Lewis Hamilton – Next Schummi or Jacque ?

Games, videos

Of the few sports that I love watching, F1 and Tennis tops the list. Regarding the latter, its not just restricted to watching, I play the game a little bit too :).

Yesterday’s French Open final between Roger Federer and Nadal was supposed to be a clash of the “titans” and I expected at least a 5 set thriller. However it turned out to be more of a one sided match. I have never seen Federer play that bad; The number of unforced errors he made were so untypical of him.

After Schumacher’s exit previous year, I was not sure if I would watch Formula1 racing with the same enthusiasm. However the guy who has caught everybody’s attention including me is the rookie Lewis Hamilton !

This guy has had a dream run till now on his debut year. He has stepped on the podium in all the 6 races and now leads the driver championship. The car that he is currently driving (McLaren Mercedes) is definitely of some help, but even then you got to have something to be in the top and win races.

He reminds me a little bit of Jacque Villeneuve when he entered F1 in 1996. His début was nothing less than spectacular; he became only the third Formula One driver in history to achieve both a pole and a podium position in his maiden grand prix.

He led the race until an oil leak, and team orders, forced him to slow and allow team mate Damon Hill to pass. He held on to finish second.

So is Hamilton the next Schumi or the next Jacque ?

P.S. Yesterdays race also had a spectacular crash by Robert Kubica. The fact that he survived with just a sprained leg is a testimonial of the safety standards set in Formula 1. (Move the video slider to 1:10 sec to quickly have a look at the crash)

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  • Apurv Jun 13, 2007 Link

    Jacques Villeneuve.. damn, he would have registered a victory in his maiden grand prix, had it not been for the team orders! I haven’t really seen a lot of Hamilton, yeah I know he’s been recording podium finishes in all the races till now, and today was the news that the team is backing Hamilton more than Alonso now!

    French Open semi finals I feel was better with Djokovic’s 2 handed backhands giving some fight to Nadal’s forehand. The first set was a cracker till Nadal literally forced Djokovic to submission. The way he won the match, I was pretty sure that Fed will have to visit Roland Garros again in the future to complete his Grand Slam, and perhaps it would be possible only if Nadal’s not playing that year!

  • Venu Jun 13, 2007 Link

    Alonso ditched big time.. cool 🙂 I like it 😀 Anyway Hamilton looks like a worthy guy to back …

    Federer..hmm I am guesssing he might also end up like Sampras.. He also could never lift the cup on Roland Garros 🙂

  • Apurv Jun 14, 2007 Link

    Yeah, perhaps never on Roland Garros, or may be when Rafa is not playing for some reason. Even then though, I’m pretty sure there’ll be some Spaniard/Argentine who’ll block Fed’s way to the ultimate glory! R’ber Safin’s still playing..