The F1 2008 thread

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

From Autosport:

Timo Glock said he was not aware that he was influencing the championship over the final laps of the Brazilian Grand Prix.

 

The Toyota driver was running in fifth place, ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who needed that position in order to secure the title, ahead of the final lap.

 

Glock had decided not to pit when the rain began to fall at Interlagos, a decision that put him ahead of Hamilton.

 

The German, however, was on dry weather tyres and was unable to keep Hamilton at bay, the Briton going on to pass him at the final corner to win the title.

 

Glock admitted he had no idea he was in a position to decide the championship.

 

"No, I was concentrating on my race. I didn't know that I was the magic rule in the championship and in the end, I didn't look for that," Glock told reporters after the race.

 

"I just tried to do my best, and in the end it was a poker game. We stayed out on dry tyres and for the last lap it was just too much rain for us. We were not unlucky but the poker game did not turn out for us."

 

He added: "I really don't know where Lewis overtook me because four cars past me left and right, left and right. I was just concentrating to keep the car on the track. That was the only way.

 

"To handover and help Lewis or help Felipe, definitely not. In a race situation like this, you can never plan before and definitely there were no thoughts about that.

 

"When you see the laptime, the lap before I did a 1m28, and on that last lap I did a 1m48. It was just not driveable anymore."

 

The Toyota driver said he felt sorry for Felipe Massa, but he was sure the Brazilian understands his position.

 

"I think he is the guy who understands quite well that I could not do anything different to that what I did at the end of the last lap. I am sorry for him, but in the end the last race is definitely the decider of the championship.

 

"But the main point is the 17 races before, and there were more races where Felipe was a bit unlucky and didn't score the points because of technical problems. But in the end, to lose a championship on the last lap is hard - but I tried my best and I cannot change it."

 

That sounds like he would rather have had Massa win it.

I get the impression Lewis (or maybe more his Dad) isnt very well liked in the pit lane.

He doesn't do much to make allies in the pitlane. I know he's been criticised by other drivers for not joining the GPDA. Also some of his moves on the track plus his perceived air of arrogance aren't going to make him a lot of buddies. Thought his Dad acted like an arse after the race today btw.

[Toonraider 0]

From Autosport:

Timo Glock said he was not aware that he was influencing the championship over the final laps of the Brazilian Grand Prix.

 

The Toyota driver was running in fifth place, ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who needed that position in order to secure the title, ahead of the final lap.

 

Glock had decided not to pit when the rain began to fall at Interlagos, a decision that put him ahead of Hamilton.

 

The German, however, was on dry weather tyres and was unable to keep Hamilton at bay, the Briton going on to pass him at the final corner to win the title.

 

Glock admitted he had no idea he was in a position to decide the championship.

 

"No, I was concentrating on my race. I didn't know that I was the magic rule in the championship and in the end, I didn't look for that," Glock told reporters after the race.

 

"I just tried to do my best, and in the end it was a poker game. We stayed out on dry tyres and for the last lap it was just too much rain for us. We were not unlucky but the poker game did not turn out for us."

 

He added: "I really don't know where Lewis overtook me because four cars past me left and right, left and right. I was just concentrating to keep the car on the track. That was the only way.

 

"To handover and help Lewis or help Felipe, definitely not. In a race situation like this, you can never plan before and definitely there were no thoughts about that.

 

"When you see the laptime, the lap before I did a 1m28, and on that last lap I did a 1m48. It was just not driveable anymore."

 

The Toyota driver said he felt sorry for Felipe Massa, but he was sure the Brazilian understands his position.

 

"I think he is the guy who understands quite well that I could not do anything different to that what I did at the end of the last lap. I am sorry for him, but in the end the last race is definitely the decider of the championship.

 

"But the main point is the 17 races before, and there were more races where Felipe was a bit unlucky and didn't score the points because of technical problems. But in the end, to lose a championship on the last lap is hard - but I tried my best and I cannot change it."

 

That sounds like he would rather have had Massa win it.

I get the impression Lewis (or maybe more his Dad) isnt very well liked in the pit lane.

He doesn't do much to make allies in the pitlane. I know he's been criticised by other drivers for not joining the GPDA. Also some of his moves on the track plus his perceived air of arrogance aren't going to make him a lot of buddies. Thought his Dad acted like an arse after the race today btw.

 

Yes I thought that too. Already made my mind up he's a twat ages ago! but still, Lewis is English and I'm chuffed he won it.

[Craig 6701]

Agreed Dr Ken that he's not in the same breath as Ayrton.

