Interesting article about Lewis Hamilton...

...for those that dislike him. Some perspective from someone that knows him form the early days.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/54990613

 

Got nothing against him, I just can't abide motor racing.

 

That's fair enough but there are plenty who have an irrational dislike -verging on hatred (and I am not for one minute calling the racist although some on the BBC F1 forums clearly are). Usually I reserve that kind of opinion based on personal experience i.e. knowing someone having met them although there are very odd exceptions...e.g. Donald Trump. However, over the past few years as he has matured, all I see is a driven individual who has climbed to the pinnacle of a cut throat ruthless Sport , stayed there, and anyone interviewed considers him to be a great human being. The usual 'tax dodger,' 'egotistical' hypocrite insults aimed at him could equally aimed at many of his fellow competitors and other successful Sports and Show biz people but seldom are . "He lives in Monaco" (So do several other F1 drivers), "HE doesn't pay UK taxes yet drapes himself in the Union flag...hypocrite (He pays more UK tax in a year than many of his detractors will pay in a lifetime).He preaches green environment yet owns personal jet (He sold it and his various business interest necessitate International travel) . He avoided tax when he bought it (difference between tax dodging and avoidance) Blame the laws not the individual no-one wants to pay more than they have to. They also ignore all the charitable stuff he is involved in , not just the BLM and work for inclusivity in access to Engineering careers and F1, but random acts of kindness to individual he hears about e.g. having an F1 car sent to a very young fan's house for a day who was dying.

Not a fan boy, but just an observation as to why so many people seem to take great pleasure in running this country down, and also running down successful individuals who have made a name for themselves on the World stage and, I would add, doing it in a way that has not exploited others unlike many in business who have made fortunes off the backs of others. Build 'em up to knock 'em down seems to be a national trait.

 

I don't hate him but I find him to be the epitome of privilege. His daddy allowed him to have an elitist hobby. Daddy funded it and allowed him to do what he wants. At a very young age he was funded by McLaren and had his education paid for whilst attending boarding school. He was extremely talented and driven but was handed opportunity after opportunity that the vast majority can only dream of and yet he now talks and complains about privilege? He has benefited from privilege more than anyone. He is a hypocrite.

He is also extremely intelligent and as such I find his radio messages and comments to be carefully thought out and not genuine. From the 'my tyres are gone' comments which I believe he knows are false and are just said because he knows it will be aired on TV and makes him look better. Omg Lewis is driving n tyres that are gone. It's all very fake. To the post race comments where he says things like 'this was so hard today. You guys did a fantastic job with the strategy to get this terrible car in the lead. It was so hard to drive I was on the edge for the entire race' comments which again are designed to make him appear better. Omg Lewis is in a terrible car and won. They sound so extremely fake and engineered, nothing seems natural with him it all seems carefully thought out and planned. It's a compliment to his intelligence really but I personally dislike it.

On his taxes, you're right, many people do the same. Doesn't make it right, he's a **** for doing it but he's not alone not by a long shot.

 

Nor can I - if a pantheon of the greatest drivers in history were doing their car-pointing thing on the road in front of my flat, I'd genuinely close the curtains.

Hamilton might be a stand-up chap, or he might be horrific. So long as I am not expected to watch him driving round... and round... and round again... for what feels like several ice-ages, then I am content.

I have no opinion of him, either way, but his sport - doing what taxi-drivers do, but faster - is incredibly dull.

 

I mean I’m not the biggest fan of F1 but that’s a pretty crap argument. By that logic, what separates professional football from a toddler kicking a ball around, or a well-trained seal?

 

I honestly used to love the guy but I just think the fame has gone to his head. I was his biggest fan from 2007 to about 2014. I remember Silverstone 2014 being one the greatest weekends, he nearly had me in tears.

No longer a working class hero for me, though. A hypocrite and serial attention seeker. He's just another one in the celebrity bubble, surrounded by people that will only ever tell him how great he is, that loves to tell you, me and everyone else how to live. Everything he does is calculated for maximum attention. He's like a ten year old.

