Lewis Hamilton

LEWIS HAMILTON CAN BOUNCE BACK

admin — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:42:18 +0000

By Ian Parkes Monaco GP. Click here to bet.Click here to bet on F1 with Sky Bet!Click here for 2012 F1 resultsClick here for 2012 F1 standingsClick here for 2012 F1 race reportsClick here for 2012 F1 scheduleClick here for F1 team profilesClick here for F1 driver profilesClick here for more F1 news It is a mark of Lewis Hamilton’s new-found maturity this season that several toys were not thrown out of the pram on Saturday. Hamilton would have had every justification for doing so upon hearing from McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh he had been stripped of pole and dumped to the back of the grid for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix. Whitmarsh has since held his hands up and taken the blame on his shoulders for making the call to stop Hamilton on track halfway through his in-lap just as he was still celebrating what he and everyone else thought was McLaren’s historic 150th pole. With data showing a low-fuel reading, and knowing one litre was required as a sample on returning to parc ferme as required by the regulations, Hamilton was told to bring his car to a halt. As it transpired, 1.3 litres was extracted, potentially enough to see Hamilton make it back to the pits, but as Whitmarsh remarked, hindsight is a wonderful thing. Whitmarsh said: “I took a call to make sure we could comply with the regulations. “We stopped the car, pumped out 1.3 (litres of fuel) as it turned out, which I didn’t know until later. “At the time, with hindsight, I was wrong. With hindsight we should have come in at the end of the in-lap.” It was another fundamental mistake, this time from the leader of the team, to compound those that have so far undermined Hamilton and team-mate Jenson Button. Last season the 27-year-old could do little right on the circuit, his judgement clouded by off-track issues that resulted in a number of errors and incidents. Now, with his mind unencumbered, Hamilton is extracting all he can from a car which is a challenger but not a world-beater, only to be let down by a litany of pit-lane gaffes from the team. In the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in which he started from pole, he was not released at the right time at a pit stop, eventually finishing third. A week later in Malaysia, and again after claiming pole, there…

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Lewis Hamilton and the lost children

admin — Thu, 17 May 2012 06:42:56 +0000

Lewis plays with Binindo street children Photo: Sharron Lovell/UNICEF By Lewis Hamilton 7:00AM BST 17 May 2012 Just after 6.30 on a wet, muggy evening in Manila a man called Butch leads me to the back of a bustling market. A former street child himself, one of the thousands of children who are homeless in Manila, Butch now earns a living as an outreach worker, helping children to improve their lives. “I want you to meet someone,” he says to me. For several minutes we squeeze our way through a maze of narrow streets, packed with people. Then, finally, we reach some vegetable stalls. We walk around them and there, wearing a filthy white vest and green shorts, is a boy, 3ft tall in bare feet. “This is Reynold,” says Butch. Reynold grins. He seems pleased to see me and I put an arm around his shoulder. “Can you show me where you sleep?” I ask. He nods. Then, holding my arm, he leads me to a battered-looking upturned vegetable cart covered in a piece of plastic. He points to it. This is where he calls home. Not for the first time during my stay in Manila, my mind goes back to my own childhood. By the time I was 10 – Reynold’s age – I’d already been racing go-karts for three years, had won my first British Cadet Kart championship and met the man who would finally be my boss, Ron Dennis, the owner of the McLaren Formula One team. I’ve never taken my success for granted, but the street children of Manila reminded me just how lucky I’ve been. I grew up with a loving family who allowed me to follow my dreams and dedicate my time to something I was passionate about. For these children, sadly, that isn’t an option. Formula One drivers don’t normally get much time off after a grand prix. The F1 schedule is punishing and, no matter how tired I am, I have to throw myself straight into training and preparations for the next race. But in March, I made an exception. The morning after the Malaysian Grand Prix I woke up at the crack of dawn and boarded…

