Hamilton: - Just getting better and better

Frank_White · 5 Oct 2002, 21:26 (Ref:396519)

Isnt this guy just incedibily talented.

Hamilton Demolishes Eurocup Regulars

Formula Renault UK Championship driver Lewis Hamilton (Tewin, Welwyn) destroyed the Eurocup Formula Renault regulars at Donington Park this afternoon during the penultimate round of the European series, part of the LG Super Racing Weekend.

Having qualified his Manor Motorsport car on Pole Position with a time of 1m 31.581 seconds, Hamilton led from the green light with a faultless getaway allaying fears of a repeat of his false start during the final round of the Formula Renault UK Championship at the Leicestershire track two weeks ago.

The 17-year old, who ended the UK season in third place in the standings, put in a masterful performance throughout the 18 laps of the 2.5 mile Grand Prix circuit to finish a shade over 12 seconds ahead of JD Motorsport’s Austrian driver Christian Klein. Brazilian Roberto Streit completed the podium for Cram Competition while Eurocup championship leader Eric Salignon (France) was ninth for Graff Racing.

To cap a perfect weekend Hamilton produced a scintillating time of 1m 32.440s (97.27mph) on lap five to smash the record, set a fortnight ago by 2002 Formula Renault UK Champion Danny Watts, by around 4/10ths of a second.

Commenting on the dominant performance that brought Lewis his first ever Eurocup victory he said: “This feels fantastic. I had a great start – I made sure I didn’t jump it this time – and just kept pushing. I wanted to get the biggest gap I could and that’s what I did. In the end it was a fantastic win.”

It wasn’t such an enjoyable meeting for the two other UK Championship regulars Ryan Sharp (Aberdeen) and Swede Robin Rudholm who were driving for Fortec Motorsport.

After qualifying impressively on the second row of the grid Sharp was involved in a collision on the run out of the Melbourne Hairpin early in the race forcing him to retire. Rudholm meanwhile went wide at the exit of Fogarty’s Esses during the early going which dropped him right down the order. He eventually finished in 22nd place.

*formula3* · 5 Oct 2002, 22:07 (Ref:396540)

Yeah, he´s really very good. I don´t see him that often but it was a great performance!

bantam · 5 Oct 2002, 23:49 (Ref:396595)

He may have uncle Ron behind him but he is not driving the car, that's down to Lewis he has come on well this year and is without doubt one of the better drivers around at the moment.Well done

Mr Jinxx · 6 Oct 2002, 12:23 (Ref:396798)

Yes he is doing well. He suddenly clicked didn't he, after Spa it seemed. I like the Manor way of doing things ... this is the car set up that Kimi used and we know is quick, so just get in and drive it until you are the quickest, and concentrate on that. Don't faff and lose yourself on set-up nuances, just drive it. And it seems to have worked, because Lewis has certainly clicked now and found the elusive bit (normally corner entry speed). I'm pleased for him, in truth, even though he is a sort of competition - not that much competition, because he is sorted financially, where we are not. He is under pressure to perform - the pressure of expectation - and he has achieved.

Russfeld · 6 Oct 2002, 17:08 (Ref:396991)

That shows a lot of maturity then because most drivers are up themselves and convinced they know how to engineer.

Sato san · 6 Oct 2002, 19:55 (Ref:397043)

impressive stuff !..i havent seen it yet , im hoping eurosport to a re-run tomorrow .

THR · 6 Oct 2002, 19:58 (Ref:397047)

he does have a LOT of knowledge of that circuit tho.. compared to the rest of them, times were close, and i aint all that impressed!! i aint a fan... sorry...
if he was that good, he would have won the british championship.....

Sato san · 6 Oct 2002, 20:02 (Ref:397052)

thats a bit unfair.....first full season of car racing ...not so sure i agree with that .

Mr Jinxx · 6 Oct 2002, 20:28 (Ref:397071)

Very unfair. It takes a driver the first half of the year to get things sorted. Lewis was learning, then came good in the second half of the year. He would be a challenge to any driver now.

Gaz · 6 Oct 2002, 20:44 (Ref:397083)

Have to agree with the two boys above, the comment you've made about Hamilton is very unfair.

Watts had three years experience of racing in Renault's under his belt so was expected to win (not to downgrade his effort as he drove well just stating a fact) where as this was Hamilton's first season in cars and as has been stated above it takes a good half year to adapt to racing cars from karts Once he had he was a match for anyone including Watts. Did you not see the way he dominated some of those races this year? Very impressive for a first year driver. You have to say that both him and Jamie Green are two stars of the future and great prospects to be future British F1 drivers.

Have to say I'm shocked Hamilton wasn't nominated for the Young Driver Award though.

Ian Sowman · 6 Oct 2002, 21:06 (Ref:397102)

I'm not yet convinced about Hamilton, but well done to him for his win at Donington. And I thought the copy in the original post was a bit over the top... "masterful", "scintillating, "dominant"... why do people write stuff like that!

On Gaz's point, it would have been difficult for Hamilton to have been in the final six for the Autosport award but not the two above him, and to have three Renault drivers among the final six would have been a bit too much I guess.

Gaz · 6 Oct 2002, 21:16 (Ref:397113)

Guess your right on that one Ian, would have been a bit much to have three Renault drivers in it and although as I've stated above Hamilton has done well this year I have been slightly more impressed with Green. He reminds me of Jenson a great deal.