He's absolutely not the only one though.

 

I don't think Lewis is a right wing racist no matter how quickly he speaks.

 

I am happy to stick with my argument, if it's all the same to you.

 

Amazing driver and obviously very determined and driven to be the best.
On a personality level he doesn't come across well to me at all. I just watch him drive and turn it when they interview him. It's all Rosberg's fault had it too easy since he retired.

 

I feel the same, but I question myself all the time as to why. I don't watch F1 nearly as much as I used to. When I did I wanted him to win, now I'm happy to hear he's won. I don't dislike him I just never warmed to him. There are so few black drivers and here's is one who is an amazing driver and British and I'm not a fan. I've got to question myself over that.

 

It's a silly argument but yes you can stick by it.
You may find motor sport very dull, my brother calls it televised traffic.
But suggesting they are simply doing what taxi drivers do but faster is just irrational. F1 drivers are for a start some of the fittest athletes on the planet. I could have all Hmailtons knowledge and ability for driving a car and I still wouldn't be able to do it due to my fitness levels.

 

Mo Farah just does what I do round Tesco only faster.

 

You don't HAVE to like him.

When he first entered the sport, he seemed a decent, level-headed kid. He set the cat among the pigeons, he was British and it was such a huge thing to have a black elite level driver. I loved him. I had some big arguments with my dad about how he would dominate if he got the right seat.

But then he got more famous, and he changed. There's nothing wrong with calling people out on what you see as their nonsense. He's aloof and out of touch. Everything he says and does has a calculated edge to it. Problem is, we only get fed that he's a god. He isn't. He's a racing driver from Stevenage. No better than you, or me.

 

He’s mint. End of thread.

 

If your taxi driver is getting 6 G's when going around a corner, he's definitely breaking the law, and does a lot of work on his neck muscles.

 

You gotta respect his achievments though surely. Hes been at the top of his profession for years and by far the best. Yes hes in the best car, but hes earned that right through hard work and perseverance. All the best footballers tend to play for the biggest and best teams and thus, get more assistance from that. Contary to what a few posters said, his dad wasnt a rich man, certainly not compared to the millionaire and billionaire fathers bank rolling their sons nowadays. It sound like he worked extremely hard to give his son the very best start in life, surely we'd all do that. Yes Lewis does say something sometimes that agitate folk but he immersed now in a world of such privelage and perfection, maybe it does change you a little. I personally think his colour does draw more negative comments from the more narrow minded. We should enjoy a sportsman from our country that is so dominant and is so good at what he does.

 

His dad wasn't a rich man but he worked two jobs meaning that he could afford to fun Lewis with his expensive hobby.

When I say he was privileged to have it funded by daddy that doesn't mean that daddy was a billionaire but it can't be denied that it was his dads money and time is what gave Lewis the privilege of being able to have that hobby and subsequent career. Many children don't have that opportunity. Many children's dad wouldn't take on a second job and devote hours and days each week to a child's hobby. They just wouldn't.


Formula one, whilever it isn't a level playing field, will always have the top drivers questioned because the car does give such a big advantage. George Russell went from the back of the grid to easily dominating the field without actually trying (he admitted he was taking it easy during the race) simply by sitting in Lewis Hamilton's car. That's why ability is always questioned because the car is such a deciding factor. It's unfair on the driver but it has always and will always be the case.

His skin colour does draw negative comments from the racists definitely. He's a black guy in the public eye. But I honestly think that the majority of those people aren't fans of formula one. The sanitised nature of F1 doesn't seem to be something which is imagine would appeal to the low intelligence of racists. I may be wrong on that but it just seems that way to me.

 

Motor sport is ****. End of thread.

 

Lots of kids go motor racing. The vast, vast majority are from working class backgrounds. It's a hobby that parent and child can enjoy together and there is no privilege about it other than the privilege of spending time with your kids/parents