 

IIRC I think his mother banned him from racing between the deaths of Ayrton and his Dad up until Imola 2004 when Berger drove the circuit in Senna's old Lotus 97T with Viviane & Bruno in attendance.

 

FWIW to further outline how he's living on his Uncle's famous surname, he shouldn't really be using it. In Brazil, the name of a child is made up from the two surnames of the parent. Ayrton's father was Milton da Silva and his mother was Neyde Senna. His name was Ayrton Senna da Silva. It is tradition for the mother's name to be dropped and the child just taken on the father's. Ayrton chose the opposite.

 

Bruno is the son of Flavio Lalli and Viviane da Silva. Therefore his full name is Bruno Lalli da Silva. No 'Senna' in sight.

[Craig 6701]

I think Anthony Hamilton said things in the heat of the moment with his emotions running wild. They really shouldn't have stuck the camera in front of him at that point but put yourself in his position. 100,000 people are booing your son - you're going to be be pissed off with it aren't you?

 

Hamilton made some enemies in Japan with his move at the first bend. And rightly so in my opinion. His biggest problem is that Alonso can't stand him and I think far too many of the other drivers relate to (and therefore automatically seem to side with) Fernando.

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

I think Anthony Hamilton said things in the heat of the moment with his emotions running wild. They really shouldn't have stuck the camera in front of him at that point but put yourself in his position. 100,000 people are booing your son - you're going to be be pissed off with it aren't you?

 

Hamilton made some enemies in Japan with his move at the first bend. And rightly so in my opinion. His biggest problem is that Alonso can't stand him and I think far too many of the other drivers relate to (and therefore automatically seem to side with) Fernando.

I don't know why Anthony Hamilton likes the limelight so much. I can't recall many other sportsmens parents doing so many interviews. He should stay in the background if you ask me.

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

Agreed Dr Ken that he's not in the same breath as Ayrton.

 

IIRC I think his mother banned him from racing between the deaths of Ayrton and his Dad up until Imola 2004 when Berger drove the circuit in Senna's old Lotus 97T with Viviane & Bruno in attendance.

 

FWIW to further outline how he's living on his Uncle's famous surname, he shouldn't really be using it. In Brazil, the name of a child is made up from the two surnames of the parent. Ayrton's father was Milton da Silva and his mother was Neyde Senna. His name was Ayrton Senna da Silva. It is tradition for the mother's name to be dropped and the child just taken on the father's. Ayrton chose the opposite.

 

Bruno is the son of Flavio Lalli and Viviane da Silva. Therefore his full name is Bruno Lalli da Silva. No 'Senna' in sight.

Didn't Ayrton call himself 'Senna' instead of 'da Silva' because he didn't want his disapproving mother finding out he was racing in his early years?

[Craig 6701]

Speaking of which, we don't see much of John Button these days, do we?

 

I suppose Felipe has his old man hanging around too and no doubt he plasters Brazilian TV with interviews. It's not always the fault of the person I suppose - ITV seem to enjoy shoving a camera in front of Anthony perhaps as they feel in doing so, they're not harassing Lewis.

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

Speaking of which, we don't see much of John Button these days, do we?

 

I suppose Felipe has his old man hanging around too and no doubt he plasters Brazilian TV with interviews. It's not always the fault of the person I suppose - ITV seem to enjoy shoving a camera in front of Anthony perhaps as they feel in doing so, they're not harassing Lewis.

Maybe. Hopefully the Beeb will have a different policy.

 

EDIT: Is Anthony Lewis's manager?

Edited November 2, 2008 by Dr Kenneth Noisewater

[Craig 6701]

Agreed Dr Ken that he's not in the same breath as Ayrton.

 

IIRC I think his mother banned him from racing between the deaths of Ayrton and his Dad up until Imola 2004 when Berger drove the circuit in Senna's old Lotus 97T with Viviane & Bruno in attendance.

 

FWIW to further outline how he's living on his Uncle's famous surname, he shouldn't really be using it. In Brazil, the name of a child is made up from the two surnames of the parent. Ayrton's father was Milton da Silva and his mother was Neyde Senna. His name was Ayrton Senna da Silva. It is tradition for the mother's name to be dropped and the child just taken on the father's. Ayrton chose the opposite.

 

Bruno is the son of Flavio Lalli and Viviane da Silva. Therefore his full name is Bruno Lalli da Silva. No 'Senna' in sight.

Didn't Ayrton call himself 'Senna' instead of 'da Silva' because he didn't want his disapproving mother finding out he was racing in his early years?

