[Official] Monaco Grand Prix 2014

[Kempi]

In particular a social media aware person needs to have a thicker skin than being insulted by that. It is part of any sport (not endorsing it, but this is the fact) that high level sportspersons get nicknames, good or bad, assigned by the sides that like them or not like them. If you cannot cope with that, you are not cut out for the job.

[JamesH]

Originally Posted by Kempi

In particular a social media aware person needs to have a thicker skin than being insulted by that. It is part of any sport (not endorsing it, but this is the fact) that high level sportspersons get nicknames, good or bad, assigned by the sides that like them or not like them. If you cannot cope with that, you are not cut out for the job.

Right....so one of the best F1 drivers around * is not cut out for the job because he doesn't like people calling him names? Are you serious?

On the other hand Maldonado is great with the press and clearly has a thick skin, so, hey, let him have the job....he's a bit crap as a driver but that doesn't matter! He's got a thick skin!!!!

My point was that I would hope people would be intelligent enough not to use insulting nicknames. The press clearly are a bunch of a-holes and do what they can to get punters reading their drivel, it just doesn't seem necessary somewhere like this.

* Most consecutive podium finishes from debut, youngest driver to lead the World Championship, most wins in a debut season, most pole positions in a debut season, most points in a debut season. And World champion.

[Paradise City]

Lulu is a bit mean spirited but otherwise harmless. I don't think it captures him though.

Despite his grand achievements, he does lose his composure when pushed.

Pushed, as in he is unduly influenced by those around him and has a tendency to act out in a way that's juvenile and uncharacteristic among his colleagues. That will invite satire and derision.

But I regard him well. He's a good heart and is fundamentally an honest guy.

[Kempi]

Setting driving abilities aside (and therefore not considering your Maldonado remark): yes, that is just what I am saying. A driver needs to be able to put aside any kind of insults and booing and whatsoever and just do their job.

Alternatively: do not read the web, in particular the social media, if namecalling etc. winds you up.

I am not saying I think this is a good quality of "fans". All I am saying is, it is part of being in the spotlight. Look at how Dani Alves handled the banana throwing. That was excellent and just what needed to be done. I doubt LH would be as capable. And just for the record: I found the banana throwing a stupid, childish and totally inacceptable behavior. But sportsstars need to expect it and be prepared, no matter how insulting that is. Society needs to point fingers at the throwers (just as you did here).

[321Go]

We complain when drivers act like robots, we complain when drivers show emotion.
We complain. We complain. We complain.
What a woderrrrrrful, worrrrrrrrld.

[wnut]

Originally Posted by JamesH

Right....so one of the best F1 drivers around * is not cut out for the job because he doesn't like people calling him names? Are you serious?

On the other hand Maldonado is great with the press and clearly has a thick skin, so, hey, let him have the job....he's a bit crap as a driver but that doesn't matter! He's got a thick skin!!!!

My point was that I would hope people would be intelligent enough not to use insulting nicknames. The press clearly are a bunch of a-holes and do what they can to get punters reading their drivel, it just doesn't seem necessary somewhere like this.

* Most consecutive podium finishes from debut, youngest driver to lead the World Championship, most wins in a debut season, most pole positions in a debut season, most points in a debut season. And World champion.

Classy post, kind of makes a mockery of your point and objections.

I think the red mist may have come down a bit.

[Paradise City]

The drivers can be statesmanlike and gracious with a little bit temperament. Hamilton sometimes displays these traits as well and when he has his head screwed to his shoulder he can come across very well.

Then there's clamming up and there's acting out. The driver stays safe in the first one but the fans get a bit short changed, the latter causes controversy for the drivers and splits the fans. So there you go.

[321Go]

I do agree Louis did go a little too far on the weekend. The fact that he did not congratulate Niko with a handshake before the podium was not very sportsman like of him.

But it did make F1 come alive for a few days at least.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by 321Go

I do agree Louis did go a little too far on the weekend. The fact that he did not congratulate Niko with a handshake before the podium was not very sportsman like of him.

