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Hysteria

FEATURE BY MIKE LAWRENCE
21/06/2007

My last piece, on the media Lovefest surrounding Lewis Hamilton, brought an unprecedented response from readers. All got the point and all were in agreement. We like Lewis, but we abhor the hysteria. No human being can possibly live up to the hype; Zeus himself would find it hard going.

One reader has written to the broadcasting authority in Britain, Ofcom, complaining that the hype and bias contravenes ITV's charter.

It is no use you and I complaining, because the hype has got worse. In The Sunday Times (17th June) Lewis's pole at Indianapolis occupied the front page of the Sport section and was followed by two more full pages about the guy with another full page in the News section - and the paper is a broadsheet.

That is as nothing compared to the ITV coverage. I do hope they are all issued with rubber pants and continence pads.

Before Montreal, Mark Blundell, who is employed to provide expert opinion, could not think of an occasion when a driver had set pole in only his sixth Grand Prix. Mario Andretti set pole in his first Grand Prix, as did Carlos Reutemann and Jacques Villeneuve and none of them had 14 years of racing behind them. This time last year JV was on the grid so we're not reaching into the mists of history.

Jackie Stewart set pole it in his second Grand Prix (he had already won the International Trophy which had a full Formula One field). We do not have to re-write history to appreciate how good Hamilton is.

In an article for The Daily Telegraph, most notable for its appalling syntax, Mark Blundell declares that Hamilton's story is unlike any in F1. At the age of 15, Lewis was under the wing of McLaren while Mario Andretti arrived in America without a word of English.

At the end of Blundell's piece was a note that he is an 'ambassador' for Hilton Racing which just happens to be one of McLaren's partners, so no vested interest there. Pitpass is in nobody's pocket.

At Indianapolis we were told that the huge crowd was there because of Hamilton. I can't think why there were so many Ferrari banners and I can't think why we were minded that there were still tickets available for the British GP. Not so long ago all tickets had been sold well before June.

Before Indianapolis, ITV had edited footage of some local fans praising Lewis Hamilton, pretty girls were prominent. What do you do if you are young and with a chance of appearing on television. The TV director of the race (who did an exceptionally good job) rather spoiled the ITV line by showing Felipe Massa's fans with their Brazilian flags and playing the rhythms we have long admired in football.

There are sections of the media who are being very silly. Prior to qualifying at Montreal I listened to BBC Radio 5 Live and how refreshing it was to hear the measured tones of veteran journalist, Maurice Hamilton. Maurice knows his stuff and has an excellent broadcasting voice. Unfortunately, my TV interfered with the radio reception so I couldn't do the cricket option of seeing the picture while listening to a sensible commentary.

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