Hamilton cop out?

[Belatti]

From the tThursday press conference

Q: At the Reebok launch the other day you were quoted as saying you thought you were fitter than Jenson. Is that the case?

Hamilton: I've noticed that Jenson has a bit of a belly and so... I'm only joking! I was just trying to be positive.

Button: They're called muscles.

Coulthard: Place your bets and go win the fight.

Hamilton: Well, you've just done some event recently. What was that?

Button: It was a triathlon.

Hamilton: Yeah, I'm not sure whether I could do a triathlon, so I'm not going to say that I could beat him at that, but generally I work my arse off... you work your arse off to be fitter than me, and you've got to believe that you're fitter than me and the same way the other way.

Button: I do believe...

Hamilton: Yeah, so, what I think...

Button: I must admit, I do believe.

Hamilton: It would be good to have a challenge.

Button: I'm sure we can work something out there. If you don't like triathlons... The good thing is that you've got three different activities.

Coulthard: Run a lap of the track.

Button: Exactly, we could try different things. I've got a triathlon on July 27th if you're interested.

Hamilton: Where's your strongest point?

Button: Umm, all of them! And yours? We could do it for charity, I'm sure, as well. Yeah?

Hamilton: Yeah? Well, shall we get this...

Button: We'll get DC in there as well.

Hamilton: Yeah, get DC as well.

Coulthard: I'll be the referee.

Hamilton: You can be the bottle-holder.

Button: Yeah, exactly, yeah.

Q: So I think we've got the answer there: DC is going to be the referee and you two are going to do Bath, is that right?

Hamilton: I'm not putting myself into it, I don't know. I'll probably be working or doing something else.

Coulthard: He's throwing down a man challenge, you can't turn down a man challenge.

Hamilton: We'll see, we'll see. We'll talk about it personally afterwards.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Ian Stafford - The Mail on Sunday) The first question is: is this going to happen or not, guys? Come on! Yes or no?

Hamilton: Well, me, I'm a competitor, so I'm for one to say yes, but I've got people behind me who may...

Button: What if I say £10,000 to the charity of your choice if you beat me? What do you think?

Hamilton: Are you trying to steer me off this championship or what?

Button: It's the only thing I can be competitive in at the moment. Think about it.

Hamilton: Yeah, I will.

Come on you people, they are all obviously joking! I marked in Black the particular comments that made me laught. LH is a bit cocky, no more nor less than the rest of F1 drivers and a necesary thing to succes in this world.

[nae]

you cannot give your word then rescind it and expect to be respected

joking or not

anyway they got serious later in the same interview

[mx_tifoso]

I actually laughed a bit myself when reading the press conference. But it is what it is, a driver knows what he can and cannot do, but Lewis disregarded that and accepted the challenge [publicly] anyways. You can't go around being a cocky little brat and get away with it, at least thats how I see it. Either respectfuly decline the challenge, or take the full responsibility of accepting it.

And one thing I noticed from many other members who are crucifying members who made 'negative' remarks against Lewis, is that they mainly show up when there is a bit of 'gossip' to stir. You know who you are, unless you want me to call you out as I see you guys . You're not so holy yourselves.

[modbaraban]

L L, JB was brilliant!

[sharkie17]

Honestly, i could care less what LH does, since im not a fan...

But how can he, who have never competed in triathlon event in his life, claim that he is fitter than JB and that he could beat him?

What is it with people and LH? if you could care less what LH does then you wont bother responding to any hearsay about him, at least not until you know what was actually said/meant. It seems some just troll around looking for any excuse to trash the guy. A quick read of the full press conference (its not restricted reading material) and the banter between all 3 drivers should give an idea of what was actually said.

Wow, this is a public forum and i have a right to my opinion, thank you. im just making a obvious observation of someone whos never competed in a sport challenging someone who has for years. It has nothing to do with LH bashing thats going on which seems to be the trend. Its like saying that you (whoever you may be)challenging me to a game of baseball (which i played all my life) and you being fit and athletic saying you could beat me at a game. Its ridiculous.

[sharkie17]

@ Sharkie17; Why is it that the fact that lewis has never done a triathalon therefore mean he isn't capable of beating Jenson...up until 3years ago I had never competed in a triathalon, my mate from my high school athletics days (one of the best atheletes in the school at the time btw) had done 4 of them, when I raced him in my first trialthon 3years ago I beat him, by over a minute. Now the fact I had never done one before is irrelevant..If I'm fitter, I'm fitter.

congratulation, you are the man.

[WhiteBlue]

I can't avoid noticing that challenges of honor do not get the same attention as money grabbing sponsor deals. Lewis Hamilton up to this point hasn't really put me off but he is quickly using up all the benefit of doubt.

I could have accepted a delay of the triathlon challenge to the off season. that is fair enough. But what is the young man spending most his time on during the season? It is publicity stunts and appearances which do not even enhance his image but are plain stupid (Troy marionette)or simply designed to grab more money (Reebock).

The crowning point is that he hides behind daddy to sort out the mess he got himself into. What has F1 come to since the times of Berger, Senna or Prost. At least these guys did their own deals and their word was as valid as a signed contract.

[checkered]

The crowning point is that he hides behind daddy to sort out the mess he got himself into. What has F1 come to since the times of Berger, Senna or Prost. At least these guys did their own deals and their word was as valid as a signed contract.

Frankly, Anthony is nothing

out of the ordinary in today's World. Baby boomers have taken to involving themselves in the careers of their children in droves, already earning a nickname for their breed among educators and corporate recruiters alike: "Helicopter Parents". They're even divided into subcategories depending on their modus operandi ("the Agent, the Banker, the White Knight, the Bodyguard, the Black Hawk, etc." according to Dr. Paul Redmond in Guardian's education blog - "Here comes the chopper ", January 2nd, 2008). It's only to be expected that this is reflected in Formula One as well, for better and for worse.

