Lewis Hamilton on this weeks episode of Topgear

[siskue2005]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H2sW6VhH30[/youtube]

Fantastic lap, the second last corner was nailed to perfection! =D>

[Shrieker]

@seg,

Back then I wouldn't have excused him either. But looking back at it now, you have to take into account what Schumacher had done in his first few seasons in F1. I can count at least a couple of silly crashes off the top of my head. The point is, you need experience -lots of it- in F1 and ham simply didn't have it at the time.

[beelsebob]

Would he? How are you establishing how much the car contributes?

The cars he's had since 2008 are not his fault, but what is troubling is what happened to him in 2007 and 2008 when did have the car. In 2007 you can forgive him a little because of his inexperience and Raikkonen's relentless job in the last few races, but in 2008 he should have won the championship by a long, long way. As Schumacher said at the time, had he not won the championship in 2008 it would have reflected very badly on him despite his otherwise obvious talent.

How is being paired with the best driver on the grid, and matching him, in your rookie year, losing the championship in a team that does not enforce team orders against a driver in a team that does, with a much weaker second driver something to be ashamed of? Hamilton's 2007 year is pretty much the biggest indicator of his tallent!

[beelsebob]

Fantastic lap, the second last corner was nailed to perfection! =D>

Yep, he clearly carries far more speed than other drivers there, and in the first corner. I expect a large amount of time is in those two corners.

[Miguel]

As said above, his second to last corner was nothing short of amazing, and he carried a pretty good rhythm all along. However, I still wonder how he beat the previous best time by 1.1s. I mean, it's not like the other people in the list are wussies. Could part of the improvement come from track learning?

To be fair, I'm actually wondering how much track conditions. We all know how the track evolves along an F1 weekend. Is there really a >1s difference in track for a Suzuki Liana? For comparison, the McLaren MP4-12C and the Ferrari 458 are timed pretty much the same by most magazines, but their Top Gear time differs by almost 3s. Even if the McLaren was tested there before during design, it's a massive difference.

At least Lewis didn't endure the same conditions as Damian Lewis.

PS: Did Matt LeBlanc really do 1:47 on those wet almost icy conditions? Seriously? For those who don't often follow the show, this is on a faster car than F1 drivers.

[ringo]

The way how i see it, the slower a car is the bigger a gap in lap time between drivers.
A good example is the HRT drivers. Once should take a look at the qualy lap differences.
So for a street car, im not all that surprised by the gap. It wouldn't be realistic if we were looking at hundreths of a second.

Lewis went HAM on this one for sure.

[copperkipper1]

Took a completely different Approach and line to Vettel

Vettel went tight slow hit the apex at chicago
Lewis went wide and fast

Lewis carried more speed in and out - only loss was he had to travel slightly further - but overall atleast 0.2 seconds there alone..

Second to last corner another 0.2 - really worked the car had a faster entry and carried so much more speed than Vettel - atleast 5kph - Vettel didn't control the understeer of the car as well as Lewis

Lewis was faster going into the final turn but compromised exit - Probaly equal

Took a much straighter line through hammerhead - another 0.1-0.2

Alot of factors and it's all fun but still if you had them both on the same day with everything fair then i'd say Lewis by atleast 0.4

I'd love to see how fast someone like Loeb could do it - and of course ALONSOOO

[jamsbong]

I have not watched the episode but reading this forum i know he is 1.1 second faster over vettel.
That seems like a lot! Half of me remain doubtful that he is way way faster anyone (including the stig). Half of me is really impressed with Lewis' talent and realise why Mclaren, Mercedes and Red Bull (probably even Ferrari) all want Lewis to be their driver.

To do list:
Get Grosjean, Alonso, Mika, Massa to TopGear.
Get Lewis into Race of Champions.

[Dyanxx]

I have not watched the episode but reading this forum i know he is 1.1 second faster over vettel.
That seems like a lot! Half of me remain doubtful that he is way way faster anyone (including the stig). Half of me is really impressed with Lewis' talent and realise why Mclaren, Mercedes and Red Bull (probably even Ferrari) all want Lewis to be their driver.

To do list:
Get Grosjean, Alonso, Mika, Massa to TopGear.
Get Lewis into Race of Champions.

Yes please!

[Cam]

Half of me is really impressed with Lewis' talent and realise why Mclaren, Mercedes and Red Bull (probably even Ferrari) all want Lewis to be their driver.

Not really. Hamilton was an available driver who's management approached all teams - only Mercedes wanted it enough to make it happen.

Horner says: "I think that it's difficult to envisage Lewis in our team. I think he's comfortable in the environment he is in and we're certainly comfortable with the two drivers we have."

Ferrari have always said publicly that having two 'A-list' drivers is hard to manage - Di Montezemolo said in October that he did not want "two roosters in a henhouse".

How strange that a British show, relying on ratings, produces a contentious puff piece for a fellow brit.... just saying is all.

[Bredd]

Did carry huge speed into that second to last corner. Very oversteery but controlled ask Paddy Lowe. Lot of people seem to forget these are road cars. If they were in the same f1 car then you can make comparisons, not many of the other f1 drivers have ever competed in a road car series or rallied. Hamilton does have lots of natural speed though.


Need to get alonso in there or Loeb.

[Websta]

Visibly fast lap, especially through the first corner and Chicago. I wish the process was more transparent - e.g. if they posted uncut on board laps for each driver. He was undoubtedly the fastest, the massive advantage is a bit suspicious though. I look forward to the fan-made side-by-side comparisons with Vettel's lap. But if there was any foul play, I suspect it would have involved extra practise laps or better tyres or something. But he should get the benefit of the doubt.

He didn't even lean forward when the time was read out =D> .

[Shakeman]

He just looks like a man who is free from a lot of baggage.

In every recent interview he looks so much more relaxed and the question about not doing so much corporate work was answered with a big grin. I hope all this shows through in his racing and he gets a competitive car very soon.

[Mika1]

Impressive lap by Lewis Hamilton. He smiles a lot again, positive attitude.

[zonk]

He looked like he is gona cry when find out he's faster then Vetel