 

According to Rubython's (although that bloke seems to run a bullshit factory) book, he chose to adopt his mother's name to be more unique. Da Silva is apparently as common as Smith or Jones in the UK.

[spongebob toonpants 4183]

He's not the best racer in F1 (despite what Fat-boy Blundell would have you believe). Alonso is far and away the best pound for pound driver on the current grid. Hamilton though does have the best setup of all and in that, I include his family.

 

 

he won the championship this year with an inferior car to the Ferrari

 

he had better pace than Alonso last year

 

Alonso is far and away the best pound for pound driver on the current grid seems something of an exageration

[Craig 6701]

He's not the best racer in F1 (despite what Fat-boy Blundell would have you believe). Alonso is far and away the best pound for pound driver on the current grid. Hamilton though does have the best setup of all and in that, I include his family.

 

 

he won the championship this year with an inferior car to the Ferrari

 

he had better pace than Alonso last year

 

Alonso is far and away the best pound for pound driver on the current grid seems something of an exageration

 

'had better pace than Alonso last year' is an exageration - they finished equal on points and, had the FIA not got involved in what was quite clearly a team squabble in Hungary, Alonso would have beaten him. He didn't have better pace than Alonso, it was that he was expected to be destroyed by Alonso and when he wasn't, people assumed he must have had better pace.

 

Suggesting that the McLaren is inferior to the Ferrari is ludicrous btw - the only advantage the Ferrari has is on tyre conservation.

 

If you stuck them all in homogenised cars, Alonso would win IMO closely followed by the pack of Hamilton, Kubica, Vettel, Massa & Barrichello

[spongebob toonpants 4183]

He's not the best racer in F1 (despite what Fat-boy Blundell would have you believe). Alonso is far and away the best pound for pound driver on the current grid. Hamilton though does have the best setup of all and in that, I include his family.

 

 

he won the championship this year with an inferior car to the Ferrari

 

he had better pace than Alonso last year

 

Alonso is far and away the best pound for pound driver on the current grid seems something of an exageration

 

'had better pace than Alonso last year' is an exageration - they finished equal on points and, had the FIA not got involved in what was quite clearly a team squabble in Hungary, Alonso would have beaten him. He didn't have better pace than Alonso, it was that he was expected to be destroyed by Alonso and when he wasn't, people assumed he must have had better pace.

 

Suggesting that the McLaren is inferior to the Ferrari is ludicrous btw - the only advantage the Ferrari has is on tyre conservation.

 

If you stuck them all in homogenised cars, Alonso would win IMO closely followed by the pack of Hamilton, Kubica, Vettel, Massa & Barrichello

 

 

It ws the far and away I was disagreeing with, not if Alonso was better or not.

 

I think it is interesting that Hamilton has won the Championship and only set two fastest laps. Added to that Kovaleinen being consistantly so far off the pace. That gave me the impression the Ferarri was the better package -I could well be wrong

[Craig 6701]

Speaking of which, we don't see much of John Button these days, do we?

 

I suppose Felipe has his old man hanging around too and no doubt he plasters Brazilian TV with interviews. It's not always the fault of the person I suppose - ITV seem to enjoy shoving a camera in front of Anthony perhaps as they feel in doing so, they're not harassing Lewis.

Maybe. Hopefully the Beeb will have a different policy.

 

EDIT: Is Anthony Lewis's manager?

 

He's known as his 'advisor' but probably does manage him too.

 

I've actually seen a re-run of the post race events and first thing Anthony does say is "Comiserations to all the Massas"... That's hardly the words of someone being an arsehole.

[Meenzer 15871]

Yeah, I haven't much time for the man and his "we won" attitude, but I thought his reaction was reasonable enough.

[ewerk 31595]

Yeah, I haven't much time for the man and his "we won" attitude, but I thought his reaction was reasonable enough.

 

“I am extremely pleased, not just for us, but people like us,” Anthony said. “We came from nowhere, had a dream, worked hard, dedicated ourselves and here we are on top of the world. We would never ever have expected this.”

 

[Ketsbaia 0]

To be fair to his Dad he did hold down three jobs at one time to help him get to this level and he's always been at his side. He's probably just as emotionally involved as Lewis.

[ewerk 31595]

There's no doubting that his dad has made big sacrifices and spent a lot of time and effort in getting him where he is now but the same goes for the parents of a lot of sports stars yet to listen to Hamilton Snr you'd think he'd been controlling the car via remote control. Maybe it would be nice just to let the spotlight be on the man who actually won the Championship.

