Bleacher Report - Articles by Paul Bolton

Lewis Hamilton's Success: The Man or the Car?

Paul Bolton — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 08:48:25 -0400

Winning the title is an amazing achievement. And winning it in the best and fastest car is great. But winning it despite your own car is even better.

I have always had more respect for the drivers that, purposefully, choose to drive for a lesser team and aim to win races and the championship by beating the best car rather than sitting in it, clocking off laps like taxi drivers, and collecting easy points.

Between 1980 and 1993, all of the titles except for two were won by drivers for either McLaren or Williams. Then Michael Schumacher. He had an impressive debut race with Jordan in 1991 before moving to Benetton for the next race.

After an astonishing wet/dry race in Spa 1992 where he collected his first win, he would go on to win the title in 1994 and again a year later. The first title being even the more impressive after being disqualified from two races and excluded from a further two.

Seeing that Benetton had won a mere six races between 1986 and 1992, it was such a great achievement to win back to back titles against better opponents. This was a shock to McLaren and Williams, seeing their duopoly broken by the competitive young German.

Indeed, after Schumacher moved in 1996 to Ferrari, Benetton would only win one more race before morphing into Renault.

His move to Ferrari was again one to a lesser team, in that the Italians had only won two races since 1991, but Michael thought that winning the title with Ferrari and getting this historic team great again would be a far better achievement than if he had joined Williams. Doubtless he would had cruised to both the 96 and 97 titles.

He then had an opportunity to join McLaren in 1998, and for more money than Ferrari were offering, but he choose once again to stay.

This determination of winning the championship againstthe best car would result with his five titles. He indeed said "if you are in the best car, anything other than first place is losing and winning is standard. Where's the motivation in that?"

And this was backed up by his clear unhappiness with his Indy win in the farcical 2005 race. I think that was the only race he did not do his trademark jump! For Schumacher, the challenge was proving himself to be the winning factor and not his car.

In the first three Ferrari seasons he brought the team back up the championship tables with a third place and a second place (and another second place points wise in 1997 although officially he was excluded).

But this success was achieved with just nine poles and 10 fastest laps in those 49 races, meaning his car was by no means the fastest on the grid. To have scored so many points and gained wins but having such a slower car was down to Michael's ability. Triumph against the best.

So whatever views people have about Michael he didn't want to just cruise around to easy wins. His four pit-stop race adds to this in his victory in France in 2004. He was prepared to try something different to win and let it be known that he, the man, was the key to winning, not the car.

We now come to Fernando Alonso, who began in 2001 with Minardi, the perennial underachievers. He finished in eight of the 17 races and considering his car's (lack of) speed, had a successful season.

Alonso returned to racing in 2003 with Renault and after a string of good points finishes including three podiums, he won in Hungary, beating Michael fair and square despite having a vastly inferior car.

In 2005, Alonso had six out of 19 poles and two two fastest laps whilst the next year he score another six poles and five fastest laps. This backs up that whilst he had a good car it was not the best nor fastest overall.

So Alonso's double title win in 2005 and 2006 was once again a triumph of the smaller team outwitting, outpacing and outscoring the "big boys". Alonso showed that, like Michael, the difference was himself, the man, and not his sometimes slow Renault.

This is bringing us now onto Lewis Hamilton and the first race of the 2009 season. Testing suggested the McLarens would struggle for pace and this proved to be the case during qualifying, with the front row being locked out by the debutant Brawn GP. Lewis was 15th after retiring from Q2.

Now after having had fast and competitive cars for nearly his entire racing career and certainly for his F1 career, he now needs to rethink his steps. I have been impressed with what Lewis had done since he joined F1, and if not for a fiercely debated tactical call in Monaco in 2007, he would be double world champion, but I want more from him...

If he had joined a smaller team and then moved onto McLaren then that would be down to his ability to drive a slow car really well and achieve despite his equipment and machinery.

But I was saddened to learn that he wanted stay with the Woking team for his entire career...Until now it has been unclear whether his fantastic set of results has been down to him or down to his McLaren-Mercedes. Until now..

