Former Formula One driver Karun Chandhok, now an analyst with Sky Sports F1, is adamant that Lewis Hamilton will be on the grid this season and that the seven-time world champion has lost nothing in terms of speed or competitiveness.
Chandhok, who drove eleven Grands Prix for HRT and Lotus in 2010 and 2011, the radio silence from Hamilton is mainly a matter of waiting for the FIA to fulfil their promise to investigate the goings-on in Abu Dhabi. According to Chandhok, the FIA needs to prove that Abu Dhabi was not a premeditated plan to deprive Hamilton of the title.
The Sky Sports pundit finds it frustrating that it all has to take so long for the FIA to come up with clarity. "It should be simple," he tells The Telegraph. Chandhok particularly wants to know what conversations race director Michael Masi had between the time the initial instruction was given that no cars put on a lap would be allowed to pass and the time the five selected cars did. And what led him to make those decisions?
Despite all the ambiguity surrounding Hamilton, Chandhok doesn't think the seven-time world champion will actually quit. "I'm pretty sure he's still angry, understandably so, but at the end of the day Lewis loves racing and loves winning. He's still at the top of his game." Meanwhile, Hamilton holds his team AND the sport in his grasp. "That's presumably exactly where he wants them."
The hate for black people is every where dumb people will say anything because Hamilton is winning but when Michael and vetel is winning they praise them as world class driver and dont forget botas rosberg have the same car and couldn't beat Hamilton russle drive Hamilton and couldn't manage it so please you all leave Hamilton alone
Lewis needs to stop being a cry baby him and Toto need to stop throwing tantrums that's for children. Max won fair and square, like it or not , it's not always about Lewis. How on a few occasions was Bottas held back so Lewis could win really that is how I saw it.
Lewis is such a cry baby , Max Won fair and square, look how they held Bottas back so Hamilton could win on quite a few occasions. Him and Toto need to stop throwing tantrums that's for children .
Very simple Sports Quote THE BEST PERSON WINS! So was the situation here! 2022 is another year to prove YOU ARE THE BEST! Let the Sportsmanship Spirit prevail Hamilton! Good Luck!
Everyone seems to be missing one extra factor the could have prevented Verstappen winning, if the lapped cars in front of Leclerc had been allowed to unlap themselves then Verstappen would have had to defend from Leclerc and not just focus on Hamilton! He may have even finished in first place but Masi denied Ferrari that opportunity to the benefit of Verstappen. That is what the FIA have to justify, not who won the WDC!
I’ve often pondered what an F1 Season would look like from a skill / completion / entertainment perspective whereby each driver rotated on a race by race basis to another car? Each driver drives each car over the course of the season ……
Great idea. That will produce a true champion! Unfortunately, just not practical.
lol funny how all the people that should know agree Hamilton will race, yet the media still try and blow some fluff out of this non starter story. 'Hamilton now has Formula 1 exactly where he wants it', where ? whishing the drama queen does actually quit. unless he want `fake articles of him quitting, then I dont see how he has anything where he want it,
Ummm, nope. Lewis doesn't have the sport where he wants, only the British fans who couldn't digest Max's fully deserved WDC. Outside the foggy island, no F1 fan cares for the verdict on Abu Dhabi, and few care if LH retires. One thing is sure; if the new Brit friendly FIA (Suleman was elected with full support from UK motorsports and mostly English speaking countries) dare to change the 2021 results, F1 fans outside the UK will leave in droves. And no matter how much Lewis wants the glory, Liberty Media can't afford that.
He'll be back he's playing the game with FIA. He's not going to leave 60 million on the table for 2 years!
When one man becomes so self important in a sport, it’s time to leave - over indulged cry baby.
This blog thrives on the hate for LH. #44 is living rent free in their heads with his silence. Never seen this before where someone's silence pains a lot of people.
Pains? No - I'm enjoying Hami's predicament. He desperately wanted to win 8th WDC. His best chance was last season. Now he have to decide whether risking coming back and being shown up by Russell and Max as the paper tiger he is. Which will also take the shine away from his other 7 titles. If he retires - good riddance. If he stays - oh what a fun season we going to have.
