought of leaving them unneveres him too much. Maybe he will, only time will tell
Mike’s comments are right on. IMHO Lewis is quick with only better than average race craft, but he has the mind of an adolescent and the attitude of a prima donna. So, why exactly would McLaren be mad to let him go?
Did you read his comments re his aunts battle with cancer and passing on twitter and facebook last week ? Hardly the mind of an adolescent or a prima donna.
The Ferrari/Massa situation highlights the lack of suitable candidates for a team wanting two top tier drivers. Hence, I don’t see them letting Lewis go any time soon.
Joe – have you seen much improvement at the coalface on race weekends now that Sam Michael has had longer at the team? Do you think it was unfair to point the finger at him for some of the earlier pitstop errors?
Someone has to take the blame, but who can say who was at fault.
And here is the crux of the situation – Lewis knows it.
OK, Maybe not go to the extent of not renewing his contract, but possibly benching him for a race might be a good idea.
I do not agree. Lewis has hardly outperformed Button since he joined McLaren. I do not see why they could not replace Lewis with someone younger and more determined to be the best race car driver in the world — someone who really wants to work for it and would appreciate the seat. I fail to see why McLaren need Lewis any longer. He has lost whatever he once had in 07-08 when it seemed like he was going to become the greatest driver of all time. What has Lewis done for the team since 2008 that any decent driver couldn’t have done in a McLaren? It’s almost 2013 and he is now just one of the better drivers out there, rather than THE best. He makes too many mistakes, and causes a lot of embarrassment on and off of the track for the team. What must Ron Dennis be thinking? Surly his patience must be wearing thin. If I were Ron, considering all of the opportunities he has given Lewis in life, I would be incredibly insulted by everything that is happening now, and everything that has happened over the past few years.
I’m not a particular fan of Hamilton, but if you were at the British GP in particular, you must of seen why McLaren would be nuts to let him go – he’s the 1 driver who gets a reaction from everyone.
Beyond that (and perhaps more importantly), he’s probably one of only 2 or 3 drivers that normal non-F1 fans would recognise on the street worldwide – he’s become a proper celebrity, and with that comes masses on sponsorship money for McLaren.
The fact that he’s got the potential to win at every race is really just the icing on the cake for the most business minded F1 team.
A celebrity indeed… and therein lies the problem. Don’t we all just adore the shallow immature world of celebrity culture
I agree. I was going to write my own comment until I saw yours saying exactly what I was thinking.
I don’t get it, when is Lewis going to grow up?. He comes with this kind of stuff every year, sometimes outside the track, sometimes inside the track.
I can’t believe that Mclaren said that the problem was that Hamilton didn’t really appreciate the nature of that information. I think it’s well know that Hamilton is not very versed in the tech side of the sport, but come on….. he is a world champion and this is his 6 year in F1.
It was not the content that was the problem. It is the concept of giving away information.
It is bizarre that a driver with 6 years experience in the sport AND a world champion would be so thoughtless. It’s nice he uses twitter but as Joe and many others have said, it shows a lack of judgement (not just the twit pic of the telemetry but his complaints about being slower than Jenson). He must’ve been incredibly sheltered growing up. The fact that everything seemed to go so smoothly for him as a rookie is more evidence – without his father over his shoulder he’s really struggling to manage his fame and position as a top driver. Having simple employees at XIX manage him hasn’t really helped given he pays their salaries and doesn’t have to listen to them like he would a family member.
Anyway, his socializing with pop stars has nothing to do with his actions. Yeah, he’s the first prominent driver to have a lot of friends in Hollywood but that really has nothing to do with his childish behavior.
I totally agree with you here Joe. The content isn’t the issue, the state of mind that would send it out in the first place is the issue. I’ve seen this driver continue to devalue the Team around him and place himself in front of them. The drivers that have my respect show some respect and sense of value to the hard working guys who actually prepare the cars for battle. After 6 years in Formula One and winning a WDC, I can’t believe there’s still maturity and professionalism issues surrounding this driver. Other posters calling for his sacking may be over-reacting but I understand where they’re coming from. In other professions, he’d be sacked right away.
Exactly. In truth there is nothing anyone from another team can learn from the traces LH published – it’s typical of the kind of plot given to drivers to compare their performance against them self or their team mate. It would have been a different matter if it had been an engineer-orientated plot showing aero load & balance, tyre temperature etc. Clearly many of the comments from other engineers about it being “gold dust” were efforts at gamesmanship aimed at adding to McLaren’s discomfiture, and the Fleet Street hacks and cut & pasters fell for it hook, line and sinker. Notwithstanding the fact that the plot is basically useless to anyone other than JB, LH and their engineers, it’s the principle (and the complete lack of consideration) that’s important here.