Lewis Hamilton error fuels Williams F1 victory

admin — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:45:12 +0000

Lewis Hamilton finished eighth at the Spanish Grand Prix after being penalised during qualifying. Photograph: Paul Gilham/Getty Images It is, it seems, only a matter of time before Lewis Hamilton turns up at a grand prix driving a custard-powered McLaren with wheels that fall off when he jumps out. His latest mishap saw him relegated to the back of the grid at the Spanish Grand Prix after running out of fuel during qualifying. He still took eighth place, some way behind Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado, who won his first-ever race at the Circuit de Catalunya. It was also the Williams team’s first win in eight years, a triumph only slightly marred by its garage burning to the ground after the race.Back to the tennis future On the weird blue clay of Madrid, grizzled trophy-waggling veterans Roger Federer and Serena Williams were this week crowned Open champions. Federer beat Tomas Berdych 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 to climb above Rafael Nadal to No 2. Nadal had earlier threatened never to play in Madrid again after losing to Fernando Verdasco in the third round, blaming “slippery courts”. “If things continue, there will be one less tournament in my calendar,” Nadal flounced. Williams thrashed Victoria Azarenka 6-1, 6-3 in around an hour.Runners’ Olympic tune-up More pre-Olympic speed excitement: world indoor 100m champion Justin Gatlin won Doha’s Diamond League meeting in a time of 9.87sec, one-hundredth of a second ahead of Asafa Powell. Gatlin had set the world record on the same track in 2006, later expunged because of a doping offence. With his four-year ban now served, he is once again eligible for London 2012. Walter Dix won the 200m in 20.02sec and Allyson Felix won the women’s 100m ahead of the magnificent double-barrelled Jamaicans Veronica Campbell-Brown and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.James voted the best In a moment of shoe-sponsor catnip, Miami Heat forward LeBron James was voted the NBA’s Most Valuable Player for a third time, putting him alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and other all-time slam-dunkers on the three-plus list. “I never dreamt about being an NBA Most Valuable Player,” James said in an emotional speech on national TV, showing a surprising lack of ambition. Back in the real-ish world of the NBA playoffs, the Bulls, Hawks and Knicks have all so far bitten the dust. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading…

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Lewis Hamilton demoted from pole to back of grid at Spanish Grand Prix

admin — Tue, 15 May 2012 13:19:07 +0000

Lewis Hamilton stopped his car on the track at the end of qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix. Photograph: Paul Gilham/Getty Images Lewis Hamilton has been demoted from pole position to the back of the grid for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix for having too little fuel at the end of qualifying. It is the latest incident in a catalogue of pit‑lane gaffes for McLaren this season.The decision means the Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado will start on pole, the first for Williams since Nico Hülkenberg in the rain of Brazil in 2010, with Fernando Alonso alongside for Ferrari. A McLaren spokesman said: “We accept the stewards did not agree with our interpretation of force majeure. Our aim is now to maximise the points we can score tomorrow.”Hamilton had completed his triumphant lap and was midway round his slow-down lap when his McLaren team ordered him to stop because of a “technical problem”.FIA rules state a car must return to the pits after qualifying and then have a litre of fuel remaining for a sample to be taken. Whitmarsh claimed 1.3 litres was ultimately extracted, but clearly the additional 0.3 litres – over and above the required one litre – would not have been enough to see Hamilton return to parc fermé. There was substantial doubt that Hamilton would have had that much fuel left after completing his slow-down lap. An F1 car will use about two litres of fuel every lap.Asked if he was confident that Hamilton’s pole would stand, Whitmarsh said: “I don’t know. I hope so. Lewis did a fantastic job throughout that session, and we’ve all seen how difficult it is at the moment to be consistent. It was a massive margin [half a second] by the situation within Formula One at the moment. He undoubtedly deserves to be there.”But two hours later the FIA announced they had punished Hamilton severely. The sport’s ruling body said: “A team member had put an insufficient quantity of fuel into the car thereby resulting in the car having to be stopped on the circuit in order to be able to provide the required amount of sampling purposes. As the amount of fuel put into the car is under the complete control of the competitor the stewards cannot accept this as a case of force majeure. The stewards determine that this is a breach of Article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula One…

