A little love for Lewis

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 12:56 pm

Fellas:

Lewis Hamilton won the Canadian Grand Prix from the pole in just his sixth career F1 start yesterday in Montreal. This kid hasn't put a wheel wrong in his first season, finishing in the top three in every one of his starts, an all-time first for an F1 rookie.

Hamilton leads the World Championship standings by eight points over his McLaren teammate, two-time reigning World Champion Fernando Alonso. He made Alonso look silly yesterday in the race, as Fernando made three unforced errors.

Between his speed, smooth, pleasant demeanor and the fact he is the first black driver in F1, marketing experts are predicting that Hamilton could earn $1 billion in his career through salary and endorsements. He's only 22, and marketing types already are projecting him for Tiger Woods and Michael Schumacher earning status.

This kid is a rock star right now in every country but the U.S. Definitely the most impressive F1 rookie since Jacques Villeneuve in 1996.

Also notable about the Canadian GP yesterday was that Robert Kubica came away from this accident with just a sprained ankle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqIPcz8XCHY

Ten or 15 years ago, he would have been toe-tagged after that accident. F1 safety has come a LONG way since Ayrton Senna's death in 1994.

Take care,
PK

Kruza · Post by **Kruza** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 1:14 pm

After his race at Monte Carlo a couple weeks ago I was wondering if Lewis Hamilton is legit. He answered the question with flying colors yesterday.

As long as I can remember it's always been a clear cut #1 guy as far as drivers on a Formula 1 team goes, but this may turn out to be a unique situation with two very good drivers on the same team. Fernando Alonso was brought in to be the man of the Mercedes-McLaren team. But now I have to wonder will it remain this way if Hamilton keeps up this kind of high-level racing. No way Team Mercedes would intentionally try to hold Hamilton down somewhat to keep Alonso in the forefront in the near future, could they?

Kruza

mixdj1 · Post by **mixdj1** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 1:29 pm

Wow! I've been so busy with work this year I've been way behind on watching my racing recordings. I guess I need to start catching up.

forensicd · Post by **forensicd** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 1:38 pm

PK, you going to be at the race this weekend? I will be there Saturday, and my brother drove in from Pennsylvania to go, so if you are around, let me know.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 1:42 pm

McLaren is renowned in F1 for being a team that allows its drivers to race, unlike Ferrari. Some of the best intra-team battles in F1 history have taken place with McLaren drivers: Senna vs. Prost, Hakkinen vs. Coulthard, Lauda vs. Prost, Montoya vs. Raikkonen, etc.

Ferrari wasn't always so protective of its No. 1. That became really exacerbated in the Schumacher era, as he was contractually guaranteed to be No. 1.

The feud between Ferrari teammates Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi led to Villeneuve's tragic death in 1982 at Zolder.

Take care,
PK

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 1:53 pm

forensicd wrote:PK, you going to be at the race this weekend? I will be there Saturday, and my brother drove in from Pennsylvania to go, so if you are around, let me know.

I am. But my only chance of leaving the Media Center will come between 7-8:45 a.m. Otherwise, I'm glued to my work area with a staff meeting at 9 a.m. and cars on track from 10 a.m.-5 p.m., with plenty of post-race work after that.

PM me if you want to meet before 8:45 a.m.

Take care,
PK

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 2:00 pm

Surpising Fox had this on this weekend. I caught the last 40 laps.

This was a strange race. The safety car came out atleast 4-5 times. I can't remember the team, but one car came into the pits for a scheduled stop and the crew was not ready.

Great race and great win for Hamilton.

Kruza · Post by **Kruza** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 2:05 pm

pk500 wrote:McLaren is renowned in F1 for being a team that allows its drivers to race, unlike Ferrari. Some of the best intra-team battles in F1 history have taken place with McLaren drivers: Senna vs. Prost, Hakkinen vs. Coulthard, Lauda vs. Prost, Montoya vs. Raikkonen, etc.

Ferrari wasn't always so protective of its No. 1. That became really exacerbated in the Schumacher era, as he was contractually guaranteed to be No. 1.

The feud between Ferrari teammates Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi led to Villeneuve's tragic death in 1982 at Zolder.

Take care,
PK

Ah, I see. Thanks for clarifying that.

JRod wrote:Surpising Fox had this on this weekend.

I believe FOX is broadcasting four consecutive F1 races that started with the Canadian GP.

Kruza

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 2:43 pm

JRod wrote:Surpising Fox had this on this weekend. I caught the last 40 laps.

FOX also will have the USGP at 1 p.m. (ET) this Sunday, again with Varsha, Matchett, Hobbs and Windsor.

JRod wrote:This was a strange race. The safety car came out atleast 4-5 times. I can't remember the team, but one car came into the pits for a scheduled stop and the crew was not ready.

Super Aguri. Yeah, poor Davidson! It looked like he decided to enter the pits at the last second, as he locked up his wheels to reach the pit speed limit in time.

JRod wrote:Great race and great win for Hamilton.

Indeed!

Take care,
PK

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 3:51 pm

Kubica's crash from the grandstands:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=dWZ7iKXfLXs

HOLY SH*T.