Commenters,
Before writing uninformed screeds about this comment please Google the name and see who Nigel is.
http://www.nigelberesford.co.uk/
My UK version of Google comes up with a Painter and Decorator from Doncaster.
Fair play Joe, to you for respecting the value of painter’s and decorators…..
(PS :- Chapeau also to ex-Penske engineers not from Doncaster)
LOL….!
“A high quality painter and decorater in Bolton and the North West…” apparently 😉
Name rang a bell…
“A high quality painter and decorator in Bolton and the North west.” apparently 😉
Painting and decorator!?
Negline? I know that name too!
‘I am not I: thou are not he or she: they are not they.” I hope you know who wrote this and why. (Is anonymity a policy here?)
And no – not the Painter and Decorator!
Joe, I googled Nigel Beresford and apparently he’s a Painter & Decorator from Bolton….. What’s that got to do with F1 😉
Try Nigel Beresford and F1
Meanwhile Nigel Beresford painters and decorators of Bolton England fall off their chair when checking their daily website stats and anticipate a sudden rush of new contracts…
If it all goes bad at McLaren , Lewis could get a job writing the ‘Databytes’ column in Racecar engineering. 🙂
Nigel, if you can pick this up from all these comments, have you ever heard about this sort of thing (or something similar) happening with someone else (F1 or elsewhere)?
No. As far as I know it’s unprecedented. I’ve certainly never known a driver to behave in that way, but then again at Team Penske the drivers show appropriate respect for the team because they understand and appreciate the privileged position they occupy as part of a very historic team (and that’s not a cue for discussions about Tracy & Busch).
Thanks Nigel. And I won’t take up the cue!
Especially since this year Lewis showed signs of growing up a little. He managed the disappointments with an ostensibly level head, a stark contrast from his 2011 season.
I suspect that, if asked what he was thinking, the correct answer would be “I wasn’t”. The honest answer would be Lewis was thinking about Lewis.
Everyone except LH seems to be apologising his mistake, unless I’ve missed something.
Is this Twitter-outburst a sign that, despite Lewis trying to get a more cosy environment around him this year (a la Team Button), he’s still missing something? Something to keep him gounded and realise what a privileged position he’s in?
The fact that Lewis tweets does not give him any credit in terms of ‘realising’ squat, it is just a coincidence. So long as he does not grow up, and sees merit in which rapper is in his garage this week, he will remain less than he could be. The real question here is when the heck is Whitmarsh going to man up and say something.
We all make mistakes and we all have to face the consequences that come with them.
I can’t see McLaren wanting to keep him, there are plenty of good drivers out there that are as fast and some that bring money.
Maybe Lewis should take a step back and decide what he wants in the future, does he want to be a kardasian doing the celeb circuit that will be forgotten sooner rather than later, or does he want to be known for a great racing driver?
I think Gerhard Berger would be a good example for Lewis to follow, he had the respect of everyone in f1, did his own contracts and played the field without loosing his reputation. He is also one of my f1 heroes even though never a champion.
Lewis should drop the management and leave McLaren for Williams. He has enough money now not to chase the cash, he didn’t start racing for the fame and fortune and needs to take a step back before everyone thinks of him as the guy who thinks he is bigger than the team and F1.
Joe first time I’ve posted here. can anyone tell me why Lewis carried part of the car ( a wing ?) back to the pits after the incident ?
“Generation Y. They are tech-savvy and plugged-in around the clock. Theirs is a world of gadgets, of iPads and Blackberries; they seem to value family life more than previous generations, perhaps because the technology gives them more flexibility; and they are less into cars than earlier generations and are happier to use other means of transport.”
Ah, the over-generalising gobbledegook of target marketing shamanry. Many a corporate strategy has fallen foul of such nonsense.
Ah, the easy snide remarks of people who know all the answers…
I am sure that you can find a better way to explain the complete dearth of young F1 viewers in one sentence. You are probably of the opinion that you are so brilliant that you cannot only describe the problem, but also find the answer as well…
Maybe the ‘audience’ will always be generally older – why should it be really necessary to always cultivate the young? Young people get older (a fact of life) and often change their habits in later life. I started getting interested in Motor Sport when I was ten, did the normal teenage things, made my career then came back to F1 later on when I could indulge my interest and had the means to do it. Don’t forget Joe, it’s relatively expensive to be a fan these days thanks to BE and CVC, a lot more expensive than when I first became a fan during the 60’s. The only reason I can think of for this preoccupation with ”yoof’ is a cynical exploitation of same to make even more money – does F1 really suffer from a lack of cash?