[Craig 6701]

There's no doubting that his dad has made big sacrifices and spent a lot of time and effort in getting him where he is now but the same goes for the parents of a lot of sports stars yet to listen to Hamilton Snr you'd think he'd been controlling the car via remote control. Maybe it would be nice just to let the spotlight be on the man who actually won the Championship.

 

I don't agree with that. Lewis had a dream of being WDC, his Dad had a dream of his son being WDC - both men have worked incredibly hard to achieve their goal so what is it so wrong for him to be over-joyed that he's achieved his goal?

 

I think people are losing focus here - Anthony is not just Lewis' Dad who's jumped on the bandwagon. He's been his advisor, manager and alongside Ron Dennis, the closest person to him throughout his career.

 

Not many 'parents of sports stars' have devoted as much of their lives to their son's dream as Anthony Hamilton has. I don't particularly like him as a person - but I think he's getting a fucking rough deal here...

[ewerk 31595]

There's no doubting that his dad has made big sacrifices and spent a lot of time and effort in getting him where he is now but the same goes for the parents of a lot of sports stars yet to listen to Hamilton Snr you'd think he'd been controlling the car via remote control. Maybe it would be nice just to let the spotlight be on the man who actually won the Championship.

 

I don't agree with that. Lewis had a dream of being WDC, his Dad had a dream of his son being WDC - both men have worked incredibly hard to achieve their goal so what is it so wrong for him to be over-joyed that he's achieved his goal?

 

I think people are losing focus here - Anthony is not just Lewis' Dad who's jumped on the bandwagon. He's been his advisor, manager and alongside Ron Dennis, the closest person to him throughout his career.

 

Not many 'parents of sports stars' have devoted as much of their lives to their son's dream as Anthony Hamilton has. I don't particularly like him as a person - but I think he's getting a fucking rough deal here...

 

I'm not too bothered either way tbh but what you've said is what I think is slightly sad about the whole situation, it does appear that he's living vicariously through his son.

[sweetleftpeg 0]

Aye, well done Lewis. I expect there to be a 'build them up and knock them down' attitude to him soon enough so I hope he savours the moment. I don't care if he's a supposed bastard either, so what? Schumacher was a bastard and look where it got him.

[Craig 6701]

Whenever I think of when Schumacher and Massa were team-mates, I think of this clip:

 

 

And now I've got in my head the beginning of this clip:

 

 

[Craig 6701]

There's no doubting that his dad has made big sacrifices and spent a lot of time and effort in getting him where he is now but the same goes for the parents of a lot of sports stars yet to listen to Hamilton Snr you'd think he'd been controlling the car via remote control. Maybe it would be nice just to let the spotlight be on the man who actually won the Championship.

 

I don't agree with that. Lewis had a dream of being WDC, his Dad had a dream of his son being WDC - both men have worked incredibly hard to achieve their goal so what is it so wrong for him to be over-joyed that he's achieved his goal?

 

I think people are losing focus here - Anthony is not just Lewis' Dad who's jumped on the bandwagon. He's been his advisor, manager and alongside Ron Dennis, the closest person to him throughout his career.

 

Not many 'parents of sports stars' have devoted as much of their lives to their son's dream as Anthony Hamilton has. I don't particularly like him as a person - but I think he's getting a fucking rough deal here...

 

I'm not too bothered either way tbh but what you've said is what I think is slightly sad about the whole situation, it does appear that he's living vicariously through his son.

 

From BBC Sport:

 

Hamilton's father Anthony - who acts as both an agent and manager to his son - is reported to have been negotiating with Sony and Pepsi about new sponsorship deals for his son.

 

On a par with Julian Jakobi (Senna) and Wili Weber (Schumacher) if you ask me. The only difference being of course is that Anthony is also Lewis' father.

[ewerk 31595]

But do you hear them on about how they've won the world championship? Perhaps it's not his fault, perhaps it's just that he gets a lot of media attention.

 

Either way, I don't know of too many other sports stars whose parent / agent is as high profile as Hamilton's.

[Meenzer 15871]

But do you hear them on about how they've won the world championship? Perhaps it's not his fault, perhaps it's just that he gets a lot of media attention.

 

Either way, I don't know of too many other sports stars whose parent / agent is as high profile as Hamilton's.

 

Or as fucking freaky.

[Craig 6701]

But do you hear them on about how they've won the world championship? Perhaps it's not his fault, perhaps it's just that he gets a lot of media attention.

 

He's English, the others aren't....

 

I can't comment on how much both of these guys spoke to their relative national media - maybe it was the same, maybe it wasn't.