And to think the kid walked out of a Montreal hospital and drove himself to his hotel this afternoon.

Amazing.

Take care,
PK

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 3:55 pm

Kubica on impact:

Check out the dude chillin' beside the track in the lounge chair just feet behind the wreck! I'm wondering if that's Scott Speed in the chair, waiting with his crashed Toro Rosso for a shuttle ride back to the pits. It sure doesn't look like a marshal sitting there.

Take care,
PK

johnvon314 · Post by **johnvon314** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 5:14 pm

Glad to have the Speed team on Fox as well although they spent more time covering F1 basics for the expanded audience. They didn't even have time to verbally cover the starting grid or give a track rundown.

What was wrong with Alonso? He really lost it too many times at the Senna curve. The pitting under safety car was bad luck, but the rest were pure driver error.

John

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 5:23 pm

I know I said this about the hockey but it bears repeating. When the announcers are good and excited about the sport it goes a long way.

The way they rooted for the Super Aguri team and Sato was refreshing. You never hear than in any mainstream sport outside of maybe hockey. It would be refreshing if you hear Johnny Miller root for someone about to finish 5th and be excited over it. Instead of blowing Tiger's dick for the entire broadcast.

I just like good announcing I guess.

Was this the fox feed or where they just showing ITV's coverage with American announcing?

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 5:26 pm

Here's a shameless plug, if you like F1 racing and have a PS3 buy F1:Championship. It's one of the best racers out there.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 5:33 pm

JRod wrote:Was this the fox feed or where they just showing ITV's coverage with American announcing?

It was the Canadian feed with SPEED's F1 team, which FOX adopted since FOX owns Speed. That crew, which is EXCELLENT, usually is way more animated and more technical on SPEED because it knows its talking to the hardcore, not the mainstream FOX audience. Superb TV -- no series shown in the U.S. has a better commentary team, not even FOX's NASCAR team.

No broadcaster has its "own" feed of an F1 race. The host broadcaster where the GP takes place supplies the world feed. I'm not sure if it was CBC or TSN for Canada. It's FOX/Speed for the USGP -- that feed will go to the world, and each country can add its own commentary.

That's exasperating as hell in countries with partisan TV networks, such as Brazil and Spain. All you see at the Brazilian GP is Massa and Barrichello; same with Alonso at the Spanish GP. Japanese TV also is notorious for focusing too much on the Honda and Toyota teams during the Japanese GP.

Whenever that happens, you'll hear Varsha say on air, "Yoo-hoo, Mr. Director, you're missing the race here!" or something like that.

Varsha was really exasperated at Monaco because the director kept flashing back to the stoic McLaren mechanics in the garage while Hamilton and Alonso were running a close 1-2.

Christ, at Monaco, at least flash to some hot broads if you're going to leave the racing action, not some sweaty, tired Limey spanners!

Take care,
PK

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 5:47 pm

While still in London PK, I realized that all Sports pages are focused on this kid, quite a feat for a rookie. He's aggresive and fast as we've seen in the qualies, many compare him to the late Gilles Villeneuve.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 6:14 pm

I don't think he's as wild on the track as Gilles, James, but who knows these days? It's almost impossible to get an F1 car sideways due to traction control and engine electronic mapping.

Gilles was all sideways, all the time, as you know!

Take care,
PK

F308GTB · Post by **F308GTB** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 6:32 pm

A few comments:

1. In the youtube video I bet that marshall was thanking his lucky stars the car missed him. Kubica could have easily cleared the wall and the guy in white would have been a goner.
2. Hamilton looks to be the real deal. Could care less about his skin color - F1 is an international sport. What's more impressive to me is that Ron Dennis gave him a chance when he was 10 years old. All that nurturing turned out positively. He's a great racer. He has the car dialed in.
3. The trio of Varsha, Matchett and Hobbes from Speed is second to none. Add in Peter Windsor and you have the best quartet in auto racing. The NASCAR folks are very good too, but the edge goes to these guys. I was disappointed the race was on Fox but was happy when I heard those familiar voices. Word is Derek Daily joins next week. If so, the broadcast just went in the crapper. Overall the Speed presentation is better (30 minute pre-race, post-race press conference), but the Fox one was good.
4. I was impressed Kubica wasn't seriously hurt. I wasn't impressed with the driving of Trulli under the safety car.
5. Super Aguri is a breath of fresh air. Cheer for the underdogs.
6. Most entertaining race of the year. Usually the only excitement is in the final qualifying session. Kudos to the racers for making the actual race something other than a boring F1 event.

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 6:50 pm

pk500 wrote:
JRod wrote:This was a strange race. The safety car came out atleast 4-5 times. I can't remember the team, but one car came into the pits for a scheduled stop and the crew was not ready.
Super Aguri. Yeah, poor Davidson! It looked like he decided to enter the pits at the last second, as he locked up his wheels to reach the pit speed limit in time.

The official line from Little Ant is that he collected an animal, perhaps a beaver or a groundhog, and that caused him to lock up, at which point he made such a mess of his front tyres that pitting was the sensible move whether they were ready for him or not. Not completely sure I believe him, but there it is. Ralf Schumacher nearly had a similar problem on Friday but the animal managed to get out of the way, which probably wasn't that hard given the speed Ralfie drives at these days.

