Media and Hamilton

[stoney]

http://www.pitpass.com/45125-Time-for-the-media-to-lay-off-Hamilton

Here, here.
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I rock, so you don't have to

[The YC]

likewise. well said.....

[bewildered_jim]

Quite. I feel for him.

To outline: Lewis Hamilton has a comfortable life. Whenever I say I feel for him, my friends are quick to counter that tears dry quicker on a mountain-top Swiss estate.

I have a problem with this for certain reasons:
i) There's nothing (save stupid earrings) to suggest anything other than doing a great job drives Lewis Hamilton.
ii) If you get into motorsport to make money, your odds are awful.

This leads me to my point thus:
Suggesting picking on Lewis in any way "doesn't count" as unfair criticism because of his position is wrong. Hamilton is not about to become homeless or fail to support his livelihood - but neither am I or most journalists and annoying Irish pundits.

Lewis Hamilton drives racing cars, and I research stuff. We're ages. If we do a bad job, we get annoyed and (I) certainly don't want to talk to anyone. I also get concerned about personal things. In my case, there's noone on an international stage asking me to detail and relive my mistakes or explain the minutiae of my recent character failings. If there was, I wouldn't accept that it was fair game because I'm not penny-less.

My point in brief: support Lewis Hamilton because he's a damn good racing driver. Sod the coverage because noone that is famous because of something naturally brilliant is therefore 'fair game'.
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"With its F1 coverage from 2012 set to play second fiddle, the BBC promises to get fans close to the true experience - of being Mark Webber" #HIGNFY @don_lyall

[dryjoint]

Double edge sword, if he makes himself less available to the media and thinks about what he is saying a little bit more then they don't have such an easy target.


Having an entertainment manger in charge of his business affairs can't be the best idea there surely?

[Podge 90]

[porscheman]

Formula 1 is a 3 ring circus and Lewis is in the centre ring. Goes with the territory. Having said that the F1 press, and most notably, the British press are notoriously brutal.

[bawjohnson]

I've got to say I am a huge F1 fan as most people reading this are too no doubt. Our current World Champion is enjoying one of the most dominant seasons of recent times, yet I don't know where he lives, what his girlfriend is called or what family he has without looking it up..

Conversely, I can sit here and tell you everything you would ever want to know about Hamilton, his Dad, his brother - his now ex girlfriend, his admiration for Senna, the last thing he said on twitter etc etc.

It seems that if you court attention and open up your life to the media, then you have absolutely no riposte when they retain an interest in your life when things aren't so rosy..

I've got to say I'm more in the 'diddums' camp - the article says to stop treating him like a celebrity or a racing driver and like a human being, but the problem is that he is a racing driver, and a celebrity - he is in the public eye and he has to deal with it..

I just think his head has been broken by Button, and he's a bit beat up because Daddy Ron isn't around much any more and this new Step Dad Martin is mean and keeps telling the press how good his team-mate is.

This is the first bit of character building he has had to do in his short career, and people are acting as if he's about to quit F1 or something..

Remember Schumacher winning at Imola hours after his Mother had died? Webber racing most of early 2010 with a recently broken leg? Button climbing into the MyEarthDreams fiasco and knowing no matter how well he drove, he'd be no higher that 12th?

Suck it up son, get on with it

[bewildered_jim]

[xynaria]

He has brought a lot of it on himself if only for the early season rants inferring if the car isn't good enough I'm off ....................without actually thinking through where on earth he could possibly go................
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it'll all end in tears..........cool!

[MatCoch]

[Gary]

I think it is to a great extent inevitable that Lewis is attracting the controversy, notoriety even, that he does, given the manner in which be burst into F1 and his immediate competitiveness with an acknowledged master, Alonso. I still remember clearly being trackside during P1 in the 2007 Australian Grand Prix and deeply impressed by this new boy being immediately on the pace. We all were, sitting there on Turn 9. Then he led Alonso for a good part of the race on Sunday. So impressive.

Since that day, there have been enormous expectations on him and now and then - wet Silverstone 2008 is a good example - he has produced master classes as sublime as any I've seen in four decades of this nutty obsession and those days only serve to ramp up the fans' and media's expectation.

His African origins on his paternal side, let's not sidestep it, represent additional pressure insofar as it marks him out as 'different' amongst British drivers.

So I do feel for him and I totally endorse the sentiments in the Pitpass article. Much of the media is indeed nauseating.

But here's a view that might be controversial. I do mean it, however, with respect and affection. It seems to me Lewis lacks the cerebral horsepower of, say, Vettel, Alonso and Button to deal with the maelstrom around him. Look, I'm not saying he's dumb, far from it, and of course, you need to be smart to drive a modern F1 car. Perhaps he's had a life sheltered from the slings and arrows most of us have to endure, perhaps he is relatively slow to mature emotionally, perhaps he is simply receiving excessive, conflicting and poor advice.

Whatever... I see Lewis struggling to rise above the chaos of the forest and take in the wider lie of the land. I do so hope he gets the whole thing to 'click' in his head. He seems like a nice lad. On top of that I really want him to get all his ducks lined up for 2012 because he is such an exciting and vividly fast driver. I still hold the faith that, potentially, we may one day speak of him in the same breath as Fangio, Moss, Clark and Prost.

[Abb0nz]

[bawjohnson]

Hang about,

[IMSA Racer]

I've always been of the belief that if you want to "play in" any public arena (politics included), that you had better be prepared for what may be shot your way. It's simply one of the "bads" that can go along with all of the "goods".

We have a saying around here that pretty much sums up what I'm trying to communicate here:

"If you want to play with the big dogs, you had better be prepared to get off the porch."

Just my thoughts . . .
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Ex IMSA Racer

[KKiirmki]