I really dispair at the entire Lewis Hamilton collapse.
He was absolutely exceptional in his first few seasons of F1 but since he has went completely off the boil. The reality is that he was a better driver when he was younger.
However, I won’t loose faith in him just yet.
One thing that is essential to his career is to get away from McLaren. Hamilton and McLaren are like chalk and cheese. I would be extremely surprised and disappointed if he signs a new contract with them. I like McLaren and I like Hamilton, but together they have no success.
I have said before in these comments, Hamilton will never win another world championship with McLaren.
The problem with Hamilton is that he is weak – weak in character. He is obviously ashamed of his poor background and tries his best to make up for it by hanging out with cool people, which he is very proud of. That is proof of his weakness. He feels that others are out to get him. Therefore he, like a little child, hits back irrationally and unnecessary by showing everyone his telemetry to dispute imagined accusations that he is a crap driver. He will not grow out of this state of mind until he gets very old and by then he will long be retired.
He thinks he is the next Senna, but in terms of maturity they could not be further apart.
I mentioned a few days ago that Lewis’s favourite aunt Diane is in hospital and I gather quite ill. He flew back to see her a week ago and then went on to McL and to do training. (according to his tweets at the time).
So with the family illness and his contract both on his mind, as before, he is not coping too well mentally.
The contract conditions at odds, it has been reported, were that he wanted to keep all his trophies, no doubt McL are offering him less money this time though, but he really has no option but McLaren.
I found the incident pretty ironic in light of his reported statement earlier in the week concerning contract negotiations and the need to be “business-minded” about it. It would seem that he meant business-minded as in “try to get the best deal for myself”, but not business-minded as in “behave professionally at all times”.
That said, in line with your comments about Lewis being strong and engaging the fans through social media etc, and the content itself not being a big problem, perhaps there’s actually more that could be done by teams to intentionally release this sort of data, shorn of the most secret details, perhaps. Or even for the authorities to require some sort of data about each driver’s best quali-time to be made public and properly explained. I for one would gobble that up. Then rather than DC talking over side-by-side shots of two cars basically saying over and over that JB was pulling away from Lewis pretty consistently throughout, they could also overlay the relevant data at key points and explain exactly why. It would be fascinating.
The irony of people blabbing on about a blabbed tweet on a weblog is not entirely lost on me!
I love the information age, and that we have access to so much more perspective on many subjects than ever before… but at the end of the day, the (t)witterings of Joe Public odes get a tad tiresome. You have to spend an age trawling through ill informed opinions to find that one little nugget of information that you need. Like giving a megaphone to the village idiot in many cases 😉
(not directed at anything or anyone in particular by the way… least of all Joe’s amazing journalistic insights and news… just the internet in general_
Hey Joe….Blackberry…..???? Gen-Y don’t know no Blackberry unless their daddy had one :-).
The guy is under a lot of pressure, both from without and from within himself.
We all make mistakes and errors of judgement, we wouldn’t be human otherwise, but amongst all the drivers you’d be hard pressed to find one who hasn’t dropped a clanger over the past season.
Slightly storm in a teacup, but methinks that Lewis will be more closely monitored from now on.
Nice to see that Jenson didn’t blow it up out of proportion either.
I think Lewis needs to get back to reality, when he was interviewed after the race he said ‘I don’t really want to talk about the start’ – grow up Lewis, you can’t talk about the rest of the race as you missed it ! I do think Lewis should take some responsibility for the start incident, he could have lifted to avoid Grosjean coming across, and still completed the first corner, which on balance would have been a better outcome.
REALLY?
What driver is gonna lift?
Why should they? “ooh, someone is challenging me for position so I’d better lift off and slow down”
Thats the most ridiculous thing ive heard.
Maybe Grosjean should have lifted when he realised he was a foot ahead of Lewis…
Please….
Had he lifted Grosjeans rear wheel would have run over his front wheel instead of the rear. A slight ly different outcome maybe but probably just as bad.
interesting sociological speculation Joe.
I think you’re right that the generation you talk about have less interest in cars than say my gggg-generation.
I think they have no real interest in tangible objects and how they work. They live in a “virtual” pretend world where basic physics is redundant. Their heros are mock ups – pretend musicians, pretend writers, programme-makers. We had musicians who could understand and play instruments. That’s a big difference.