Bags of credit to Lewis, who drove a faultless race, but the win was coming. Wurz's run to third in the remains of a Williams and a Super Aguri passing the reigning world champion weren't, though, and took me by surprise to the point that I found myself stood in front of my TV applauding them both.

On JRod's point about announcers being excited about the sport, I first started watching Formula One when I was 5, because of this bloke:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIQqduJ8e48

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 8:51 pm

One hell of an entertaining F1 race, that's for sure. All of the safety car appearances made Lewis earn the first win, but the kid was clearly the class of the field and drove away cleanly every time.

Very few passes have fired me up as much as Sato taking it to Alonso late in the race. Wow.

I had Tivo'd the race and felt like turning it off after Kubica's wreck. Much like Briscoe at Chicago (I think) a few years ago, I feared the worst and lost a lot of my desire to watch the rest of the race. Thanks to some very careful, spoiler-free Googling, I saw the great news that Kubica was OK.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 9:27 pm

Simo:

If I'm not mistaken, it's MURRAY!

I had the pleasure of meeting Murray in 2000 and 2001 at the USGP. The 2001 USGP was his last race, and I was lucky enough to get an invite to his farewell party at the track. All of the drivers and team principals showed up. It was really nice, really cool.

Murray is a lovely, lovely man. Just as pleasant away from the microphone as he seems on the box. A really neat guy who ADORES motor racing. His passion is no act.

It was an honor and a pleasure to meet him.

Take care,
PK

Jimmydeicide · Post by **Jimmydeicide** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 11:55 am

Yes Murray was F1. Speeds crew is awsome Hobs and Matchet are quite the duo and Bob Keeps a handle on all things and Hobs, some of his ancient British slang is priceless.

"up his chuff" come on havn't heard that since i left those shores i love it. Makes a boring non eventful race enjoyable, which the Canadian GP was far from full of unusual happenings and that crash was unbelievable air born into the barrier head on, just a broken leg , great news.

Finally , yes im on Lewis's back all 200lbs of me smacking his arse like a jockey "cum on Lewis" Finally i can lose my flatlining Button/Honda ties. .
He does have an eary Tiger quality about him it will be great for England and probably that other place hes from "cablonasia"

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 8:29 pm

Watched it today even though the USA Today spoiled the result for me with its massive photo of Hamilton in his victory lap on the front of the Sports section. The crestfall at the spoilage was matched only by my surprise at the fact that USA Today had it on the front page at all.

Either way I wanted to watch it just to see how the heck it happened. I even watched Q3 before the race to see how Lewis got the pole. I was really pissed that there was no pre-race half hour once I started the program. It started so abruptly! For me, the start of the race isn't when the lights go off, it's when the cars leave the pit lane and make their way to the grid, and then the 30 mintues of grid madness and the Hatchett and Mobbs show is all part of the program, all part of the ritual. Like the coin toss in a football game. Was there a pre-race that was just listed as a spearate show, or was it maybe on Speed? I certainly missed that short warmup. That and then they got away from the race so quick, without even the Champaign spray, always a highlight for me and a great way to see a lot of the personality-driven undertexts of the whole thing, much less the post-match interviews.

Surely Daly is going to be on the grid as a second man to Windsor during the actual race, so he shouldn't screw stuff up too much. In fact, I think he's done a great job as a pit reporter in the past at the USGP, and a second man is like almost having the luxury of the leftovers of a typical NASCAR boradcast, but his worth is proven in the Speed blowout coverage of the entire weekend with all the paddock stuff he does in the days leading up to the race. Last year seeing Norbert Haug sitting backwards in a chair like a little kid with his face one foot away from a big screen TV watching Germany's WC opener was priceless. I didn't like Daily at all in the races CBS carried last year (and it goes without saying having the regular crew even with the show on the Fox mothership is very refreshing), but he's such a freak that the stuff he does on the Thursday and Friday is well worth having him involved.

What a weird race. I guess it happens at Montreal. 4 safety cars? Massa booted because he ran a red light, with new SC rules? Webber was in a great position, until he chose to pit after the SC went off on one of those. WTF? Davidson said he saw the crew pull the creature out of his wing the first time he surprised them by coming in. I wonder how many times he's seen that? Ralf. . . eesh. Sato, wow, he forced Alonso to give way but how the heck was he quicker at that stage? Tires? They were saying the soft option were graining up worse than they had expected. This rule about having to use both is odd, but I guess they have to do something with the Soviet style one-tire program.

Can't wait until next week, and I am very pleased that Fox is showing four races this year. Big move forward for us US F1 fans, even if they don't quite have the guts to go all the way with the pre- and post-race coverage. Honestly, that contestual stuff is key, I think to converting the masses. It sure helped me along way back whenever.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 11:14 am

That is Scott Speed sitting in the lawn chair in the photo of Kubica's wreck! He just confirmed it here in the FIA press conference at the USGP.

Speed said he was sitting about 3 meters from the wall that Kubica hit. Man!

Take care,
PK