You simply cannot argue the fact that Tennis is played on a more level playing field than F1. No doubt hard to get into F1, but once there it's all about building the best car and a lot less to do with ability.
Of course can take nothing away from Hamilton who is clearly a fantastic driver.
Yes, you can. You can have all the talent in the world but if you are not well over 6 feet tall you will get blown away in tennis. Freaks like Kevin Anderson, John Isner, J M Del Potro and Ivo Karlovic are extremely average players who only get a gig because their height advantage gives them a tremendous edge on their service games. If you were a brilliant 5' 8" tall tennis player, you might as well get a job flipping burgers.
Which can be countered by saying that unless you are a dwarf you might aswell forget about driving a Formula 1 car. And that's putting aside the debate about the best cars.
John McEnroe? Bjorn Borg? Agassi? Pretty sure David Goffin is about 5 foot 6 and he has been in the top 10 of the world.
Well you could but it wouldn't be true. Five of the current drivers are over 5'11". A recent ex-driver, Mark Weber is 6'3". Sure but someone like Massa was only 5'5" on a tall day but that's a good thing is it not?
McEnroe, Borg and Agassi were all 5'11" that probably made then "tall" for their eras. Goffin is also 5'11" he just looks short because of the freak shows at the other end. Diego Schwartzman is about the shortest player at the moment and has great quality but can't get past the QF stage. That says it all. It's not a level playing field. Now, if they handicapped the tall players by making them serve further behind the baseline, I might be able to agree with you. It's not just their height but the extra arm length that comes with it increases their in-built advantage.
Why is it a good thing?
Don't exaggerate your stats, Mark Webber was not 6'3. More like 6 foot and that's extremely tall for a F1 driver.
And if players like Karlovic and Isner have such an advantage, how comes neither have ever reached the top 25 of the world, nor reached a Grand Slam final? Because they lose when they come up against better players. Although have to admit I thought Goffin was smaller.
Murray, Nadal, Djokovic and Federer have won the grand slams they have because of how good they were at playing tennis and the consistency. No doubt there's F1 drivers who have the right to be held in the same regard but until everyone drives in the same car it's quite clearly not a level playing field.
The bloke’s a legend. Similar to Murray in tennis, never thought I’d see a British driver do so well in F1 for such a long time.
Like him or not, British motorsport will be much poorer when he retires.
So much support for him at Silverstone last week, wonder how many would have bought tickets without a genuine British challenger.
THIS.
Although the difference to Murray is that in F1, Britain has the Djokovic / Federer / Nadal Guy.
The one who is that step ahead of the other greats.
No comparison - getting to the top of Tennis is far harder and they have a level playing field. F1 restricts who can take part and technology limits possible winners.
As someone who has a son competing in the British Karting Championships that is utter rubbish. Friends have come along to watch ad can’t quite believe what 40 8-13 kids are doing - both physically and mentally.
What you need to remember is that F1 is just one level of motorsport. Like all others Hamilton competed in the sport for 15 years before reaching F1. And in all other categories it’s equal cars and he blew everyone (including Vettel in F3) away.
The training required to race at high speed, and the sacrifices that training requires. And in hamiltons case they had no money as kids - his Dad had three jobs his to afford to go karting.
Mentally Hamilton is a true winner and one of the all time greats. He has no equal in his field
Murray is a brilliant player and took British tennis to new heights. But will he be remembered on the same level as Federer? Not quite.
He gets paid so much he could just pack it all in and enjoy his life, but you can see he is driven to be the best ever and I think he is going to achieve it.
The bloke’s a legend. Similar to Murray in tennis, never thought I’d see a British driver do so well in F1 for such a long time.
Like him or not, British motorsport will be much poorer when he retires.
So much support for him at Silverstone last week, wonder how many would have bought tickets without a genuine British challenger.
THIS.
Although the difference to Murray is that in F1, Britain has the Djokovic / Federer / Nadal Guy.
The one who is that step ahead of the other greats.
No comparison - getting to the top of Tennis is far harder and they have a level playing field. F1 restricts who can take part and technology limits possible winners.
As someone who has a son competing in the British Karting Championships that is utter rubbish. Friends have come along to watch ad can’t quite believe what 40 8-13 kids are doing - both physically and mentally.
What you need to remember is that F1 is just one level of motorsport. Like all others Hamilton competed in the sport for 15 years before reaching F1. And in all other categories it’s equal cars and he blew everyone (including Vettel in F3) away.
The training required to race at high speed, and the sacrifices that training requires. And in hamiltons case they had no money as kids - his Dad had three jobs his to afford to go karting.
Mentally Hamilton is a true winner and one of the all time greats. He has no equal in his field
Murray is a brilliant player and took British tennis to new heights. But will he be remembered on the same level as Federer? Not quite.
He gets paid so much he could just pack it all in and enjoy his life, but you can see he is driven to be the best ever and I think he is going to achieve it.
Well, he comes from Tewin near Stevenage which is just down the road from me. We have Rye House karting track close by which was Hamilton's local track where he learned his craft as a young lad.
Well, he comes from Tewin near Stevenage which is just down the road from me. We have Rye House karting track close by which was Hamilton's local track where he learned his craft as a young lad.
I assume that's where he gets his enormous will Tewin.....Badoom tish.
Well, he comes from Tewin near Stevenage which is just down the road from me. We have Rye House karting track close by which was Hamilton's local track where he learned his craft as a young lad.