Whenever a team goes on a decline or is clearly off the pace for the first few races, as we expect the Silver Arrows to be, their drivers are more under the spotlight. It will be really interesting to see if Lewis can show that he can win despite his own car—that he can win in a slower car.

That he has the temperament, the tactics, the nous, to achieve success with little help from the machine beneath him.

Drivers such as Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve both won impressive titles for Williams but achieved very little once leaving. Only one good race for Hill in 1997 in Hungary for Arrows and 11 straight retirements for JV in his first season at BAR showed that these were drivers that were more reliant on the cars than their own prowess.

This season will show whether Lewis is truly one of the greats, whether his first two seasons were down to just the car or whether he was the key factor in his success. Is Lewis' success the man or the car? This season will tell us.

A Winner's Wish

Paul Bolton — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 09:21:20 -0400

Whilst researching the history of the F1 World Championship, I had noticed a number of titles that to me have always seemed unfairly won. Not due to a foul act or suspicious circumstances, but to me I felt sometimes the title winner was not the most deserving driver, or had not even been the best driver.

I here look into the Winner's Wish:

Particularly of interest to me have been the titles won where the driver has managed just a single race victory. Mike Hawthorn in 1958 and Keke Rosberg in 1982 are two classic champions in point here.

In '58 Hawthorn had one win, in France, whilst Stirling Moss had probably his best year in F1, winning the first and last races of the season in Argentina and a fantastic Moroccan race, whilst also bagging the Dutch and Portuguese GPs.

I am sure others might agree that '58 is regarded as Moss's year despite just missing out on the title.

Similarly in '82, Rosberg won in Switzerland whilst a host of other drivers won two races a piece: Didier Pironi, Alain Prost, Rene Arnoux, Niki Lauda, John Watson, all of whom could be regarded as having a better season.

So I was rather pleased to have woken up to the news that the title would be decided by race wins, then, if needed, a points system.

Whilst I know that the new points system was, in part, created due to the Schumacher dominance years, it was clear that it gave less of a reward for a winning: 10 points to eight points in second, compared to 10 points to six points previously.

With the current climate where teams are almost equally competitive, we are seeing a multitude of winners each season, usually the title contenders winning a few each whilst other drivers have grabbed their first wins such as Kovalainen, Vettel and Kubica.

So even though theoretically the title could now be won after just over half the season (e.g. if a driver wins the first 10 out of 18 races), I doubt that today such a situation would or could arise.

Had the system been in place since 1950 then I know that one of my favourite drivers, Nelson Piquet, would not have won any of his three titles. '81 and '83 going to Prost whilst Nigel Mansell would have claimed the title in '87.

Happily for me, the system is not retrospect! Leaving aside this, clearly in each of these three seasons, there were drivers winning more races than Piquet, so they were perhaps better and more deserving.

Onto modern times and with the recent 2009 testing times showing Red Bull, Renault and the new Brawn GP to be matching Ferrari and ahead of McLaren, then a system that encourages winning can only be worthwhile.

In Driven to Extremes, about Michael Schumacher, I recall a quote from Luca Di Montezemelo in 1998 saying that the F1 championship is not a series for taxi drivers. This would turn out to be ironic as during that year, if Schumacher had just been a taxi driver in Belgium, clocking off the laps until the end, he may have been champion that year.

But instead he wanted to win the race and I applaud this effort, even though it ended in vain, by crashing in David Coulthard.

This brings us onto last season where Lewis was required to finish in fift, so he raced to finish in fifth place. I am certain that Schumacher would have gone all out for the win, to win the title in style if nothing else.

As too Damon Hill was quoted in Sept. 1996 that he would not go around cruising for points to win the title, having a 13-point lead over his teammate rival Jacques Villeneuve.

I found the Brazil 2008 race very difficult to watch as Felipe drove his heart out to record the home win he needed whilst Lewis just drove slowly around to gain his fifth place, albeit in dramatic circumstances at the end.