You don’t see a kid assembling a motor bike these days: it’s all index fingers tapping 4 inch screens.
As an antidote sport gives them a dose of reality and truth: so football, for example, is bigger now than ever. As you say, F1 is a bit too tech for the tech generation. that’s the connundrum for Bernie. Excuse the long rant.
Far too cynical – and untrue.
Moaning about gen y living in a “virtual world” on a blog no less. Oh the irony!
The generations that have followed yours are out in the real world trying to fix all the cock-ups your gggg-generation left
us..
Amidst all the excitement and jerking of knees, it should not be overlooked that McLaren have just taken pole at and won the last two grands prix, and in the process become the first team to win 4 gps this year. With that kind of form they could conceivably still end up with both titles this season, and all this nonsense will be quickly forgotten
Over the last couple of years or so LH’s public facade has changed quite a bit, from a young, earnest hard working driver totally focused on driving and world championships to jet-set ‘playboy’. I’m sure he’s training hard as ever but he’s a young guy with plenty of money and it’s turned his head. He’s lost his father- manager who kept him grounded, now has a glamourous pop-star girlfriend with entourage to match. There were two small tell-tale events for me in Spa – an interview with the BBC where he admitted to have not thought about F1 for five weeks and, secondly, his continual wearing of sunglasses in interviews and even for the group McLaren photo – I’m surprised Martin Whitmarsh allowed that. Ron Dennis wouldn’t have liked it.
Like Joe, I think he’s a great asset but at some time or other someone needs to get a grip. By comparison Button looks more and more impressive and must be on other teams’ short lists…
Actually the content was interesting as it showed use of DRS (or for example NOT use of DRS after Eau Rouge, hence definitely a P3 lap and quite likely the reason McLaren “looked” slow in P3 when they turned up not to be once Qu started)
Other items of interest, gears used, and quite a late downshift at the apex of the corners to make the most of the coanda exhaust (blown floor version 2012). Some classics telemetry shown too, like speed trace, steering (a lot of understeer on corner exit) and delta time…
I reckon engineers were interested in these traces, even if just to compare gear usages and steering characteristics (i.e. balance) to their own cars…
I think Hamilton needs to feel loved. Whilst I think he has nothing against jenson I think he is jealous of the way jenson has galvanised the team around him. I think this explains his rants on saturday afternoon.
I think until Hamilton gets full attention we won’t see the best of him.
Lewis is still hopelessly immature. His tweet smelled of “look I’m slower than Jenson because of the car”. Supremely talented in a raw sense but socially a teenager.
I meant emotionally,not socially. (-:
I think a change of sceneracy could do Lewis some good, even if it meant just getting out of McLaren for 12 Months. He hasnt sounded right the last couple of years, and a season in a Caterham or Marussia might help him rediscover his love of racing.
It would never happen these days with sponsors and all, but something different might help him.
Well , Big Mac has now got all the their competition expending valuable time and resources trying to analyze this “secret” data instead of keeping the focus on their own tech effort . The allies adopted this strategy [planting info] constantly during WW II LOL.
I doubt he meant to give anything away; that is probably the only mitigating aspect of this from Mclaren’s perspective. I think this will blow over quickly, and the next news we will see is a (long) contract renewal between Hamilton/Mclaren.
i could write screeds about lewis hamilton but no time unfortunately. but mark my words he’s a timebomb, his behaviour is getting increasingly erratic. it’s beyond the stage of a bollocking from ron dennis or tea and sympathy, somebody needs to intervene. but who?!!
Whilst watching the BBC pre-race coverage on Sunday, two things struck me:
1) Bernie let slip (deliberately, no doubt) that he is under the impression that Michael Schumacher will leave F1 again at the end of the year.
2) Nick Fry was quoted as defending Lewis for his mistake in tweeting the telemetry.
Putting those two together makes me wonder if Mercedes are going to try and sign Lewis as a replacement for Michael.
Then again Bernie could be trying to stir things for Mercedes as part of his Concorde negotiations with them…
I’m curious about the decisions made about the McLaren cars at Spa. They had only one of the new rear wings, which was given to Jenson. Based on that, Hamilton’s team went with the high downforce setup. It seemed that Hamilton was set on demonstrating to everyone then that Jenson’s performance had everything to do with the setup of the car, as if to say that if he had Jenson’s setup, he could have been just as if not more competitive? I mean, is this Hamilton getting rankled by a teammate actually performing better than him during qualifying that Hamilton is keen to attribute to anything other than superior skill of the fellow driver? Is he trying to say there is something unequal about the two garages at McLaren that put him at a disadvantage last weekend, and that it was 100% out of his control? If the team had said to Lewis that they wanted him on high downforce and he wanted the low downforce setup, could he have vetoed them: do drivers have that can of power? (I’m genuinely curious, I’m new to F1.)
