Eh, eh, eh! Calm Down, Calm Down!
The Australian Grand Prix provided us with a few pretty major graphic illustrations. It wasn’t only that opening an F1 season at the appallingly redesigned Bahrain International Circuit is a shocking idea, because for my money what today displayed in no uncertain terms is that Lewis Hamilton ‘aint going to find 2010 quite as easy as he thought he was going to.
His post race strop pretty much summed it all up.
“I think I probably had one of the drives of my life and unfortunately, due to the strategy, I was put further back and then I got taken out by Mark Webber,” he told the BBC.
OK Lewis, calm down. Because, if we’re being honest, you kind of made your own bed on this one.
Before this season had even begun, the removal of refuelling had already been picked up within the F1 community as a facet of the new era of Formula 1 which could work against Lewis. Notoriously hard on his tyres, the 2008 world champion’s driving style does not naturally lend itself to having to preserve one’s rubber for as long as possible. On the flip side, his new team-mate and 2009 world champ Jenson Button is renowned for his smooth, almost effortless driving style which would, so we presumed, give itself more easily to the new regs.
JB won today’s race because of two major factors: Firstly, it was Jenson and Jenson alone who took the gamble to pit when he did for slicks. Second, it was Jenson and Jenson alone who pushed when he knew he could on his tyres, and yet still held enough in reserve to make them last until the end of the race.
So when we heard Lewis on the radio to the team in the middle of the race, cursing them for making him pit for a second set of slick tyres, and then slamming that very second set when he’d knackered them, we’re left with a very easy comparison. Because if his team-mate had managed to make them last the distance, why couldn’t Lewis?
Lewis Hamilton - Australian GP 2010
© http://www.sutton-images.com
“I’m happy with the job that I did. I think I honestly drove my heart out today and I think I deserved better than what I ended up with, but I’ll keep fighting to the next race.
“All I know is the guys do, always, a fantastic job, but the strategy was not right,” he said after the race. “Everyone else in front of me did one stop and for some reason I did two.”
Lewis always likes to talk up his role as a team-player at McLaren, but his post race sentiments reflect the dented ego of a man who has had his feathers very much ruffled by a driver whom he had perhaps failed to size up accurately. Most people expected Lewis to completely batter Jenson this season and maybe Lewis expected as much himself, so seeing Button take McLaren’s first win of the season will hit Lewis where it hurts. It will hurt even more as today’s race was won not only through Jenson’s superiority in the smooth driving stakes, but also through Jenson’s experience and confidence in making the right call at the perfect time.
Lewis has been criticised in the past for relying too heavily on the team to make decisions for him, and last season’s whole fall-out from the Australian Grand Prix came about because, as Hamilton himself has gone on the record to state… he did what the team told him to do.
When Lewis was asked who had been responsible for the call to stop a second time, he replied: “I don’t know, we’ll find out.”
The fact that the call came at all, and that Lewis either didn’t feel confident enough or have the wherewithal to overrule McLaren if he truly felt confident enough on his original set of rubber, shows us that Lewis either still lacks the experience to make his own calls or that he may have to look back on this race and admit that the team was right to make the call because he’d knackered his tyres.
Either way, slamming the team isn’t going to help matters. It just smacks of sour grapes on a day when the newboy to the team got one over on him.
The public face may be one of all smiles at McLaren, but I guarantee it will not be long before the cracks start to appear if Jenson’s confidence, maturity and smooth driving style keep reaping the rewards that they did today.
P.S. Apologies that I haven’t posted in a while… but my Daughter Sophie said hello to the world last Thursday morning. She is gorgeous, and she and her Mum are both doing fantastically. My attention has, naturally, been with them.
The Buxton Blog 
A bit of a public over-reaction from the boy wonder. It’s racing, these things happen; however broadcasting it in such a way probably wasn’t the smartest
By the way – an excellent race today.
Will, do you know if Sepang is running the same start time as last year?
Leigh, it is a 4pm start, so I think that’s an hour earlier than last year.
A great race all through the field. I was on the edge of my seat a few times. I’m very much looking forward to next weekend and what Jenson will do next. A great drive by Kubica. Wonder what Michael will be thinking about on the flight to Malaysia. Question. What was it Alonso said that everyone found so funny? My BBC feed in Canada had a bad echo on the team radios so I could not make it out.
Hey Steve – yes a great race! Must admit I had a wry smile with Michael struggling to get past Alguersuari! The Alonso moment was genius. His engineer was telling him that Hamilton was catching him fast, so Alonso basically told him to shut up.
greatarticle m8….refreshing and a good analysis!! he’s showing the side that pissed off Fernando after Monaco 07!!!