But it did make F1 come alive for a few days at least.

It certainly focuses everyone's attention away from things like engine noise, all be it for one weekend out of the season.

[Knowlesy]

Originally Posted by garcon

I'd like to see any of you lot pick any physical, strength and/or stamina challenge you like against any current F1 driver you like and see how you get on.

Exactly.

To pick one driver, Jenson Button is a triathlon specialist for crying out loud.

[wnut]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Exactly.

To pick one driver, Jenson Button is a triathlon specialist for crying out loud.

It will be interesting to see how Button goes in his triathlon this year now he is on a diet plan.
Last year he managed 55:41 mins placing 17th in the men's final and would have finished 2nd in the woman's race.

12 July 2014 is the date of his event.

Has anybody got a table of his triathlon results?

[JeremySmith]

Originally Posted by 321Go

I do agree Louis did go a little too far on the weekend. The fact that he did not congratulate Niko with a handshake before the podium was not very sportsman like of him.

But it did make F1 come alive for a few days at least.

Lewis gets paid a vast sum of money to drive for the Mercedes Team, while I believe that Nico cheated his way to that poll, Lewis needs to teach lessons on the track..The poor underprivileged kid from Stevenage is not working Lewis !

it's complete BS.......

[JamesH]

Originally Posted by wnut

Classy post, kind of makes a mockery of your point and objections.

I think the red mist may have come down a bit.

I'm not an F1 driver, so my classiness or lack thereof is irrelevant. The press, the comment about which I presume you are referring, also don't count, because they are the press. A nameless set of people who are protected and rarely come out in to the limelight.

Red mist? Hardly.

[JamesH]

Originally Posted by wnut

It will be interesting to see how Button goes in his triathlon this year now he is on a diet plan.
Last year he managed 55:41 mins placing 17th in the men's final and would have finished 2nd in the woman's race.

12 July 2014 is the date of his event.

Has anybody got a table of his triathlon results?

I'd be more interested in the times of the people here who compete in triathlons as a comparison.

I don't by the way so am unable to provide a time.

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by JeremySmith

Lewis gets paid a vast sum of money to drive for the Mercedes Team, while I believe that Nico cheated his way to that poll, Lewis needs to teach lessons on the track..The poor underprivileged kid from Stevenage is not working Lewis !

it's complete BS.......

in fairness hasnt he been teaching those lessons on track this season? his driving has been near perfect and his head to head battles with Nico have really been the paragon of what hard but fair driving is.

on track this season he has displayed excellent sportsmanship imo.

there is imo far too much focus on him outside of his race car and while some of it may be his own doing but relative to other overpaid sports stars, motorsports drivers now are all a fairly boring bunch whose lives are generally devoid of any scandalous behaviour which would merit this sort of negative backlash.

that LH is receiving the stick like this it is really quite odd imo.

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

in fairness hasnt he been teaching those lessons on track this season? his driving has been near perfect and his head to head battles with Nico have really been the paragon of what hard but fair driving is.

on track this season he has displayed excellent sportsmanship imo.

there is imo far too much focus on him outside of his race car and while some of it may be his own doing but relative to other overpaid sports stars, motorsports drivers now are all a fairly boring bunch whose lives are generally devoid of any scandalous behaviour which would merit this sort of negative backlash.

that LH is receiving the stick like this it is really quite odd imo.

Putting aside some of his stupid comments that have been made both at the races and elsewhere, Hamilton's driving may have been without reproach, but that it is not the whole of the story, is it? Certainly, his decision to ignore or over-ride direct instructions from his team when told not to adjust his engine-mapping so as to keep Rosberg behind him, are not exactly showing perfect sportsmanship, in my mind. Oh, I know that Rosberg had done the very same thing to him at a previous race, but two wrongs still don't make a right.

And, to my way of thinking, playing mind games as he has done this year, such as saying that Rosberg isn't as hungry for success as he is because Rosberg has had a privileged up-bringing, is acting in a sportsmanlike manner, either. The "battles" should on the circuit and totally clean without contact, not off it.