Personally, I'm somewhat troubled by this development (in general) as I find it counterintuitive and reminiscent of fairly unequal social structures we generally associate as belonging to the realm of history rather than the present. Frank Furedi (quoted in Redmond's piece) also nominates this trend as the "infantilisation" of society. It is already obvious in companies' willingness to invest in "pampering" their new top recruits also, with dedicated playrooms and such, Google being one of the most prominent examples. Of course, retaining youthful playfulness into adulthood and having an educated disregard for strict roles can greatly enhance imagination and innovative capabilities. But on the negative side, if this "Helicopter Parent" trend is sustained and continues to grow in popularity, we will also have to choose between a) meddling with the pursuits of our offspring to the detriment of their capability to make up their own minds or b) disadvantaging them by valuing their individuality over guarding their interest against otherwise unfair competition. Choosing the lesser evil of these two is a prospect I don't particularly relish in and wish we could exercise more foresight with regard to nurturing future generations.

As to Lewis himself, I think the generally widening amplitude of opinions between the positive and the negative is a natural occurrence. To begin with, the F1 audience had little more to go by than his initial performances and the lowest common denominators i.e. readily obvious personal qualities. Depending on the existing affiliations of fans his "likeability" was determined almost solely by the social framework of his existing and competing in Formula One. To some, that is enough but now, inevitably, there's more to go by and this produces both satisfaction and disappointment in comparison to original perceptions. "Everyone's a critic", after all. It could serve Lewis well if he started to see the value in compromising less; no one person can accommodate everyone's wishes and expectations. He's got every opportunity at the championships, but I'm increasingly mindful that the closing stages of 2007 won't have been the only lessons he has to come to terms with before ultimately getting there.

[Spencifer_Murphy]

@ Sharkie17; Why is it that the fact that lewis has never done a triathalon therefore mean he isn't capable of beating Jenson...up until 3years ago I had never competed in a triathalon, my mate from my high school athletics days (one of the best atheletes in the school at the time btw) had done 4 of them, when I raced him in my first trialthon 3years ago I beat him, by over a minute. Now the fact I had never done one before is irrelevant..If I'm fitter, I'm fitter.

congratulation, you are the man.

There wasn't really a need for that was there? I wasn't publically putting anubody down or trying to undermime them was I? At no point did I insult you, or make any sarcastic comments about your opinions or post. All I did was ask you a question. All I was trying to do was explain, in my own way from my own experiences, that just because somebody hasn't competed in a particular athlectic event before, doesn't mean they cannot beat somebody who has prior experience in the event.

I guess maybe you're having a bad day and feel the need to empoly playground tactics.

re: the last few posts (spencifer and mcdenife)

let's not forget this is an f1 forum. the point is that people can go somewhere to share their opinion--whether it's bashing a driver they don't like or brainstorming like the great manchild used to do. anyway, im a bit surprised that you two are surprised by the posts in this thread. besides, you both defended your stance very well in response to some of the posts--again, the whole point of a forum....

Dont get me wrong guy_smiley, I'm not saying that people "don't have the right" to bash Hamilton (or any other driver for that matter). In fact I'm often one of the first to point out that a forum is designed to share ones opinions and thoughts, and is interesting because we don't always agree. My post was intended to display two things, my incomprehension of WHY people seem to bash Hamilton in much the same way the did with Schumi. And as I said above, that prior experience in an event is not directly proportional to your future sucess in that event.

[Spencifer_Murphy]

But what is the young man spending most his time on during the season? It is publicity stunts and appearances which do not even enhance his image but are plain stupid (Troy marionette)or simply designed to grab more money (Reebock).

The problem is that he is currently F1's biggest star (and his increasing notoriety amplifies this) as such there are huge demands from current and potential sponsors. Add into this the Mclaren "Drivers are robots designed to do everything we tell them in a clean & crisp way in order to keep the sponsors happy" philosophy and its no wonder that he's doing all these seeminly pointless tasks (The Abbey Advert where he plays himself in an Airfix Model Mclaren comes to mind).

I wouldn't be suprised if, personally, he'd rather be doing the Triathalon. As a guy of similar age to lewis I know I would rather be doing the Tri, than those ridiculous adverts, and "flying" stunts for sponsors. But at the end of the day, yes he has been EXTREMELY lucky to be put straight into such a great car, but with it he has had to learn all the intricacies of modern F1, without the "lower-team" appreniceship that many have. As such I find it no small wonder he lets his management team make the decisions...It must be daunting having everybody want a piece of you.

Oh well...swings and roundabouts I guess...if he wants the success he's got to deal with the baggage that comes with it. With time he SHOULD learn how to hadle it properly.

[Ray]

But at the end of the day, yes he has been EXTREMELY lucky to be put straight into such a great car, but with it he has had to learn all the intricacies of modern F1, without the "lower-team" apprenticeship that many have.

I don't think he has learn all the intricacies yet. Hell, for that matter I'm not entirely sure Fernando knows all the intricacies of F1! He's young, that has alot to do with it, but he's doing a pretty damn good job outside the car. Sure, they all stumble every now and then, the flying part(!), but overall he seems to know what to say and when to smile. He's Rons' wet dream. After all to Ron nothing, not even the fans, are as important as the sponsors.

[Moanlower]

Small detail but in fact it's a 1/4 triathlon.

1,5 kms swim
40 kms bike
10 kms run.

A full triathlon:

3,8 kms swim
180 kms bike
42,195 km run (full marathon).

[Spencifer_Murphy]

He's Rons' wet dream.

Well, not quite...he'd have to be Finnish for him to be Ron's wet dream hahaha.