Hamilton must win China
With first practice out of the way, and only moments to go until the second practice finishes, Lewis and Massa need to both show that they are potential world champions. Certainly of the two Lewis was burdened with this mantel from the beginnings of his career.
Lewis managed to draw the first blood on the track by out pacing both of the Ferrari’s, but we are not at the business end of the weekend yet.
I expect Mclaren will follow the same strategy of being aggressive with both of their drivers as they know that they need to try and lock out the title at this event. Massa certainly is expected to win his home grand prix.
As I said, I am hopeful that Lewis will pull this off, but am concerned that he has received a lot of negative press that he needs to deal with. A true champion will rise above this and do his talking on the track, but with his driving style being criticised by many of his fellow drivers, he is going to be carrying a double burden.
Lewis, needs to avoid the Stewards, as he is starting to become a regular bashing boy for them.
Both Kimi and Heikki will have their work cut out supporting their contenders for the title and with Alonso throwing his lot in with Ferrari (future team for him at some point for sure) Mclaren will have it all to do.
Here’s once again looking forward to an awesome race with everyone walking away in tact and hopefully Lewis as the WC.
The Devil October 17, 2008 - 2:42 pm
….The show is not over until the fat lady sings.
Ferrari is sandbagging in free practice. Fernando is fast. “Our Lewis”‘s aggressive driving style in under discussion by the GPDA (which he refuses to become a member of) It’ll be interesting to see how this pans out in quali.
McLaren might just get mugged by the Scuderia, Renault & STR with low and aggressive fuel loads.
Oh yes, poor Lewis “regular bashing boy for stewards” ???? He deserves every penalty he got, especially the one in Fuji. I watched the start a number of time during the past week and that was reckless and rookie driving right from the outset. He was lucky that this didn’t cause a humongous accident!!! And I’m still wondering how the hell he got away without being black flagged at the Hungarian GP last year when he was craned out of the gravel trap!!!
Mike October 17, 2008 - 3:06 pm
Dear Devil (boy this sounds bad!),
Thank you for you insightful comment, as usual. I have agreed with every penalty that Lewis received this season barring the post race penalty handed down by the stewards at Spa, a ruling which I still think stinks.
The issue that he is now facing is a bit like Butch James from the sharks and tackling without arms. Even when he (Butch) did tackle correctly he would get blown up.
Let’s see if Lewis can do the talking on the track and drive like the champion that we hope he really is!
The Devil October 17, 2008 - 4:55 pm
At least you’re talking to the devil – constructive communication with those you fear and loath the most can lead to interesting and surprising dialogs and outcomes
The saying goes….”better the devil you know….” (Very very lame…)
I chose the name as a joke when I first posted and now I REFUSE TO PART WITH IT.
I am going to trademark it and sell franchises to each and every bad driver, hoooligan, crooked politician, child molester, raper and pillager that I read or hear about…for 1 Zimbabwe Dollar each. I assure you I’ll be able to retire on the proceed within a short time (even in Zim $)
I know it’s off thread – but just deal with it.
It’s Friday afternoon after all!
The Devil October 18, 2008 - 7:50 pm
If I was Lewis I won’t be sleeping well tonight.
He put in a great final quali lap to put him on pole but…..
He’s get Kimmi on his left and Fernando right behind hip on the grid. Both these drivers are in the pro-Massa camp and has nothing to loose by going aggresive of the line. Lewis cannot afford firstly to slip down the order in turn one but also can’t afford to risk anything in fighting for position.
Between a rock and a hard place.
Or rather between the Iceman and a certain Spaniard that is not overly fond of “Our Lewis”
I have a suspicion someone might just get mugged big time into turn one.
Mike October 18, 2008 - 9:10 pm
Let’s see what happens at the start. I reckon, Heikki is going to have a great start and therefore we will see Kimi and Alonso tangle?