Thursday, June 14, 2007

Is Hamilton the next big thing?

Doctorvee has a great post on the Hamilton, Alonso and McLaren.



There's no doubt that the hype surrounding Hamilton is just that - Hype, but I'm not going to be betting against him. In my mind, based on current form, the two contenders to the title are Alonso and Hamilton. What makes it exciting is that they both race for the same team and have access to the same machinery.



1. Hamilton is a rookie. This really is his first year, and for a rookie to be leading the WDC its really amazing.

2. Hamilton's results have been really impressive. We cannot compare his results with Alonso's, Kimi's, or even Senna's for the simple reason that none of them ever got a chance with the best car on the grid in their very first season.

3. Alonso is super talented and a Double World Champion. Its foolish to write of Alonso. He won his championships with Schumacher still racing and that's amazing. Plus, it was on a competitive Ferrari.

4. Ferrari also have a great car, and he has managed to be on the podium 6 races out of 6 this year.



Another interesting thing to note is that only guys who managed to come into a team and assert themselves immediately were Senna and Schumacher. Senna won the world championship in his first year for McLaren. Schumacher did not win the world championship in his first year at Ferrari, but he had 3 amazing wins. However, unlike Schumacher, Senna has Prost as his teammate. Schumacher came to Ferrari as the undisputed No 1 with no team mate entrenched in the team. Senna came to McLaren when Prost had already won 2 championships for McLaren.



So, when we look at Kimi and Alonso in their new teams, its not surprising that they are taking their time to get the best of out of their new cars. If Alonso had still been in Renault, there's no doubt he would have done better than Fisi. Last year Alonso had more that double the points that Fisi had after 6 races (54 to 24). Assuming that the same trend would have continued, Alonso would have had atleast 26 points after 6 races this season in Renault. That would have tied him with Heidfeld on points and possibly 3rd or 4th in the championship.



All in all, Hamilton is good, but I feel he needs time to prove himself. Alonso and Kimi have had poor seasons so far, but not without reason. All this makes it an exciting season to watch.



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