Ugh. “that *kind* of power” that should say.
They did not have only one of the wings.
I would like to know what Ron Dennis said about this….
Great post. Love the point about the tweeting in relation to LH’s ‘state of mind’. Spot on about Alonso. Couldn’t see him even contemplating doing the same thing in his current environment; driver at ease with both himself and his environment and on top of his game. As for Lewis, well you just can’t say the same and in truth, haven’t been able to say so for a long time now. I think he needs to move on to a new challenge and a new environment.
Button got it right. Hamilton did not, at least not in qualifying. We will never know if it was a better choice for the race because Lewis was taken out at the first corner.
>> Wouldn’t the parc ferme conditions prevent the team from putting the new wing on between the qualifying and race?
the tweet showed an unexpected and unreliable side to his character that has not been clearly seen up to now.
>> Lie gate (making team throw long serving personnel under the bus), outburst on screen at Monaco and blaming stewards and competitors for his error of judgement in string of racing incidents in 2011, weren’t they good indicator of those?
The entire F1 community is on witch hunt when certain Latin driver is doing the same things that Lewis did in the 2011 season.
Utter tosh.
Regretfully there’s no “like” feature for that post of Joe’s…
If the last few races are anything to go by, McLaren might be THE car to have for the closing part of the season. Lewis is still in with a real shot of winning the WDC, but he must keep his focus. He obviously was rattled about being beaten by JB in qualifying. That he felt he had to go to such lengths to prove to the world that it was not because of driver deficiency tell me a lot.
Hamilton’s toughest opponent may end up being himself.
Whenever LH takes a step forward in maturing, out of the blue, he does something that takes him 3 or 4 steps backwards. He clearly has shown in the recent past, he is easily flustered when his teammate, JB, is faster than him during the course of a weekend. Hey guess what? That’s racing…that’s real life. He pouts. He blames the team, the car, the other drivers, the red-winged blackbird that flew over his car in turn 3, etc,etc, but never man’s up and takes responsibility for his actions or words. That is what I see as an observer and fan of this sport, oh for over two decades now (I’m living in my 3rd decade of life, by the way.)
LH, if he is serious about winning, needs to focus. He needs to accept responsibility for his woes, and put the axe to the grindstone. Ditch his management, ditch the woman, ditch the Hollywood types and hangers-on that come to the garage. Get to Woking on a more regular basis, get in the sims, get with the engineers and stop crying and whining like a petulant child when things don’t go your way. You cannot win every race, and you never throw your team under the bus for it…ever, even if it was their fault for making a mistake, if they did so. He has the perfect teammate to emulate as far as being a professional. If he can’t take these steps, perhaps it is best McLaren ditch him for someone who can.
I concur, it’s a shame because the guy has real speed…
Absolutely agree.
Very good appraisal of LH by Mike in NY. I am trying to think of other drivers who have reached this level of celebrity distraction, cast it aside and moved forward. I can think of sports people who have been able to compartmentalize it and stay focused on the source of success from the beginning–Maria Sharapova comes to mind. Usain Bolt seems pretty grounded after all the partying is done. Michael Phelps is another one. Tiger Woods went over the line and back (maybe): Jury is still out on him, I guess.
Many sports people just let it consume them–pro boxers come to mind. I am having trouble right now recalling sports people–specifically auto racers–who have been seriously distorted by their celebrity, pulled back from it, and gone on to greater success in their chosen sport. After I post this I will maybe think of a few and hear about a few. Interesting discussion, perhaps.
“seriously distorted by their celebrity” should have read “seriously distracted by their celebrity”
Great writeup, thanks! On the surface it might be good that he tweets for the reasons you mentioned. The thing however, make me ask *why* he tweets. Is he genuinely doing it to communicate with the fans, or is he doing it to shine himself? Is this part of a (bubble) fame, glory, need to be loved and admired side? Winning in F1 starts at the factory and motivating and rallying the engieers is part of the makeup of a balanced, sustainable winner. How good is he at that?
As Monza is the last European Race so far, are there any Events for the Media Scheduled, maybe somebody has to celebrate something ?
The Ferrari Media Dinner will happen for sure, also the Celebration of the GP3 Season in a Club in Milano.
F1 Rocks is cancelled, so no Celebs for us to shoot for the Consumer Press.