Spot on. Lewis knows he’d have destroyed the tyres if he’d stayed out, and it just didn’t go for him today. This is far from a McClaren marker for the season, they’ll struggle for speed in the next couple of races until they get some updates, but it was a wake up call for Lewis that he’s not going to simply own a guy that’s the defending world champion, and with JB’s smooth style, he’ll be a lot easier on the tyres than him.
It was pretty disappointing that in post-race interviews, he didn’t even really give anything to Jenson, when you know JB would be full of praise for Lewis if the shoe was on the other foot. 3/10 for PR today Mr Hamilton.
Congrats, new dad, all the best wishes to your family! And kudos to SPEED TV for accomodating your situation.
Thank you for a balanced perspective into things. Some other UK publications (and most of the online fans I’ve read so far) took up Lewis’ whinge at face value, blaming the team for their hero’s mostly self-inflicted woes. The Times’ F1 blog failed to even mention tyre preservation!
An excellent assesment Will.
I’ve never been able to ‘warm’ to Hamilton as a person, there is no doubt he’s a stunningly good driver – but on days like this he exposes his weaknesses with alarming ease.
Button’s race was worthy of the very best drivers. Like you said, he made the call to no only switch to dry tyres, but make them work when he did so. He’s always been supreme in changeable conditions. Today proved it.
Lewis, predictably chewed both sets of his dry boots.
Ya reckon we’re in for another wet one next week Will?
Sorry – but if I’d been held up in a pit stop, raced flat out and then discovered no one else was pitting I would have been incredibly upset. Then to be told this whilst driving the wheels off the car I would have said a lot worse. Lewis is a racer, all the good racers shoot their mouth off a bit – its a sign of their drive. If you are going to criticize him then you better start having a go at Alonso and all the other WC’s over the past 30 years.
Hey Richard.
It wasn’t just Lewis who stopped for a second dry set of tyres, and I think that we and he need to be mindful of that.
I’m a BIG Lewis fan, and would never wish to stop drivers from shooting their mouths off… indeed, more need to be encouraged to do exactly that. But to slam your team for an issue that was self inflicted seems somewhat curlish. Lewis is a great driver and a great champion, and I am sure that when he wakes up and reflects on the race he will realise the things he could have done differently and will learn for the future. All of which will make him a stronger racer.
Hi Will, of course first congratulations for the Mum and Dad of Daughter Sophie, great news to hear.
On topic, excellent post, that’s why it is such a pity that Nelson is not in F1 this year, he has the same smooth driving style like Jenson ( as shown to both of us in his 2 GP2 years ).
Hope to see you in Monaco, has been since Spa last year, and a lot has happened since……..
Kind regards,
Johan
Lewis’s tyres didn’t last as long as Jenson’s because he was going 2 seconds a lap faster and having to constantly go offline to make up the gap that was a result of the stop. It is ridiculous to say he couldn’t make his tyres last as well as Jenson. Could Jenson have made them last at that pace or would Lewis have taken so much out of his at Jenson’s pace? I didn’t see Lewis struggling to make his tyres last in Bahrain.
Jenson made the smart call and drove a better race but I am fed up with people making knee jerk calls without thinking about what they are saying. Besides I agree with Brundle’s analysis that Lewis was probably feeling an aero problem and he would have found out his tyres were fine had he got back into some clean air.
Unfortunately, I don’t think Jenson Button gets nearly enough credit as he deserves. Too many people have written him off simply because he’s partnering Hamilton. If both drivers had experienced the other race, Lewis Hamilton’s early stop would have been described as a tactical masterpiece, and Jenson Button’s second would have been foolishness and that he would have no-one to blame but himself. But as it stands, Jenson Button was apaprently lucky, while Hamlton was robbed by the team.
Lewis Hamilton may beat Jenson Button at the end of the season – but I’m willing to bet that if he does, the final result will be much closer than most people assume it will be.
Congrats on birth of your daughter Will
Lewis was out of order IMHO, mechanics and engineers and all of Team Lewis bust a gut for him and are entitled to respect, if he has issues with them then by all means have it out with them in the motor home but to publicly berate his crew/strategists was not on
He is an incredible driver, best I have seen since Senna but he needs to act more professional
Congratulations on Sophie’s arrival and good to hear both she and Mrs Buxton are fine. Hope Sophie has a long and happy life.
It’s a shame that the current Formula 1 regulations reward a driver known for his tyre conservation skills, and punish a balls-out, 10/10ths racer like Lewis.
