PhilT Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 From the BBC archives when he was just getting into karting: http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/sol/newsid_6740000/newsid_6746200/6746213.stm?bw=nb&mp=wm Double Award Winning Legacy GT Wagon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KartRacerBoy Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 Put some police spike strips in front of his kart and I MIGHT be able to take him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cartman Posted June 13, 2007 Share Posted June 13, 2007 Will he show Alonso up this year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilT Posted June 13, 2007 Author Share Posted June 13, 2007 Alonso is already claiming that Mclaren are favouring Hamilton over him, a bit early in the season to start preparing excuses methinks Double Award Winning Legacy GT Wagon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KartRacerBoy Posted June 13, 2007 Share Posted June 13, 2007 I don't think Alonso said that, PhilT. He said he wasn't yet fully comfortable with the team. He was with Renault for 4 or 5 years. It takes a while to adjust to the personalities (Ron Dennis compared to Flavio Briatore!) and communicate with engineers so they understand what you want out of a car and how to get it. However, I do think Alonso did panic at the Canadian GP. I can't recall seeing him make so many mistakes by overdriving. Renault personnel have said this year that nothing gets under his skin than when a teammate beats him. And a rookie teammate beating him is the ultimate insult. I was frankly shocked by his Canada race, but I doubt we'll see him make that many mistakes again this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilT Posted June 13, 2007 Author Share Posted June 13, 2007 I was just quoting the BBC article, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was true. McLaren favour Hamilton - Alonso World champion Fernando Alonso believes his McLaren team are giving preference to his rookie team-mate Lewis Hamilton. The Spaniard had misgivings as soon as he joined the team at the end of 2006, he told Spain's Cadena Ser radio. He said: "From the first moment, I wasn't completely comfortable. I am in an English team, with an English team-mate, who is doing brilliantly. "We knew all the support and help would go his way. It is something I understand and I'm not complaining." Alonso added that he remained confident of winning a third straight drivers' title. The 26-year-old, who won the world title with Renault in 2005 and 2006, is eight points behind Hamilton in the championship following the Englishman's maiden victory in Canada on Sunday. Alonso finished seventh in Montreal after falling foul - through no fault of his own - of a new rule forbidding drivers to pit in the initial stages of the safety car being deployed. Although Alonso has won two races to Hamilton's one, Hamilton has been more consistent and has finished on the podium in each of the first six races. But Alonso insists he has a strong chance of winning a third consecutive world title. "I've won two races out of six and I've finished on the podium four times and I have those 40 points that will allow me to fight for the title in the end," he said. "I'm calm, I'm fine, though I know there is some impatience to return to the top and dominate. "But I'm second in the championship, I'm eight points behind. It would be worse if I were at Renault, or Honda or any other team. "At the moment I am where I expected to be and with a clear chance of winning the title in Brazil [the last race of the season], and not now, in the sixth race." Asked if he felt some of the mechanics in the team celebrated Hamilton's successes more than his, Alonso said: "I have sensed it a little, but I understand it, it's an English team." Alonso's remarks come just over two weeks after he won the Monaco Grand Prix, when McLaren ordered Hamilton not to challenge him in the closing stages of the race. In the wake of that decision, and before his victory in Canada, Hamilton said he would not stay long at a team he felt was favouring his team-mate. Alonso has made uncharacteristic mistakes at the start of two of the last three races, but Renault driver Heikki Kovalainen, who worked with Alonso last year, does not believe he is feeling the strain of Hamilton's brilliant debut season. "He's not feeling the pressure," Kovalainen told BBC Sport. "I don't think Lewis has any impact on him. Fernando is mentally very tough and is still one of the top guys. "He pushes very hard for the win every race and mistakes can happen when you race like that. "Yes, he might have made a mistake in Barcelona and one in Canada, and because they have happened in a short period of time it looks very dramatic, but I don't think it affects him. "He is going to be very strong, fighting for the championship for sure." Double Award Winning Legacy GT Wagon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KartRacerBoy Posted June 13, 2007 Share Posted June 13, 2007 I'm wrong! Will wonders never cease! "We all knew support would go [Hamilton's] way." That is a bit whiney, isn't it? If Hamilton pulls off a World Championship, I'll be gobsmacked. He's pretty ice cool now, but if it's a neck and neck battle with Alonso for the title with three races to go, I'd bet on experience (Alonso). n the other hand, Hamilton has GOT TO BE the most impressive rookie in decades (including Senna and Schumacher and Prost). None of those three came into a top team in their first season contending for the Championship. That alone adds HUGE pressure. And none of them went against a double World Champion in their first season. Granted, the cars with all of the driver's aides may make getting into a F1 car easier than in the 1980s with 1000 hp turbo cars, but there is also alot more to take on board mentally during an F1 race nowadays. Hamilton is one damn impressive racer. And my wife thinks he's a hottie, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f1anatic Posted June 13, 2007 Share Posted June 13, 2007 Well Villeneuve came into a top team - Williams and did pretty decently in 1996 - espec with a struggling Michael at Ferrari. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KartRacerBoy Posted June 13, 2007 Share Posted June 13, 2007 How could I forget JV? But Jacques was mainly racing Damon Hill. JV was good, but not in the same ballpark as Alonso, I'd say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilT Posted June 13, 2007 Author Share Posted June 13, 2007 How could I forget JV? But Jacques was mainly racing Damon Hill. JV was good, but not in the same ballpark as Alonso, I'd say. JV and DH wouldn't even be midfield drivers now, although they both like to think they are up there with the greats Double Award Winning Legacy GT Wagon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KartRacerBoy Posted June 13, 2007 Share Posted June 13, 2007 The thing that most impressed me about Villeneuve was his steel nerves. He was not a man that was intimidated or let things gnaw at him. In 1994, his first year in CART, he had a HUGE accident on the oval at Phoenix, the second race of the season. He t-boned another car that had collided with Paul Tracy, cutting it in two just behind the roll bar. Villeneuve hit it at nearly unabated speed (despite yellows which he said he didn't see). It was amazing he and the other drivers weren't killed or injured. Yet 5 minutes later, he was icey calm in an interview. He struck me as someone capable of winning championships right then and I became a fan. After he went to BAR and made constant stupid comments, not so much... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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