to pauljgregory... didn't your mom ever tell you not to repeat gossip?? not only will you repeat it while enhancing the story yourself, it MIGHT make you sound stupid...

I heard it from a bloke down the pub who knows the sister in-law of the postman who delivers the mail to the tea lady’s home who works at the FIA. Don’t know how true this is but she was telling her postman that she was asked to pick a name completely randomly out of a hat. Apparently she said that it took her 12 attempts to get it right! But they were ok about it as she didn’t have her reading glasses on!
She said that she likes her new car, it’s quite nippy really, but she would have liked a blue one!

Formula 1 will be better place W I T H O U T Hamilton.
I hope he will just quit and let men and not girly boys drive F1

Formula 1 will be better place W I T H O U T Hamilton.
I hope he will just quit and let men and not girly boys drive F1

to leigha stockbridge: patronizing? hmmm maybe you should RE-read what you submitted... you seemed unsure about why everyone "hates" hamilton, i tried to explain it to you... you also said something about "maturity" that you might like to RE-read... have a great day!!

to sagittarius1958, stop being so bloody patronising and just comment on the sport!!! All i said was this b****ing about the drivers gets us nowhere!! I'd love to "moan" about drivers some are plain useless but it won't get me anyway so i don't bother!!!

to jamesmoore: i think the problem at ferrari rests squarely in the hands of domenicali... much as i like the guy, i don't think he's cut out for this kind of demanding, on the spot, think on your feet, do or die kind of decision-making necessary for success in f1... =;-)

to ss_a9x -- would you do me a favour?? the next time you get caught with stolen goods and the police charge you with possession, think of what you wrote here... just because mclaren did SEEM to actively solicit the document from stepney, they surely did not turn him and the 700 plus page document in to the appropriate authorities, did they?? what from it sounds like, stepney fully expected to be employed by mclaren, go figure, eh?? it only makes sense, why would he leave a job at ferrari unless he'd been promised something "better"??...
by the way, renault was penalized, you're right, obviously the couple of pages of designs they 'had' were of such little consequence, that it wasn't necessary to penalize them... go figure, eh??

No, I mean boring racing. When was the last time, prior to 2007, that we genuinely had a championship race to get excited about!?

p41 I was delighted that, after many years of boring racing,
you mean boring english drivers? ;)

p43 there are a lot of people who are touting this young man as a "legend" but realistically speaking he is no where near being a legend "yet"
the likes of Senna/Schumacher i agree 100%

Gosh, it sounds like we've almost brought sense to the forum!! :-)
sagittarius1958, I completely agree with you that, to be fighting for the championship in the current F1 era, you MUST be in a top car. I remember Damon Hill winning the world championship in his Williams. Whilst there is no doubt that he was an excellent driver, his car was so far ahead of the pack that it made his job a whole lot easier. The same could be said for the years of Ferrari / Schumacher dominance, although Schumacher did play a huge role in developing the car. These days, however, (well the last two races aside!) it seems that Ferrari and McLaren are very close in terms of performance. What has amazed me most this year is how close Massa and Raikkonen have been in terms of performance. It's almost like Kimi has lost his desire to win recently. I really expected him to blow Massa away, but it just hasn't happened. In fact, if anything, I've developed a whole new level of respect for Massa as a driver. Yes, he has made some terrible mistakes, but he really does spend most of his time on the ragged edge, so it's only to be expected. The simple fact is, he is second in the championship, ahead of his team mate, the current world champion, in the same car.
Which brings us back to Lewis. He has completely dominated the McLaren team, with Heiki conspicuous only by his failure to achieve anything other than a single pole position. He even managed to beat his two, time world champion, team mate last year. There is no denying that he is something special and I hope he has a long and successful career at the top.

to leigha_stockbridge -- listen, "dear" it's not that anybody "hates" lewis hamilton, just that the emotion you're talking about "as a woman" is not what these guys are about... the "discussions" here are about him as a personality NOT as a person, you gotta get that straight, ok?? relax... enjoy the discussion... it really is pretty amusing to see... =;-))

to jamesmoore -- just because you are polite and respectful, i will respond in kind... i never said hamilton didn't have talent, no one makes it this far without it and a certain element of luck... BUT as so often has been pointed out, luck and skill are NOT enough, you also need a good car... understand that i have respect for all these young men who put themselves at risk when they sit in a cockpit... and i appreciate the talents of all without being a nationalistic flag bearer when it suits me... there are a lot of people who are touting this young man as a "legend" but realistically speaking he is no where near being a legend "yet"... only time can determine his impact on the sport, or lack thereof... and regardless of what dennis, wittmarsh (?? spelling??) and anthony hamilton "want" only time will tell... p.s. thanks for the opportunity to sound off...