Used to live about half a mile from Rye House as a kid - can remember speedway there.
Going back to F1 I still think the gulf between the cars which has grown has made it less and less of a spectacle. Hamilton competes against a select field of 5 or 6 so as good as he is I really can't see how it measures up.
Alonso is definitely a driver who would be up there if he had better machinery, but he has made a lot of wrong choices outside of his driving.
He is seen as one of the great "drivers", but as the reigning double World Champion in 2007, he could not beat Lewis in the same car when, with a bit less bad luck, Lewis would have been World Champion in his rookie year.
Well today in qualy Hamilton was quite simply sporting genius in action. Heavy rain, negating any car advantage (not that he had he quickest car in Hungary) and he puts in an astonishing performance that shows why he is a level up from the others of his generation
If we try to eliminate the car and look at pure driving skill and the ability to do more on a track than anyone else from a racing perspective, then as a racer I've only seen one better in my lifetime (no guesses who that was).
First came across him in 1999 when he was racing Nico (Rosberg) in the European Kart championship. An outstanding talent then, which has improved over time. If you look at the fact that for the previous four years he has had the best car and for the four years before that Vettel had the best car in the Red Bull, you only have to look at the number of wins when he was not in the best car (Maclaren) to realize that he leads on both qualifying and total number of GP wins. Today his car was not suited to the track with both Red Bull and Ferrari tipped to be faster. The rain was great leveler but Vettel was fourth in qualifying.
I am old enough to have watched Clark, Hill and Stewart in their prime and with the possible exception of Clark, he is the best British racing driver I have seen. That Clark is the number 2 in the pantheon of greats after Juan Manuel Fangio, I believe Hamilton is up there.
If we try to eliminate the car and look at pure driving skill and the ability to do more on a track than anyone else from a racing perspective, then as a racer I've only seen one better in my lifetime (no guesses who that was).
Ferrari’s engine advantage is such that Merc are losing 4 tenths on be straights even in the wet. So puts in to context Hamilton’s performance - by finishing 6 tenths up on Vettel, he smashed him by a second in the corners which in F1 terms is a lifetime.
With Ferrari’s car advantage this year Vettel can’t afford to end up with egg on his face losing the title. Hamilton is using his talent to just hang on in there at the moment
Another perfect drive by Lewis, but nobody should under-estimate the part played in the win by Bottas.
And also the part Sainz played by ignoring 9 blue flags
I really don't think that it was anywhere near as bad as they were trying to make out on TV. It wasn't as though Vettel was on his gearbox at the first blue flag. I don't think that you can expect a driver to forget about his own race and pull off the racing line as soon as he sees a blue flag.
Cracking race today. Loads of action and that rarest of things in modern Formula One, an on track change in the lead of the Grand Prix. Not once, in fact, but 3 times, albeit two of those were on successive straights.
The Ferrari still looks quicker, so Hamilton and Mercedes showed the blueprint for winning the title this season - aggressive strategy and aggressive overtaking. Ferrari and Vettel continually seem to lose their cool when they are put under pressure.
Hamilton is a true great at the absolute peak of his powers right now.
Special mention for Crashtappen, up to his tricks again and blaming everyone but himself for a clear rule violation by him causing a crash. He needs to be given some stiffer penalties than just a few seconds on his race time when he’s basically an also ran so the points are kind of irrelevant.
Comments
Don't exaggerate your stats, Mark Webber was not 6'3. More like 6 foot and that's extremely tall for a F1 driver.
And if players like Karlovic and Isner have such an advantage, how comes neither have ever reached the top 25 of the world, nor reached a Grand Slam final? Because they lose when they come up against better players. Although have to admit I thought Goffin was smaller.
Murray, Nadal, Djokovic and Federer have won the grand slams they have because of how good they were at playing tennis and the consistency. No doubt there's F1 drivers who have the right to be held in the same regard but until everyone drives in the same car it's quite clearly not a level playing field.
Only one way to find out........
That's why I unashamedly support Lewisham Ilton.
Going back to F1 I still think the gulf between the cars which has grown has made it less and less of a spectacle. Hamilton competes against a select field of 5 or 6 so as good as he is I really can't see how it measures up.
Hamilton is a fantastic driver but like Schumi in his best years, has been in the fastest car
If we try to eliminate the car and look at pure driving skill and the ability to do more on a track than anyone else from a racing perspective, then as a racer I've only seen one better in my lifetime (no guesses who that was).
I am old enough to have watched Clark, Hill and Stewart in their prime and with the possible exception of Clark, he is the best British racing driver I have seen. That Clark is the number 2 in the pantheon of greats after Juan Manuel Fangio, I believe Hamilton is up there.
;-)
With Ferrari’s car advantage this year Vettel can’t afford to end up with egg on his face losing the title. Hamilton is using his talent to just hang on in there at the moment
I don't think that you can expect a driver to forget about his own race and pull off the racing line as soon as he sees a blue flag.
In this instance I'm more than happy he blatantly ignored them.
The Ferrari still looks quicker, so Hamilton and Mercedes showed the blueprint for winning the title this season - aggressive strategy and aggressive overtaking. Ferrari and Vettel continually seem to lose their cool when they are put under pressure.
Hamilton is a true great at the absolute peak of his powers right now.
Special mention for Crashtappen, up to his tricks again and blaming everyone but himself for a clear rule violation by him causing a crash. He needs to be given some stiffer penalties than just a few seconds on his race time when he’s basically an also ran so the points are kind of irrelevant.