To throw a hypothetical out there… if we had the current conserve engines, gearboxes, fuel and tyres rules back in 1992, maybe Patrese would have beaten Mansell?
[…] Hey Lewis, Calm Down! JB's an old smoothie! « The Buxton Blog […]
Congrats on the kid.
Hami is a spoiled child of Uncle Ron. How many times have we heard “Lewis is a fighter and it’s his nature to always go 100%. We love him and want to have his babies” from the team, when he threw away a race? According to him, they make 1 wrong call, and he sounds like he’ll make some heads roll. That’s what happens when young drivers don’t have to pay their dues with a lesser team.
Just wanted to add that West Gillete is very funny. I might miss him when you start your gig full time. Maybe you could use him as a side man???
I think a running gag with West and Adrian Sutil, playing a game of “Whose car is that?” would be great.
ridiculous article!
having had time to read through Whitmarsh’ statements on LH’ tires I think all of you need to take a caffeine pill just so you can wake up and correct this ridiculous article. You seem to be saying you had no fun at all watching him do his magic. honestly sad and pathetic blame LH for L.A. blame him for hooning but for …. sake thank god for his race craft and quit pummeling him just for nonsense sake.
Hey Migo, thanks for your reply.
I too have read Martin’s statement, and I think the most telling line is where he says that “if Lewis could have made those tyres last then he could have finished at least second.” The big word here is “if”. Because he didn’t.
I’m taking nothing away from Lewis’ drive. It was stunning. As good as last year’s run from 18th to 4th. Lewis just loves Melbourne. And he’s a joy to watch. Always has been, always will be.
I do find it interesting, however, how he polarises opinion. It seems he has his detractors and his fans, and that, for the large majority, neither like to see the other side of the story. Those who blast him fail to see his magic, and those who adore his racecraft fail to see his flaws. But it’s all part of what makes him such an exciting driver to watch.
Go back and re-read Martin’s quote, if you like. He states that Lewis was graining his tyres. As such I fail to see how this article is “ridiculous.” As I said, there are two sides to every story, and even as someone who loves watching Lewis race there are times when one has to admit there are still parts of his armoury that can be improved.
Patrick, I completely see your point. Believe me I do.
But Lewis is the one who says, “We win as a team and we lose as a team,” so to slam the team when things haven’t gone your way, because you’ve grained your tyres and needed to change them, just seems somewhat counter productive.
Lewis is a mega talent, but he needs to start taking the big decisions and the big risks by himself. It started in China 07 and it continues today – he can be too reliant on the team telling him when he needs to stop, when he’s the man on the tyres and should know when to make the call.
The problem is that you keep hanging on to three premises which are simply wrong:
1) I don’t see where Hamilton slammed the team. He said they made a bad call and they did. It’s not like he blamed them of a conspiracy.
2) Hamilton’s tyres didn’t need replacing. He didn’t ruin them as you claim. Hamilton said that he probably could have finished the race on them.
3) The suggestion that drivers need to make their own strategy decisions is nonsensical. Really. They never do. Alonso explained this and Schumacher too. On several occasions.
Drivers simply cannot oversee when stops need to be made. It’s why the teams have all the computers and analysts that do all this work for them.
The only time a driver makes a decision is when th weather changes and the team will let him decide if it’s possible to switch to different tyres or not.
That’s where Button got it very right and Vettel got it completely wrong (ruining Webber’s race in the proces).
During the race the TEAM decided that Webber and Rosberg were a threat if the tyres would become undriveable at the end of the race.
Look at what happened in Australia last year. Vettel was 3 to 4 seconds a lap slower at the end of the race on his worn out tyres.
If that would have happened this time also, then Lewis would have won the race
It cost Lewis only 2 positions to make that stop (which he probably could have made back anyway). They still had Button in front, so they had both bases covered.
For Lewis it was a bad call, but from the team it did make sense in a way. It turned out badly, but it could have worked.
Oh dear the old “Hamilton ruins his tyres” nonsense again. *sigh*
Did you miss Brazil 2009? Hamilton beating both Vettel and Button in their faster cars with a very long stint?
During the race Hamilton said his tyres where going OFF. ie he doesn;t have that 2 second edge anymore. he did NOT say that he ruined them. He actually did get past Alonso just when he was rammed by Webber.
Hamilton was upset that he was called in when he didn’t need to come in and after a few laps it turned out what an utter blunder it had been to call him in.
So yeah he should be upset, but he was. Big deal. it’s not like Barrichello blasting his team, blaming them of conspiracies, when it was in fact he himself who messed up his race (TWICE!)
The team made a huge blunder and Hamilton simply called them out on that!