Anything else ?
No idea. These are not things I go to. Don’t know if there is a Ferrari dinner or not.
Time to nick everyone who say the Tweet and disqualify them from the championship for spying.
Lewis for goodness sake keep your head down, Lad: you’re not irreplaceable.
Meant ‘saw’ the Tweet.
He is infuriating. Look LH, get back with your dad, dump the famous girlfriend and start winning races and championships again. It’s time to rise to the challenge, not sulky because JB has more charisma than you. That’s a team mates’ strategy to get one over on you and it’s working! Open your bloody eyes!! WTF!!!
I think McLaren needs to review their data policy and controls. If Lewis tweeted this data was it from his mobile phone or laptop? If it was on his phone, shame on McLaren. In the case of a laptop, why would Lewis need to stream sensitive information while not in a McLaren facility?
Any other employee in any other office or line of work, they’d be fired. Lewis is in a position where he really can’t be fired.
Lewis needs Mclaren and your right they would be mad to let him go, but i feel he is rather spoilt and his dad no longer his manager, his feet are not firmley on the ground. He needs to be pulled one side and reassured of his future role in the team. He needs to settle down and concerntrate on his race life more and less of his personal life if he is to be more committed, he is a great little driver a little erratic and unbeatable when in the zone, he is exciting to watch, he gets upset very easily and when interviewed he can be very short with the tv interveiwer.Lewis havent got his contract sorted and ron stated that lewis must take a pay cut, six years on and only one drivers championship to show for it, Mclaren are getting desperate they have not won the constructors since 1998 if i recall, more was expected of him, maybe too much, maybe he does not have the desire he once had six years ago,. Button beat him last year, the first time a team mate has done that and buttons confidence level grows….
Mike in NY….You summed up Lewis Hamilton perfectly :-).
Agree 100% with your summary
I’m in my 60th decade, and a F1 fan since 1965.
Wow, 600th year then…what’s the secret of your longevity?
ArJay…Clean living :-)…Oops Brain Fade 🙂
Whatever the problem is, someone needs to sit down with Lewis and give him some pr lessons. He’s gone from being the darling of the media to a petulant brat who continually throws his toys out of the pram.
All the hollywood nonsense, gangsta talk, Earrings, stupid tattoo etc etc just frankly make him look a bit of a tool. Seemingly McLaren just appease him. I ciuldnt’t believe some of his comments re contract negotiation. The world has changed matey, look at the shrinking number of sponsors on the McLaren.
Jenson was in a similar position a while back with the BAR/Williams contract debacle and managed to turn it around quite successfully.
I hope he gives himself a bit of a slap and realises why he is no longer held in the esteem he once was by seemingly the press and the fans.
Did it occur to you that he IS a tool? I’ve come to that conclusion. You have to remember that these drivers ARE normal people, they just happen to be F1 drivers. Sure, the level of concentration in the cockpit is incredible but out of it, in “normal” life they are no different to us with social and emotional problems.
How is Twitter exempt from McLarens press officers duties, spin doctors are there for a reason and Twitter is a press release. Lewis has just demonstrated why he requires a baby sitter as he attempts to build a personna bigger than the Team.
His choice of management indicates a desire to become a Beckham like celebrity developing his endorsement potential with his Hollywood hangers on, bad boy antics, manscaped makeover and pussycat doll.
Just drive, god I miss Kubica!
P.S
Can’t wat til Christmas for Lewis to release his fragrance, I woner what he will call it?
He could call the fragrance ” Traces from Lewis” and then for Valentines he could release one called ” Indiscretion” ( although I’m sure the irony will be lost on most of the homies!! )
Secrets by Lewis?
Twit?
As a gesture to his overall attitude/performances I nominate “Eau de Loo”
I recall Niki Lauda saying something to the effect of “you can be the most talented driver in the World, but you won’t get anywhere unless you’re true to yourself”. To me, Hamilton shows this as well as any current driver – when he arrived in F1, he was the little kid in the sweetie shop with the only thing on his mind being sweeties, sweeties, sweeties. As a result, while he had the odd up and down on track, by and large driving the car was all he was interested in – while the “living the dream” motto may have got tiresome, it was largely true. Fast forward to 2009, he’s now a World Champion, he’s become a bonafide pop-culture celebrity and not just a Formula One driver and he’s distracted by the things that lifestyle offers – who wouldn’t be, if we’re honest? It’s not fair to criticise his pronunciation and accent in the video above, for if you spend time with ‘da yoof’ you realise many speak like this, but the video does provide an insight to his desired image and nature, and there can’t be any denying that it seems a little forced, as if he’s trying to be someone who he’s not – or possible lacks the self awareness to work out who he is.