I don't think i will ever understand this hate for lewis!!!! For god Sake leave the kid alone and let him do what he does best. yes he is young, but so were we all, can you really say YOU never done things that were immature??? (YOU'LL BE LYING IF YOU DID!!) Everyone makes mistakes, even the best of them. No i am not a mclaren supporter, and i don't like the reds either, since i was a teenager i have supported DC and i know he doesn't always finish races but still, he is honest and doesn't whinge as much as the others. FACT not everyone likes the drivers but do we really need to continue B****ing about them! Sorry but it gets boringly old news. Lewis will be in the sport for as long as he wants to be so please lets move on and support our chosen teams!!!!!

wsdragons, it's great to have some intelligent and impartial conversation on here for a change!! :-) There's no denying that McLaren gifted the title to Ferrari last year with their tyre @#$% up in China, Lewis's overly aggressive driving in the final race and the phantom gearbox fault that he suffered, but Kimi did an excellent job, keeping his head when all around were losing theirs and taking it from right under their noses. As much as I was upset that Lewis did not really cement his place in history by winning the championship in his rookie year, I was delighted that, after many years of boring racing, we finally had something to watch. This year has proved to be more of the same and some of the races have kept me on the edge of my seat all the way to the chequered flag!
As you say, we will probably never know the whole truth behind the 'Spygate' affair, but I'm glad it is finally behind us and we can finally concentrate on the racing again. Whatever happens and whoever wins, it will be much more satisfying to watch them fight it out on the track, rather than in the courtroom!

LH is great. You have to admit the guy is talented.

jewis hamilton is such a natural talent that they are going to get scrutinised,his driving is just great and supiriour to th other drivers you cant take that away from him......................................

jamesmoore, you are absolutely right. I have been a die-hard Ferrari fan for as long as I can remember, but I am not blind or stupid. Lewis Hamilton is the "real thing". For anyone to come into Formula 1 and instantly compete for the title is absolutely incredible, no matter how good his car is. This kid has special skills. He needs to mature a bit and learn to deal with reporters, and then... watch out!! He lost the title last year because of his lack of maturity. All he needed to do was "coast" during the last couple of races, but he let himself get caught up in Alonso's, aka "crybaby", game and made several costly mistakes. Kimi did a marvelous job of taking advantage of the opportunity, and won the title "fair and square". Don't forget that luck is a big part of F1.

As far as the whole "spygate" affair, I don't think that we will ever know what really happened. Personally, I don't think that it helped McLaren all that much. The punishment was unfair, in my opinion, but they accepted it and moved on. So, there may have been some truth to it. Like I said, none of us will ever know.

Ferrari and McLaren are both great competitors, and they do have respect for each other. Why can you fans do the same. I love Ferrari and will cheer them on forever (unless Alonso joins), but I also respect McLaren and give them credit for their great achievements.

Sagittarius1958, I think you'll find that Lewis was using the same choice of tyres as every other team at Silverstone. Yes, he made up a lot of time on the Ferraris when they decided to stay on worn intermediates at the first stop, but after the second round of stops, when they were all using fresh intermediates (except Rubens), Lewis was still lapping 5-6 seconds faster then any other driver on the track, including the Ferraris. Was this down to luck or could it simply have been down to good, old-fashioned, driver skill? However much you love Ferrari or hate McLaren, you cannot deny that the boy has talent!! :-)

To all those who say McLaren stole the infamous 700+ pages of Ferrari data, remember this, IT WAS A FERRARI EMPLOYEE THAT GAVE IT TO A MCLAREN EMPLOYEE. McLaren did not employ hackers to hack into Ferrari's computers, nor did they employ a spy. Stephney was pushing it on who ever was interested. He even tried to offload it to Honda, in exchange for a better job.
And when Renault were found to have stolen McLaren data, NOT A DAMN THING WAS DONE by the FIA.