But Hamilton hasn't always behaved properly on the track, though. For an example go back, to the Canadian Grand Prix, when he, it could be argued, attempted to drive Button off the track along the pit straight, and that was his own team-mate, for Gawd's sake. I think that at the time he said that he couldn't see Button, but he knew he was there. Just like Michael S knew that Ralf S was there (his own brother!) and Michael with JV. There is, in my humble opinion, no place in a sport for actions such as those, and as Michael Lawrence has written only today on Pitpass, these transgressions fatally flaw the individuals for their whole career.

[chillibowl]

fair points, even in the race car there are numerous examples (Bahrain or China where he took an extra lap before pitting) where one driver tries to out maneuver their opposition...is that inherently unsportsmanlike? hard question and one i doubt any of us have an answer too yet LH is being held to it as if is is the gold standard.

again if this is about sportsmanship in F1 in general and that is the standard LH is being held too then which driver is the the example with which he is supposed to live up to?

to paraphrase Godfather 2...'When I heard it, I wasn't angry; I knew Lulu, I knew he was head-strong, talking loud, saying stupid things. So when he turned up dead, I let it go. And I said to myself, this is the sport we've chosen; I didn't ask who gave the order, because it had nothing to do with F1'

i hate saying things like this because every one gets to choose their own reasons as to why they want to watch something but there are plenty of other sports where sportsmanship is placed as the ultimate prize sadly F1 isnt one and hasent been going back in my lifetime anyways.

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

fair points, even in the race car there are numerous examples (Bahrain or China where he took an extra lap before pitting) where one driver tries to out maneuver their opposition...is that inherently unsportsmanlike? hard question and one i doubt any of us have an answer too yet LH is being held to it as if is is the gold standard.

again if this is about sportsmanship in F1 in general and that is the standard LH is being held too then which driver is the the example with which he is supposed to live up to?

to paraphrase Godfather 2...'When I heard it, I wasn't angry; I knew Lulu, I knew he was head-strong, talking loud, saying stupid things. So when he turned up dead, I let it go. And I said to myself, this is the sport we've chosen; I didn't ask who gave the order, because it had nothing to do with F1'

i hate saying things like this because every one gets to choose their own reasons as to why they want to watch something but there are plenty of other sports where sportsmanship is placed as the ultimate prize sadly F1 isnt one and hasent been going back in my lifetime anyways.

Can't comment on The Godfather 1 or 2; walked out before the first half of #1 and haven't seen any of #2.

My view on his pitting a lap late is that if he did it with the agreement of the team, and as such that it didn't disadvantage Rosberg, then that's perfectly in order. But, as we keep being reminded, this is a team sport as it always has been.

Now, there are certain advantages to being a boring old fart, and one of those is that we can tell you young whipper-snappers about the good old days when we were lads. To illustrate just how much of a team based sport this is and was, you have to go back not many decades, to the time when Stirling Moss was still racing in Grand Prix cars, where team mates were often asked to hand over their cars to another driver in the middle of the race if that was for the greater good of the team. I seem to remember that the same arrangements still existed at Le Mans right up to, maybe in to, the 90s. I believe, and I am sure that someone will be able to correct me if I am wrong, that even in the 90s at Le Mans, drivers were often allocated to more than one team car so that if their principle car broke down, they could be part of the driving squad for the 2nd car.

Rarely did drivers b*tch and whine, or spit their dummies out, when they were called upon to give second best to their team-mate when asked to do so by the bosses. That is sportsmanship.

[Knowlesy]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

fair points, even in the race car there are numerous examples (Bahrain or China where he took an extra lap before pitting) where one driver tries to out maneuver their opposition...is that inherently unsportsmanlike? hard question and one i doubt any of us have an answer too yet LH is being held to it as if is is the gold standard.

again if this is about sportsmanship in F1 in general and that is the standard LH is being held too then which driver is the the example with which he is supposed to live up to?

to paraphrase Godfather 2...'When I heard it, I wasn't angry; I knew Lulu, I knew he was head-strong, talking loud, saying stupid things. So when he turned up dead, I let it go. And I said to myself, this is the sport we've chosen; I didn't ask who gave the order, because it had nothing to do with F1'

i hate saying things like this because every one gets to choose their own reasons as to why they want to watch something but there are plenty of other sports where sportsmanship is placed as the ultimate prize sadly F1 isnt one and hasent been going back in my lifetime anyways.