Another point as well I suppose is that if Hamilton had got picked and had won it with McLaren backing the Award one or two synicles would have thought a fix with Hamilton's ties to the team.

Sato san · 7 Oct 2002, 05:46 (Ref:397285)

Of course its going to take alot more results than just this year to how good Hamilton really is , but the point being he has held his own very well this year .

THR · 7 Oct 2002, 11:03 (Ref:397424)

so if hes that good then, he will win every event next year?

i doubt it... he aint no Senna!

Money helps you win... anyone got any idea how many engines he used this year? or tyres? or rod ends? gearboxes... etc.. more u have the better u go!

Frank_White · 7 Oct 2002, 12:17 (Ref:397469)

Realistically, Green did not show as much talent as Hamilton this year. But for the 10 second penalty Hamilton incurred Green would not have been runner up in the championship.

However, the most telling aspect of the comparison is that Green failed to dominate even one race weekend, much less a race for the year. His two wins were; 1) in a 3-4 lap race which arguably should either not have been started or alternatively should not have been stopped. 2) it is clear that in his second win he would never have achieved it if Watts and Hamilton had not collided at the first corner. Therefore, logically he achieved boths wins from luck. not to detract from his ability or talent but this is the reality.

Ian Sowman · 7 Oct 2002, 13:19 (Ref:397525)

Good points. The ten second penalty was Hamilton's fault though, and anything like that has to be considered when trying to determine how good a driver is. I think it's probably to early to say which of the two really is the better driver - we may be able to make more meaningful comments in 12 months time.

O'Schumacher · 7 Oct 2002, 14:53 (Ref:397600)

Gaz,

Hamilton wasn't nominated for the Young driver award because, Ironically, he's too young. Drivers eligible must be between 18 & 24. Hamilton, I believe is still only 17.

Sato san · 7 Oct 2002, 20:41 (Ref:397847)

theres plenty of time for him ....anyway....he doesnt want to much unnessary attention ...hes had enough of it as it is.....he needs to now get a very good solid year 2 under his belt.

sgrok · 8 Oct 2002, 11:24 (Ref:398243)

He wasn't nominated because you can imagine the uproar if he was, given that he already has a Maclaren young driver award in the sense that he's got even more backing and advantage from maclaren than a simple award could ever give him. Another 50, 000 would be a drop in the ocean compared to the set up he has from the team at the moment, and having the title on his cv would hardly make any difference - as it seems over the past few years the kudos of winning the award has become less and less...
From Jenson to Gary Paffett to...Stephen who?

**bella** · 8 Oct 2002, 15:33 (Ref:398427)

i think lewis did really well to spank everyone by as much as he did, mclaren driver or not. danny didn't manage that this year (did he?), so to do that well over the european field is pretty good by my standards. as bantam said, ron dennis isn't driving the car.

Sato san · 8 Oct 2002, 17:40 (Ref:398532)

i dont think anyone can use Paffett as a poor example of a winner of the award. He's knocking on the door of something big happening in his career .

Frank_White · 21 Oct 2002, 19:54 (Ref:409567)

Hamilton Shines Again In Eurocup

Leading Formula Renault UK Championship driver Lewis Hamilton (Tewin, Welwyn) capped a fantastic year with a superb second place finish at Estoril, Portugal, on Sunday during the final round of the Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup.

Following on from his tremendous win during the previous round of the Eurocup at Donington Park two weeks ago, Hamilton produced a solid qualifying performance on an unfamiliar track to put his Manor Motorsport car fifth on the grid a mere 10th of a second off a front row start.

The 17-year old made a terrific getaway at the green light to slot-in behind pole sitter Neel Jani (Czechoslovakia) who eventually won the race. Immense pressure was applied to Lewis throughout the 17 laps by Argentina’s Jose Maria Lopez, but he did well to hold off the challenge and crossed the line eight 10ths of a second clear.

Eric Salignon (France) could only finish in eighth position but it was enough to give him the Eurocup title with 182 points – just four ahead of Jani. Fellow Frenchman Nicolas Lapierre was third in the championship while Hamilton’s excellent run over just four of the series' nine rounds sees him take a fantastic fifth position in the standings with 92 points.

Commenting on the Estoril race Lewis said: “Being my first time at the track it was always going to be quite difficult to win the race but in testing I was always just two or three tenths behind and I knew qualifying would be unbelievably close.

“I made my best start ever from fifth on the grid and I was in second place by the first corner behind Jani. He was very quick and his tyres came in for him very early but I also had Lopez behind me pushing hard so I was busy trying to stay ahead of him. In the end I pulled out enough of a gap from Lopez and I’m very happy with second place.”

cheesey · 21 Oct 2002, 22:40 (Ref:409759)

Quote:

Money helps you win... anyone got any idea how many engines he used this year? or tyres? or rod ends? gearboxes... etc.. more u have the better u go!

Any team would provide spares and repair the car if they want to stay competative.Tyres are limited anyway in F.Renault as is testing to keep costs down. Manor have just got the car dialed in and Hamilton has taken time to get used to it.

Sato san · 22 Oct 2002, 05:45 (Ref:409927)

weve all seen him improve as the years gone on .

personally ,i think its a bit unfair to try and take that acheivement away from him .

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