Lewis Hamilton left to rue his bad luck after pole drive turns to dust

admin — Tue, 15 May 2012 04:35:37 +0000

The McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton’s season took another turn for the worse at the Spanish Grand Prix after his demotion. Photograph: Vladimir Rys/Getty Images The blight that has affected Lewis Hamilton’s season seemed to be over when he put in the thunderous lap to be the fastest in qualifying for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix. After suffering some degree of bad fortune in each of the first four races this season no one would begrudge Hamilton this moment of hard-earned glory. Rarely has the British driver looked so happy as he punched that breathtaking time, half a second better than anyone else, to put himself on the front of the grid.But that was before the stewards stepped in to examine the amount of fuel left in his tank and bring to an end the driver’s short-lived celebrations as he was made to sweat over their decision.With third place in each of the opening three races, Hamilton has been the most consistent driver this year and his ability to drive within himself to protect his neurotically sensitive tyres has surprised a lot of people. After the stewards’ deliberations, Hamilton was excluded from qualifying and placed at the back of the starting grid.This is a driver who has put behind him the worst year of his career, in 2011, when personal issues contributed to his disappointing season. This year, everything is going wrong around him, and he is not to blame.An astonishingly unpredictable season produced another day of shocks, with Pastor Maldonado also clinching a place on the front row. And while there were two Saubers in the top 10 there was no room for McLaren’s Jenson Button – who was placed 11th but moved up to 10th after Hamilton’s relegation –or the Red Bull of Mark Webber, who won pole here on the previous two occasions. Felipe Massa, meanwhile, qualified his Ferrari in a miserable 17th, behind the Force Indias and the Toro Rossos. That performance was placed under a harsh light by the Brazilian’s team-mate Fernando Alonso finishing third in his upgraded Ferrari in front of his home crowd here in Barcelona.Red Bull felt that Webber had done enough in Q2 and did not need to go out again, leaving the Australian with four sets of tyres for Sunday’s race. Button was plagued by handling problems, especially understeer, after he was fast in Friday’s practice session. His poor showing was…

2012 SPAIN GP: PASTOR MALDONADO SECURES HIS MAIDEN VICTORY

admin — Sun, 13 May 2012 17:33:00 +0000

Excellent driving for maiden victory Pastor Maldonado scored his maiden Formula 1 win and ended a Williams victory drought dating back to the end of the 2004 season as the Venezuelan defeated local hero Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari in an absorbing Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona’s Catalunya track. The result moves Alonso in to joint-lead of the championship with Sebastian Vettel who could only finish sixth behind Romain Grosjean and Kamui Kobayashi. Nico Rosberg just held on to seventh from the recovering Lewis Hamilton, while Jenson Button and Nico Hulkenberg were the final points-scorers. Maldonado’s chances of victory seemed slimmer as soon as Alonso muscled his way through in to the lead in to turn one. Having pegged the gap by lap two, Maldonado eased away from Raikkonen behind as scraps emerged further back. A poor start dropped Mark Webber back, while Michael Schumacher jumped up to sixth place and Rosberg moved in to fourth ahead of Grosjean. Sergio Perez had his race immediately ruined, however, as a puncture caused him to have to limp round the whole first lap. Hamilton made steady progress before showing his pace and race-craft to dive up the inside of Bruno Senna for 17th place. The first round of pit stops came quite early, with Alonso pitting just before Maldonado as the Williams closed in, keeping the lead as Hamilton made headway by staying out. Raikkonen was the only man to stay in relative touch with the front-runners, but he was running eight seconds back and couldn’t make any inroads. While Maldonado ran close to Alonso, Williams kept Bruno Senna out for a long first stint, but his race was ended when Schumacher slammed in to the back of him under braking for turn one, taking both out of the race and leaving the seven-time World Champion livid. A slightly delayed stop hampered Hamilton’s progress, but Grosjean was a lot happier on his second set of tyres and soon jumped ahead of Rosberg in to fourth place. Webber suddenly slowed with a loss of front load and had to pit for a new nose – dropping him out of the points. It was the second round of pit-stops that changed the race, however as Maldonado stayed close to Alonso before pitting. The fresh tyres allowed him to pump in some quick laps and, with the Ferrari being blocked by Charles Pic, Alonso rejoined nearly…

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Lewis Hamilton Stripped Of Pole Position

admin — Sat, 12 May 2012 22:17:20 +0000

Sky News – Lewis Hamilton has lost his Spanish Grand Prix pole for breaching Formula One rules, giving Pastor Maldonado the position for the first time his career.F1 governors the FIA said McLaren had not put enough fuel in his car to meet the regulations and excluded him from the results of the qualifying session. Hamilton left it to his final flying lap to edge his Williams rival by more than half a second for what appeared to be his third pole position of the season and 22nd of his career. But McLaren ordered the British driver to stop his car after crossing the line because of a technical glitch, with the team subsequently claiming their driver had insufficient fuel to return to the pits. The FIA ruled that “as the amount of the fuel put into its car is under complete control of (McLaren)”, Hamilton was “excluded” from qualifying results, allowed to start from last place instead. The FIA rules state that competitors must ensure that a one litre sample of fuel may be taken from the car at any time during the event. A McLaren spokesman said: “We accept the stewards did not agree with us. “Our aim is now to maximise the points we can score tomorrow.”This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.