Having said all that, he remains a fabulously talented driver and if his occasional errors on- and off-track make McLaren or any other team think twice about a deal, his commercial power (possibly as a result of all of the above) ought make up their minds. McLaren would be mad to lose him, but on the other hand they’d be mad to pay crazy money for him. As Joe inplies, the twitter storm in a teacup perhaps hints at some odd machinations in Hamilton’s negotiating stance, but it doesn’t do him any favours – especially when Button seems to have come back to life in the other car.
There is slight anachronism in your account. The celebrity entourage started showing up immediately after his 2007 success, and you could see bling blings in McLaren garage/hospitality area from 2008 season. Lewis also crossed the McLaren policy about personal endorsements from 2008 when he started working with Adidas. First time McLaren let their driver do their own endorsement without the logo featuring on McLaren. Mclaren under Dennis already started bending backwards to accommodate their celebrity charge from his second season.
Back then I thought it was the father-son duo that were suddenly milking the situation, but after the father-son split, I am not sure of how much Hamilton Sr. is involved in his son’s antics.
Yes, its true that Hamilton did show signs of the showbiz-iness we now associate with him early on – I think Nicole Scherzinger first popped up as his ‘girlfriend’ at Monaco 2007 (Brundle’s memorable interview on the grid!). But I think it was only after he’d got the serious business of winning the World Championship out of the way that he properly got his head turned. Also I think it was Reebok, not Adidas he did the independent-of-McLaren deal with.
It’s a point been made before, but I think his management team are not the best qualified to represent him, or indeed any racing driver. They are too concerned by monetising the celebrity rather than representing the racing driver, and although the two go hand in hand to a degree, a driver who is serious about his chances of winning will realise one should follow the other. On the other hand, maybe he’s not actually that fussed by winning and is motivated more by short-term money than outright success, in which case they are doing well for him. But his attitude and behaviour when the car isn’t competitive belies that – another example perhaps of him not being as true to himself as he’d like to be.
Best thing McLaren could do to head off the Mercedes rumours is perhaps get someone like Gerhard Berger to have a quiet word – a driver who made a stack of money from F1 (in 1993-94 I think he was the highest paid!) but who never placed too much emphasis on it and was straightforward in managing his affairs.
It’s not surprising if he is genuinely trying to work out who he is, he spent his entire childhood racing and hasn’t had a conventional upbringing.
This was such an odd thing for a driver to do that I began to wonder if it was a contrived piece of disinformation. Any thoughts on such a theory?
Lewis has been around an awful long time, and should know better than this. It smacks of teenage petulance and does him no favours whatsoever. It looks like “Its my ball” syndrome to me i.e he’s been beaten fair and square by Jenson in qualifying (and just the once, it has to be said) and has immediately thrown a tantrum. When JB has struggled in the most recent past, he at least has had the balls to admit he’s made mistakes in set-up and just doesn’t have the pace. Lewis likes to give the impression he’s been shat on somehow, that McLaren have favoured Jenson and therefore it’s all someone else’s doing. The “it’s because I’m black” ** outburst last year was in similar vein. If the outcomes of the weekend had been reversed, you’d be unlikely to hear Jenson talk in the same way, and certainly wouldn’t have had sensitive information broadcast to the world and it’s wife. As for the bad language that was allegedly used ………… Does he think he’s a part of the Gangsta culture ? See ** above. Grow up Lewis, or ship out.
I gather he had a family bereavement a few days before so maybe not be too hard on the chap…these things can throw you more than you realise till long afterwards.
A very good point.
He did indeed. His tweets about what was going on, in my opinion, showed an emotionally mature, level headed guy who loves his family above anything else. That’s two bereavements in a year, if I recall. Must be tough, to say the least.
Next thing you know, he’ll be selling the whole car on eBay.
I thought it seemed a bit…desperate? Seems like he felt the need to explain why his teammate spanked him.
As was mentioned somewhere above though, I would also love to see some of the telemetry stuff released by the teams. A lot of less knowledgeable or newer fans to the sport don’t realise the closeness of it all – the fight for 10ths or 100ths of a second or the complex nature of track specific setups.
Generation-Y are certainly ‘tech-savvy and plugged-in around the clock’. Trouble is the ‘savvy’ part refers to which buttons to press rather than the implication of said press.
