Feedback: your letters
If the Mercedes team had adopted the Ferrari model, Lewis Hamilton would already have seven championships
Hamilton has already exceeded the record
We are seeing a lot of plaudits for Lewis Hamilton equalling Michael Schumacher’s wins record, but he has really already exceeded it. If the Mercedes team had adopted the Ferrari model, he would already have seven championships as Nico Rosberg would not have been allowed to challenge Lewis!
Also, who can forget the 2002 Austrian GP, when Rubens Barrichello had to pull over on the last lap to let MS through to win – one race he really didn’t win! There were other races that he was ‘given’ rather than ‘won’.
With regard to the best driver ever, it can only be the greatest of a given era. Anything else is meaningless.
I am of an age when I can remember your first issues, so, congratulations for staying the course, long may you continue.
Peter Clothier By email
Unjust denial of victory
Of course Lewis Hamilton already has 92 wins, but was unjustly deprived of his Spa victory in 2008 (pictured) by the stewards. Not only denied the victory, but almost cost him the championship as well – a dark day in F1 history.
Stephen Lee By email
Childish response to criticism
So, to great media fanfare, Lewis Hamilton has finally matched Michael Schumacher’s tally of race wins, a feat he will undoubtedly exceed by a substantial margin by the end of his career. Yet I find it hard to admire him in the same way as other major figures in motorsport, as his immature, petulant and arrogant attitude continually lets him down, so that in any adverse situation he always seeks to play the victim.
The latest illustration of this is his childish response to
Sir Jackie Stewart’s comments on the greatest ever drivers in motorsport: Lewis was not quite top of the pile in Sir Jackie’s opinion, with preference given to Juan Manuel Fangio and
Jim Clark on the grounds that they mastered many different types of machinery every weekend, and in a much more difficult and dangerous environment. For Lewis to respond to this as though it were a personal insult is ridiculous, and shows just how shallow and insecure he must be.
Paul Richards West Norfolk
Lotus 72 special stirs memories
Thank you for the Lotus 72 special issue (8 October).
The first event I attended was the John Player Victory meeting at Brands Hatch in 1972 after Emerson Fittipaldi had won the world championship. Stood halfway down Paddock Hill Bend and confirmed my love for the sport.
Clive Chapman spoke about the JPS victory stickers. My friend’s dad worked for Bob Sparshott Fabrications, who did work for Lotus, and he got me a full set of the stickers which adorned my bedroom door.
This drive down memory lane now confirms to me that I no longer judge my age by my birthdays, instead by how many Autosport anniversary editions I get to!
Paul Neal By email