What on earth do you expect from a driver? He’s driving his heart out and his team lets him down (AGAIN!). Don’t forget that it’s only for the true racers that there was a great race. Only Hamilton and Alonso were really overtaking cars. I guess Webber too, but he was such a disgrace to F1 that that negates whatever good he did do.
When Raikkonen just undergoes his ill fait and stay quiet he gets blasted for “not caring”. When Hamilton’s race is messed up by the team and he does speak out he’s called for not being a team player and immature.
“He actually did get past Alonso just when he was rammed by Webber.”
Actually Alonso was on the inside, forcing Hamilton to the middle/outside lane when he was hit by Webber. He did not have Alonso by any stretch at turn 13.
Just look at the video again. Hamilton makes the corner and is moving to the inside of Alonso while Alonso comes almost to a standstill.
Again, for an indication of how badly Alonso missed the corner, look at how Rosberg gets all over Alonso’s tail.
Just watched it back and still Hamilton had no chance of taking Alonso into the corner.
He was on the outside of Fernando, but Hamilton’s nose appeared to be inside because that was the angle at which Webber tapped him.
Very interesting point about how Lewis polarises opinion. He’s a guy that hates losing, and I think sometimes it’s refreshing to see someone be that candid, god knows F1 is short on characters, but I think it’s getting a bit more colourful again this year.
But I agree with Will on the point about ‘winning as a team and losing as a team’. For a guy that’s been part of the setup since he was 12, where they’ve been responsible for a huge part of making him who he is, distilling his immense talent into a successful team and building it around him, he does want it both ways sometimes. Tactically, he’s still not the finished article, so publicly kicking his team when he’s leaned on them since he came to F1 just makes him look a bit selfish. I would’ve expected him to similarly blame Whitmarsh if he’d stayed out, wrecked his tyres and had an off.
It’ll be a hugely interesting season just for McClaren only, seeing how a current World Champion comes into what is effectively Lewis’ garage. Jenson’s been around the block and he knows how to fit into a team, and last weekend demonstrated that perfectly. Hopefully Lewis will react in the right way. I’m not suggesting they share everyhting, as that’s just not realistic, but driving a wedge would be counterproductive for both of them.
Patrick, thanks again for your reply. I’ll respond in the order your assigned my problems.
1. A driver doesn’t need to say “I’m pissed off with my team and they’re all idiots” for his words to cut. His radio transmissions and post race comments were tinged with anger and finger pointing.
2. That is by the by. If he’d truly believed that, he could have told the team over the radio that they were fine and he could continue. The fact he didn’t suggests that at the time he agreed with the team that they needed to be changed.
3. It’s not non sensical. Drivers are involved in strategy meetings and as the men who have the direct feeling inside the car during the race can help teh team to decide strategy changes during the race. Jenson showed that in Melbourne.
Your final sentence sums it all up perfectly. For Lewis it was a bad call but for the team it made sense. So if Lewis is going to rely on the team to make his decisions for him, he needs to accept the rough with the smooth.
1) Hamilton didn’t say that.
2) No. A driver doesn’t have all the information needed. They have to depend on their team for that.
Same thing with Brawn making calls for their drivers last year. The team sees the race unfolds and makes these calls.
It’s just insane to assume the drivers could do this themselves.
They really have only very limited say once the race has started.
The team thought they did right so maybe he did even question the team. We hear only the juicy lines of radio conversation on TV.
3) strategy meetings yes. stragety calls during the race, no.
Hamilton HAS accepted that the team thought it was the right thing. What more do you want?
Seriously, people blow this thing way out of proportion.
Who on earth wouldn’t be unhappy if they were just robbed of a podium position by his team?
Patrick, I’m not going to get into a silly argument over specifics, because I’m afraid you’re really not reading what I’m writing or appreciating that there are two sides to an argument. I’m afraid that on points two and three you are quite simply wrong, and on point one you haven’t understood the point I was making as I never suggested Lewis HAD said that.
Great blog Will, will be looking forward to seeing you on speed. Congrats on the young un , My wife and I just had a son too.
I agree with the fact that Hamilton has underestimated button a little. I do think that Button was lucky though in that race. He had ruined his own inters by his own admission and was forced into the pits thus only really having one choice – slicks. It was that luck plus him managing the tires well that won him the race.
As for hamiltons 2nd pitstop, I dont think he needed it, He didnt in Bahrain, it was a gamble much like Button’s earlier, it didnt pay off.
His was the drive of the day though. Some of those overtakes left me on the edge of my seat.
Thanks Gricey, and congratulations on the birth of your son… sure you will agree that right now there are few things more epic than sleep!