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Lewis Hamilton grabs pole position for Spanish GP

admin — Sat, 12 May 2012 16:25:42 +0000

McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton was fastest in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix on Saturday, racing past Pastor Maldonado to deny the Venezuelan a first Formula One pole position. Hamilton used his final lap to edge the Williams driver by over half a second for his third pole position of the season. The Briton, who won with a quickest lap of 1 minute, 21.707 seconds, is seeking his first victory at Catalunya Circuit. That would ensure a fifth different winner this season for the first time since 1983. Fernando Alonso of Ferrari starts third in front of his home fans, with Lotus pair Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen completing the top five. Overall leader and two-time defending F1 champion Sebastian Vettel will start eighth after opting to save his tires and failing to set a qualifying time. While 10 of the past 11 races have been won from pole, the high temperatures and quickly degrading nature of the tires could shake up the finishing order of Sunday’s 66-lap race. “I’m definitely surprised to have such a big gap,” Hamilton said after securing McLaren’s 150th pole. “[It's] probably one of the best ones I’ve ever had. It’s going to be a massively tough race tomorrow.” Sergio Perez of Sauber starts sixth, Nico Rosberg of Mercedes goes from seventh with teammate Michael Schumacher and Kamui Kobayashi of Sauber completing the top-10 after the latter pair also didn’t run in Q3. The leading teams showed contrasting fortunes as Jenson Button — fastest in practice on Friday — failed to reach the last qualifying session to start 11th for McLaren. Mark Webber, who had won pole here the last two years for Red Bull, goes 12th. “I struggled with the balance all day,” Button said. Felipe Massa’s poor campaign continued as the Brazilian will start a season-worst 17th for Ferrari, which will be buoyed by Alonso’s best starting position of the season. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.

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2012 SPAIN GP: LEWIS WITH SUPERB POLE

admin — Sat, 12 May 2012 16:22:00 +0000

Lewis showed us some magic driving today!!! Lewis Hamilton and McLaren took pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix by a commanding margin over shock front row man Pastor Maldonado’s Williams. In a session full of surprises, Hamilton was half a second quicker than Maldonado, who had been rapid in final practice, topped Q2, and then held provisional pole for a while. Hamilton was the only frontrunner to do two runs in Q3, and his initial benchmark stood until first local hero Fernando Alonso in the much improved Ferrari, then the incredible Maldonado beat him. But there was still more to come from Hamilton, who produced a 1m21.707s to give McLaren its 150th Formula 1 pole. The Briton then stopped on track on his slowing-down lap. Just behind Maldonado, Alonso held second ahead of Lotus team-mates Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen, who again proved extremely competitive. Both Saubers made it into Q3, with Sergio Perez going on to take sixth, but Kamui Kobayashi consigned to 10th as his car expired on the way back to the pits at the end of Q2. Nico Rosberg was seventh after just one early run in Q3. Championship leader Sebastian Vettel starts eighth ahead of Michael Schumacher, both choosing not to set a time to conserve tyres for the race. McLaren’s Jenson Button and Mark Webber were the big casualties of qualifying, both drivers missing out on Q3 and starting 11th and 12th respectively. It means Button is faced with an uphill task in Sunday’s race having struggled with the hard compound tyre throughout the weekend. It was a bad day for Felipe Massa as well, the Ferrari driver registering his worst grid position so far in this already-disappointing season as he qualified behind the Force Indias and Toro Rossos in 17th. While Maldonado stormed towards the front, his Williams team-mate Bruno Senna pushed too hard in his efforts to keep up – spinning into the gravel at the end of Q1 and ensuring an instant exit. Vitaly Petrov outqualified Caterham team-mate Heikki Kovalainen for the first time as the back-of-the-grid teams lined up in the usual order. Charles Pic was quicker than fellow Marussia man Timo Glock, and HRT’s Narain Karthikeyan will needs stewards’ permission to race as apparent mechanical issues left him a long way from the 107 per cent margin.

Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.707...

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Photo: Lewis Hamilton pole GP España

admin — Sat, 12 May 2012 13:45:21 +0000

Revistadelmotor @ Flickr