Lewis Hamilton on this weeks episode of Topgear

[xDama]

Again, amazing to see how the 'fanboyism' gets to most, even in this thread, on this topic.

The lap looked genuinely amazing. That 2nd to last corner was by far one of the best I've ever seen on TG. He really flirted with the limit of the car. But you know... It's Top Gear. Every scene is scripted and even most of the dialogues are... Makes you wonder about how real everything is.

I think the time is genuine, but what bothers me with this is the '2nd chance'. I really hate the F1 driver laps, because they are in no way equal. Rain, oil, damp, ice, etc... It's so different with each driver, on each day. Same goes with the 'Star in a...'. Adding the factor that he's had the chance to practice for several hours on the track, makes it hard to 100% appreciate the time.

[CjC]

Lewis is just simply the best.!!

I personally think that it proves that Lewis is the fastest driver on the grid

I hope these are satire rather than true fanboy posts.

Driving a Lacetti on top Gear is to F1 as crazy golf is to the British Open.

Richard, I've said it before I'm a huge mclaren fan, I dispise Lewis, so you could call it satire. I respect his speed, I don't like the man, I wish he could wear his yellow lid all the time.

[Richard]

It is a Suzuki Leona not a Chevrolet Laceti

Liana actually!

Thanks for spotting that, I've corrected my post

[Emerson.F]

He f-in owned that lap

[FoxHound]

Saw the lap 3 times over and there is nothing spectacular going on, until the second last corner. He adjusts the cars attitude 2 or 3 times before entering the apex, so as to have optimum body control going into the final corner, not to mention rolling speed. Fantastic to watch, and brilliant TV.

I would guess he made up at least 0.3 seconds there alone. Where the other 0.8 came from only the BBC in their absolute neutrality could answer.....perhaps not.

[ecapox]

Yeah. That second too last turn was a beast. Kinda looks like he took a page out of the WRC book as he made a move rigth them left and drifted into a perfect position to take that turn at full blast. Might have gained half a second just on that turn alone!

[sidepot]

Nice lap from Lewis, I must say. Really looking forward to him driving the Mercedes with that same verve...

[wrcsti]

Again, amazing to see how the 'fanboyism' gets to most, even in this thread, on this topic.

The lap looked genuinely amazing. That 2nd to last corner was by far one of the best I've ever seen on TG. He really flirted with the limit of the car. But you know... It's Top Gear. Every scene is scripted and even most of the dialogues are... Makes you wonder about how real everything is.

I think the time is genuine, but what bothers me with this is the '2nd chance'. I really hate the F1 driver laps, because they are in no way equal. Rain, oil, damp, ice, etc... It's so different with each driver, on each day. Same goes with the 'Star in a...'. Adding the factor that he's had the chance to practice for several hours on the track, makes it hard to 100% appreciate the time.

They all get a lot of practice time, they just don't show it unless there was something worthy. You cant expect everyone to be familiar with a track drawn on 2 airport runways

[timbo]

Very nice lap. I think he got a tenth or two just taking off the line -- IIRC Vettel and most others had much more wheelspin, Lewis was quite tidier there. Using a bit of drifting looked nice.
Wonder what could Loeb do? Would he use handbrake through Hammerhead?

But I was a bit dissappointed by footage (and not this lap, most others too), I get that this is an entertainment show, and they needed all those cheers and laughs, but I would LOVE to see a plain onboard, a plain trackside footage and maybe a pedal cam as an extra.

[Emerson.F]

Yeah. That second too last turn was a beast. Kinda looks like he took a page out of the WRC book as he made a move rigth them left and drifted into a perfect position to take that turn at full blast. Might have gained half a second just on that turn alone!

Hey Ecapox i think i watched that last corner about 16 times before watching him go over the finish.

Man...the way he nailed that corner was Senna like. I remember watching Senna always do exactly the same before entering a corner. Amazing lap. Here's a link too the behind the scenes from Topgear website : http://transmission.blogs.topgear.com/2 ... -hamilton/

Ps: this is Roscoe his dog.

[autogyro]

Such a pity Roger Clark is not about, he would have done the last corner with at least one wheel off the road.
Modern Kart racers just dont cut it.

[seventhsin]

English driver
English program

What did you really think would happen?

[Pup]

Ps: this is Roscoe his dog.

Kimi's dog can beat up Hamilton's dog.

[ringo]

English driver
English program

What did you really think would happen?

sour grapes i see?
Since when is a TG lap ever held to this level of scrutiny. what if he didn't beat Vettel's time?

it all works out balanced at the end of the day. Everyone gets their practice in and set their best time. They probably get more than one go and the best time is selected. The same went for Vettel.
It is what it is. Top time by over a second, same care, same circumstances as Vettel.
No need to discredit and overly scrutinize.

all that's needed now is to hear what Vettel has to say about it.

[seventhsin]

No sour grapes,
I'll openly admit Ive never been a fan of LH, but I respect his ability and I think he would easily be in the top 3 of drivers.

Im alluding to the fact that Top gear is one of the most viewed programs on the planet, and it wouldnt go down very well if the 'local' F1 star made his return to the show, and still came up short.

As others have said, Top Gear is heavily scripted and orchestrated, I highly doubt the producers would let facts get in the way of ratings.