Marshall McLuhan’s ‘global village’ is now firmly in place and for many it appears to grey the distinction between immediate/real family and extended/virtual family and thus the notion of trust and confidentiality is compromised. One of McLuhan’s quotes seems particularly apt with respect to this post:-
‘Everybody experiences far more than he understands. Yet it is experience, rather than understanding, that influences behavior’
Whilst I wholeheartedly agree that a team’s data should remain confidential, regardless of its content, what disturbs me greatly is the aesthetic of McLaren’s telemetry output. It looks like it was produced on a 1970s dot-matrix printer. If HAM.i.Leaks.com is going to be releasing more of the same I sincerely hope the presentation quality is going to be improved.
Perhaps Lewis should just take the advice of his friend Riganna in the form of her song, ‘shut up and drive’. Or perhaps we as spectators should just focus on what these guys do for a couple of hours on a few Sundays every year.
This generation Y thing is most misleading to an old git like myself. I had thought it applied to those borne after Y2K or 2000, but apparently it includes some born all the way back to the 80s.
Y2K sticks very firmly in the minds of those in the oem motor industry because of all the extra contingency planning we had to do in the months leading up it and although there was a central database for the industry, most major customers insisted we fill in their individual own documentation. I did retaliate with a form for them to fill in showing how they were going to continue accepting deliveries and paying us if their systems were knocked out but strangely I got no replies. 🙂 Ah, mm, innit?
I know this is somewhat off topic – but I thought it was as good a place as any to ask.
There’s been a lot in the papers recently about Lance Armstrong and the whole culture of performance enhancing drugs in cycling and how easy at times it was to get away with it.
I know F1 tests the drivers for substances regularly but do you think there’s ever been a point where teams and drivers have thought about such things?
I know elite driver probably only make a small difference relatively but considering how much is invested into new wings used only for a race or two it wouldn’t surprise me if some of the more unscrupulous teams (not necessarily one’s that still exist) have looked at such things to improve reaction time, ability to deal with extreme conditions etc. to gain a cheaper advantage.
Joe, I like your term “twittering”. Most folks call it “tweeting”, but the site is not called Tweeter and most folks don’t Twit. Although that’s what a lot of it really is. (Sorry)…
Joe,
I don’t see this as anything about the twitter directly as realistically unless you clone the McLaren and rerun the Spa race the data does not really help on another car. Some junior engineer may get a slight education is about it.
The real point is that LH lets JB get to him when JB is doing well and he does not cope well (same happened last year). When JB was doing poorly understanding the car and tires this season, LH was fine, he had the upper hand. JB by contrast at this time kept his own council, spoke politely about the issues and how HE was trying to understand it with the team. He stayed professional. My guess is that sits very well with Ron Dennis.
LH is under pressure on his contract, they had no practice to really set the car up due to rain. JB stuck with a plan and in the available practice time made the most of it. LH had not. Advantage JB and the rest is just LH not handling that pressure well in my humble opinion. He needs guidance to contain that. Does not matter if JB’s team does it or he does it himself. It works. LH has further weakened his contract hand when what he needed psychologically was a win.
Although nothing to do with single-seater racing, do you think it might have some effect on the promotion of road racing in the States?
Hi Joe
Any thoughts on Eddie Jordans comments on the bbc website regarding Lewis and Merc? He was right about Schueys return
Benson of the Beeb (whom you have previously endorsed as a good egg) reckons Lewis is off to replace The Old Cobbler at Merc. His source apepars to be Eddie Jordan . . . who as I recall was the first to float the story of Schumi’s comeback at the end of ’09
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/19489930
BBC are reporting that EJ says that Lewis is going to Mercedes next season. Any thoughts, Joe?
Lewis to Mercedes according to EJ…..really?? Although he was right about Schumacher’s return in 2010!
I get that the major issue here is Lewis’ sense of responsibility.
But that aside, I find this plot endlessly interesting and as a fan/consumer, I’m admittedly thankful for the slip. Analyses can be found online that use this plot and video to draw conclusions about how and why time was gained and lost at various turns. I’m a twentysomething who has always thought twitter to be superficial (I really couldn’t care less what Lewis had for breakfast, etc.) but in this case I realize the benefit of outreach to fans with meaningful content. Keyword meaningful. Sorry to the engineers who developed the car and data, but for that sacrifice, my engagement with the sport has increased.
Which goes to prove that some fans may be interested in all that stuff, fair enough, but surely historical data would be enough to satisfy that demand, if officially sanctioned, rather than the way it was done? After all, one doesn’t need a graph when a simple ‘the old wing didn’t work’ from the team and driver says it all!