A rule that encourages drivers to win, or perhaps just to be more like the drivers of yesteryear who would try to win every race, is one that excites me.

I leave this discussion with a theoretical possibility. Using the current points system suppose that Lewis is second in all 18 races. He would then have 144 points. Then suppose that Alonso wins 14 races and comes eighth in another three, whilst DQing in the last race.

He would have 143 points.

I am sure many people that Alonso would have been the better driver yet would lose out on the title to a driver that had not won a race.

I feel that with the Winners' Wish system we know that the usual title contenders (Lewis, Alonso, Felipe, Kimi) and a host of others (Button, Vettel, Kubica, etc) will aim for wins in every race.

I look forward to the season opener!!

Will Bruno Senna Change the Landscape of Formula One?

Paul Bolton — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:21:57 -0400

We come to the interesting stage of the season where the drivers start to show their hand as to where they shall be racing next year, whilst on-track, the action is giving us a very enjoyable championship to savour.

To have Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa all level on points while Robert Kubica is just a couple behind has resulted in another tight yet open title race on similar scales to 2007 and 2003! (Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya)

Kimi seems to hold the key in terms of movement and it's likely that Fernando Alonso would take over his seat at Ferrari, whether it is next year or 2010. The Iceman does not appear to be around in the sport for much longer, and whilst his driving may be missed, his speaking skills (or rather lack of) will not.

News of Vettel joining Webber at the rapidly-improving Red Bull gives another strong midfield team, although the chances of Renault doing much without Alonso will remain to be seen.

Renault and Red Bull could indeed swap places, with the former champions perhaps becoming the "also-rans" whilst the latter might even be able to sneak an odd win here or there.

Webber is certainly overdue a great result. His consistent scoring this season has been pleasing to monitor, as has his qualifying pace. However, he needs a few more higher placed finishes or a few trips to the podium. With continued support from David Coulthard, this team can only improve further still!

Bruno Senna is also hopefully on the way to F1, and to have the name Senna back in racing can move on the sport in more positive directions after recent months. He looks every bit as fast as Uncle Ayrton, and we look forward to seeing his arrival in our sport sooner rather than later.

Whilst having a famous name has not yielded much success for Piquet yet, his recent points scoring showed there is some potential, but this may be too little too late.

The sight of seeing Nelson and Nelsinho at the start of the season sporting T-shirts with "We're Back" may prove to be fruitless if Piquet Jr. is without a seat for next year.

Sutil has had some well-driven races for back of the field Force India, and this is another team that is getting closer to the big boys. If Sutil has his chance in one of the top teams next year, then expect him to grab a race win or two, as he just continues to improve.

Before coming into F1, he did look as though he would become successful and he has already shown this through spirited drives in lesser cars.

Of this year's new tracks, Singapore looks highly enticing with the prospect of night racing. The actual circuit would be interesting enough in the daytime with its bridges and tour around the harbour, yet for this to be raced under lights will just add to the spectacle.

Assuming the race goes well then maybe a few more night races, such as Australia and Japan, could be coming our way.

There are further tracks on the way, as the championship looks to be extended to 20 races with potential of South Africa, Russia, India, Dubai, etc. Instead of France perhaps losing their GP, maybe a switch to the fantastic Paul Ricard would solve the problem.

Although the teams know the circuit from testing, the track itself is far more interesting and enjoyable to watch than Magny-Cours.

In today's race at Hockenheim, although I for one am still in favour of the longer circuit, with the very fast straights through the forest. And interesting how Germany with its five drivers out of the 20, has to switch between tracks each year, yet Spain, with its single (albeit former champion) driver Alonso hosts two races.

Today, it looks like a fight between the McLarens and Felipe Massa, with perhaps Fernando Alonso in the mix if he can steal some places on the start line.

Kimi Raikkonen is down in sixth, and he might be in for another poor race if he is not fully focused. He also needs the Ferrari team to be sensible at pit stops if he is to somehow power his way up on to the podium.

Enjoy the race!