Originally Posted by Gene

My 2 cents: I think Hamilton is a great driver and would be a great World Champion, and deserves where he is in the championship, but there are three things that make me not like him as a driver compared to other drivers (nothing personal):

1) He seems to be way too lucky, and nothing bad has happened to him. Here are examples:

- In the Spanish GP it was Alonso's car, not Hamilton's, that was damaged in the put garage when lights fell on it. This supposedly slowed him down the rest of the weekend.
- In the Canadian GP, he pitted one lap before a major safety car and ended up benefitting hugely from this, whereas Alonso had to pit as he had run out of fuel and was penalised.
- In the US GP, he actually had to have his engine swapped out because of a fault. Luckily he didn't get a 10 place penalty because the engine hadn't yet been commissioned for the next two races. On the other hand, Massa in the the Australian GP had his engine swapped out and got a 10 place penalty.
- Supposedly he touched the wall several times in Monaco, yet his car wasn't damaged either time.
- He made it into a top F1 team that is the highest spender out of all teams (according to Business F1). In 2006 many were sure that'll he'll start in a lower team like Prodrive.

Is this his fault? Not at all, but we haven't seen how he handles major disappointment, because it hasn't happened to him. All I know is that in the Monaco GP, he complained he didn't win because of team orders - in the same way some people here say that Alonso complains all the time.

2) The media, particularly the British media, talk about him like a god - especially ITV (who provide the coverage here in NZ). They go on and on and on and on and on and on about how he is so wonderful and he is the next best thing since sliced bread. For crying out loud, there's more people in F1 than him. I remember getting really pissed off in one race when Martin Brundle and the other guy kept wanting the camera to focus on Hamilton and just Hamilton. They talk so much about him that I want to him fail so they would shut up.

3) He never really does anything aggressive or risky and for me that makes him rather boring. Call is safe driving, or driving for the team, but I can't remember him passing anybody, or putting a move on somebody. For example, Alonso's done alot of aggressive starts. Of course he's lost out most of the time, but it puts excitement in the race. Nick Heidfield did an awesome pass on Alonso in the Spanish GP, and even Sato has done some great passes in the US GP and Canadian GP. But although Hamilton's driving is extremely fast and precise, its just rather boring for me.

Don't get me wrong, Hamilton is a World Champion to be, probably a really nice guy and quite well grounded, and of course a world-class driver. But he's not my favourite driver by a long way. Michael Schumacher in comparison is far more interesting. People either hate him or love him, he divides opinion, he does aggressive manueveurs, some which pay and some which don't. He does some questionable things that are clearly unfair, but it provides a talking point.

To be fair, Hamilton hasn't got as many races under his belt to prove himself, so maybe he will become a favourite in future, but so far no cigar from me.