Before you start reading this rather long article in which I critise the actions of two world champion drivers, I ask you to keep three things in mind:
- A lot of the comments are made in the heat of the moment when the driver is obviously emotionally angry/sad/disappointed.
- A racing driver is, after all, human. We all make mistakes and say things we didn’t mean or wish we didn’t. However, I argue that part of the curse of being a public icon is that your actions and words have a greater impact than most and thus you need exercise more caution when making them. I’ll explain in more detail further on.
- Please read both the Hamilton and Vettel sections with an open mind, regardless of any personal affection of either driver. I welcome all comments below, whether you whole heartedly agree or disagree with my opinion.
Lewis Hamilton
Hamilton suffered an unfortunate puncture on Lap 3 at last weekend’s grand prix. What followed was an unprecedented show of negativity starting with “That’s it guys, we should retire the car” to constant incessant complaining and finally ending with the question “Is rain coming?” on a bright, sun day. To me, that was immensely disappointing to hear.
Before I explain why so, it’s important to acknowledge that pit radio messages are often delayed. I watched back the highlights from BBC F1 on iPlayer to confirm when this message was played to find out it was on Lap 4, after he had pitted for tyres. However, it could just as well have been on Lap 3 when he was crawling back to the pits.
Let’s try and put ourselves in Lewis’s helmet during that crawl back to the pits.
It’s his 100th Grand Prix. McLaren have had a tough few weekends where they have been lacking in pace. This weekend, McLaren have a strong upgrade package that have given them a very competitive car. The expectations are high. He hasn’t had a great qualifying. Jenson’s out-qualified him for the first time this year. He doesn’t even get to move up a grid spot like Jenson because of Mark Webber penalty. He gets a puncture very early on in the race for no fault of his own (most probably caused due to debris on track from Massa’s front wing collision). He feels immensely disappointed because he knows that every second he is lumbering back toward’s, his rivals in the world championship fight are flying ahead in the race. He knows he very little chance to score points. A wasted weekend.
What does Hamilton do? He wants to retire the car?!
Why it was immensely disappointing to hear
Lewis Hamilton is a Formula One world champion. He has ascended the very peak of motor sport and has held the title that quite literally inscribes him as the very best driver in the world that year. With that, I believe, comes some responsibility. He has thousands of fans worldwide and is an inspiration to many upcoming drivers. His actions are thus held to a higher regard than most. At last week’s grand prix, Hamilton let down his supporters.
How many dedicated fans travel to a grand prix and pay increasingly ludicrous ticket fares to watch their hero, their world champion race? How will they feel when they find out he wants to retire the car and give up? I understand retiring the car late in the grand prix if it meant a free gear box change next race (instead of a 5 place grid penalty) but retiring it on lap 4 because you lack motivation to race? That’s not on.
If you’re a racing driver, you have one primary, rather obvious & self titled titled job – to race. To race no matter rain or shine, no matter what the conditions. You’re being paid to race. Think of all those upcoming racing drivers or drivers looking for a seat in F1. They’re giving everything they’ve got to be given an opportunity to drive these cars. These Formula One cars that represent the very best of science in motion. These cars that have been worked on by hundreds of team members that sweat blood to make them a tenth faster. You’re in an incredibly privileged position that many would dream to be in. And you chose not to race? You give up?
My view is simple: No. You shouldn’t. You’re a professional. You should show resilience, tough mettle and grit to fight your way back. So what if you’re not racing for points? You’re still racing! Be thankful your incident wasn’t terminal and drive the wheels off your car.
Lewis’ Psychological Grit
I’ve personally regarded Lewis as psychologically the weakest driver amongst the top few fighting for championships. I referred to that in an article I wrote last year about how Jenson’s form affected him. His race engineer last week constantly pushing him “we can make this work, Lewis” or “you are the fastest car on the track, Lewis”. He seems to need constant positive reinforcement from the team in any moment of dispair, a “big up” urging him forward.
It’s not that Lewis lacks any urge to go racing. Normally, he’s probably eager than most! (As portrayed in the brilliant McLaren ‘Tooned’ cartoons) However, when the going gets rough, he very often forms a negative aurora around him. If the car isn’t the fastest, he’s the first to complain. If something goes wrong (which sadly through no fault of his own has happened quite a bit to him), instead of using it as motivation to push even harder, he seems to get into a cocoon.
What is disappointing as a fan of his great on track racing is how he lets these negatives actively hurt his performance and racing. For example, he was a glum face all towards the end of 2011 because he was going through troubles with his girlfriend, Nicole Sherzinger. He actively acknowledged he wasn’t in a “happy place” and that was affecting his performance. To put forward a comparison, Fernando Alonso went through a divorce with his wife of 5 years and made no fuss about it. His performance on track wasn’t even slightly affected. He recently said on one of his twitter interviews:
Alonso: When you step into one of these cars, believe me, you’re not thinking about anything else.
To me, that’s what being a professional sportsmen is all about. It’s about never giving up, fighting to the last moment and never letting anything else affect you from competing. You have to take in all the weight of expectations from yourself, your fans, your team and sponsors to deliver on the arena. But hey, Alonso is also human and infamously said “I give up, I give up” in Korea 2011, although I strongly believe that was a coded message to Ferrari for letting Massa block him earlier in the race.
Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel called Lewis Hamilton “stupid” post race for unlapping himself and ‘interfering’ with the race leaders. I’m disappointed because in my view he made mistakes:
- There was absolutely nothing wrong with Hamilton’s actions. Blue flags are for cars that are slower, not cars that are lapped. Many times in history a driver has unlapped himself from the leader. It was a highly unusual situation but fantastic to watch. Hamilton showed true fighting spirit for the only time in that race when faced with the embarrassment of being lapped.
- He called a fellow driver “stupid”. This is not for the first time he has shown a tendancy for calling others names, he also called Narian Karthikeyan an idiot in Malaysia.
Just like I did for Hamilton, I’m going to try and step into his racing boots.
You’re steadily closing the gap to Alonso by two-tenths of a second lap after lap. Suddenly, Hamilton uses DRS to come up behind you and despite being a lap down, overtakes you! He becomes an obstacle between you and Alonso. He is faster because he has a much fresher set of tyres and in his dirty air you can’t overtake him. Every second you’re stuck behind his rear wing is every second his team mate Jenson is using to close the gap to you. Every second by which Alonso is escaping further and every second one that takes away your chances of your first home grand prix win. On a circuit few miles away from your place of birth.
Immensely annoying I’m sure but certainly no reason to call a fellow respected driver “stupid”. My same argument from above applies; you are a world champion who inspires many drivers and are the adoration of many fans (who will most probably send me comments for criticising you). You thus have a certain burden to act responsibly and not descend to petty name calling. Here is a tweet from Josh Hill (Damon Hill’s son and Graham Hill’s grandson. Upcoming racing driver too – no pressure!) that I found amusing but telling:
BREAKING: Vettel calls Hamilton stupid after German GP. Lewis says that Vettel smells in retaliation………. #growup
— Joshua Hill (@joshhillracing) July 22, 2012
This leads me on to my concluding point where I ask you to refer back to my first words of this article (which you probably read a good 15 minutes ago) – both Sebastian and Lewis are humans who are say these comments in the heat of the moment. Both are undoubtedly two of the best racing drivers we have ever had in F1 history. Both are “young guns” who are extremely competitive and strive for nothing less than victory. However, both of my favourite drivers to watch showed disappointing behaviour this weekend. I hope that as they gather more experience (perhaps by driving a thoroughly mid field car), they will show the relative grace in defeat shown by world champions like Fernando Alonso or Jenson Button.
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