If a driver is fair on the track you can't really ask for much more, sportsmanship wise.

Lewis is a whinger at times, but that in itself isn't a lack of sportsmanship. Nobody ever called Mansell unsporting after all, and yet he was the prime example of a sulking, *****y prima donna.

All this is is a build-up of tension, something made worse by the fact the rivalry is within the same team. It must mess with the mind something rotten, you need a really cool head to deal with it.

[Aysedasi]

Oh God, it's not Lewie and Nico soap in here as well, is it???

[JeremySmith]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

in fairness hasnt he been teaching those lessons on track this season? his driving has been near perfect and his head to head battles with Nico have really been the paragon of what hard but fair driving is.

on track this season he has displayed excellent sportsmanship imo.

there is imo far too much focus on him outside of his race car and while some of it may be his own doing but relative to other overpaid sports stars, motorsports drivers now are all a fairly boring bunch whose lives are generally devoid of any scandalous behaviour which would merit this sort of negative backlash.

that LH is receiving the stick like this it is really quite odd imo.

I am not critical of his driving he is an amazing talent .. The chit chat about his childhood versus how Nico was raised just gives the media fuel to make something that is non existent really..

He does have a tendency to whinge at times.

[Born Racer]

Lewis seems to get on with most people. Perhaps it only goes a bit wrong when they have N-i-c-o in their name.

Looking forward to Montreal. A fine circuit that is also one of Hamilton's specialities, so if Rosberg can beat him there, it might really be close between them for the rest of the season.

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by Born Racer

Lewis seems to get on with most people. Perhaps it only goes a bit wrong when they have N-i-c-o in their name.

I appreciate that you probably meant that in jest, but it really isn't true, is it?

Hamilton gets along with nearly every one as long as they acqiesced to him and his demands. The moment that they don't, then it's toys out of pram time and off with his head.

Look how he treated his own father, who had devoted everything to get Hamilton to where he is now; the moment that Dad had a managerial disagreement with junior, junior tossed him aside. At McLaren, Hamilton believed that he should have been anointed sole #1 when Button joined, but after constantly whinging about to the management and them not backing down, he took the decision to jump ship. The fact that joining Mercedes happened to be fortuitous is purely coincidental; he couldn't possibly have known that the relative forms of both teams were going to reverse.

However, to be fair to Hamilton, over the last 20 or 30 years, there have been a number of extremely well known drivers who have displayed the same traits.

[JamesH]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

I appreciate that you probably meant that in jest, but it really isn't true, is it?

Hamilton gets along with nearly every one as long as they acqiesced to him and his demands. The moment that they don't, then it's toys out of pram time and off with his head.

Look how he treated his own father, who had devoted everything to get Hamilton to where he is now; the moment that Dad had a managerial disagreement with junior, junior tossed him aside. At McLaren, Hamilton believed that he should have been anointed sole #1 when Button joined, but after constantly whinging about to the management and them not backing down, he took the decision to jump ship. The fact that joining Mercedes happened to be fortuitous is purely coincidental; he couldn't possibly have known that the relative forms of both teams were going to reverse.

However, to be fair to Hamilton, over the last 20 or 30 years, there have been a number of extremely well known drivers who have displayed the same traits.

Are you sure of ANY of those statements? Because I don't think any of them are true either.

(apart from the last line which may have some basis in fact)

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by JamesH

Are you sure of ANY of those statements? Because I don't think any of them are true either.

(apart from the last line which may have some basis in fact)

I am quite sure, thank you, but if you need to be re-assured, ask Hamilton senior or Ron Dennis. However, as ever, you are quite at liberty to hold your own opinions, although Rosberg may disagree with you.