Lmfao! Such typical Brit-rag bias. “Has them right where he wants them…”. ?. I’ll have whatever it is you’re smoking. The FIA called his bluff, and on MARCH 18th, 2 DAYS BEFORE THE SEASON OPENER, they will release a report telling you exactly what they told you 6 weeks ago. I’d say Lewis played his hand, and the FIA called his bluff. If he doesn’t come back - or if he puts on his big boy pants and comes back, I won’t lose a single wink of sleep. The cult of Hamilton…. Lol
Shame in you Lewis , pushing for someone to lose his job cause you lost!!................It's called Motor racing!!!!
"I'm pretty sure he's still angry, understandably so, but at the end of the day Lewis loves racing and loves winning. He's still at the top of his game." Loves racing? No only when not having to drive against any other driver to win. If any driver has been special treated by FIA it's Hamilton, with no or near no penalties for things all other driver got severe penalties. Like Silverstone proved.
Hamilton should receive a five race ban in 2022 as his attitude and behaviours are not that of a F1 World Champion but of an uneducated spoilt brat. Mercedes just need someone half decent to sit in their machine - Hamilton was given championships on a platter. Hamilton has got away with way too much - now it's finally time to face reality
Whjat F1 has gotten wrong again is with a major rules change is not allowing teams to test on the road their cars prior to official test dates. This favors the teams with greater budget because they have more resources with their cad design systems. Seems to me teams should be allowed to run 1 chassis and engine on track privately 3 days. Penny wise dollar foolish.The ban on testing is stupid
Oh, I don't know... Something in the back of my mind keeps telling me that you just don't mess with the FIA.
"That's presumably exactly where he wants them." Waited for the very last sentence to include the word "presumably" ?? Well Karun you presumed wrong. Hamilton's silence is simply nothing more that his trademark crybaby, sore loser performance. The FIA and majority of F1 fans all over the world don't give a s..t about his silence. Too much positive energy and enjoyment coming from everything Max Verstappen.
It’s not Karun - it’s the blogster who added that. Unsurprisingly. Karun isn’t that blind.
Just retire and end this pathetic primadonna act. No one needs to see again the woke agenda promoting, kneeling, rainbow helmeted paper champ in F1. But just in case, we'll be ready to boo him a warm welcome back at 90% of the tracks.
Bring back Lewi SHAMilton , he's been banned , never mind that fake paper champ scheming in his mom's basement. #BringBackLewi
Must I now say..black boy is a nice black boy(Fashion clown) Wheres freedom of speech..Seems all u other wannabe wankers cant handle the truth.
The problem for some of you on here is, you have never achieved anything in your life, never been robbed or had you house broken into or your just plane privilege and bigoted.
you have never achieved anything in your life All these kaka things are easier to put as if u have achieved something and calling others out. And what has achievement goto do with putting opinions here?
What exactly did you achieve Desi? Married a guy silly enough to be your wallet?
It's as busy as it's ever been in the offseason. Chandhok is projecting a stereotype of what a sportsman's mentality should be. Nothing new in that, any champion should think about a fightback after a loss. In this particular case, it's just empty talk because at this point nobody knows about his will to come back and win. He's not as young as most of the guys, he has other hobbies as well. He might have lost his motivation in the process and might want to focus on something different in life. Without any confirmation from him about anythink it is pointless to assume he's hungrier than ever.
Must be a token appointment if Sky sports only has one Indian.....
He needed attention. He didn't get it when losing championship. It's his way of getting that attention back. Most probably he reads F1 stories everyday and just loves how people talk about him, even when he didn't win. "Will Lewis continue or will he not....nobody knows". People who understand his behaviour, know that he will continue. Just like people who can see real Kimi. There's no iceman there, it's all 100% fire.
No mate.... he is just a sore loser and cry baby. They could kick him out after what he did. Totally disrespectful, not only to max but to the sport and all the fans. How would it look if this would happen in every sport. What does that teach our kids. To grow up with temper tantrums when they dont get their way. I used to be a fan of his. The last 2 seasons his ego just got bigger than the sport. He should rather just stay way.....
I say Silverstone, Hungary the 2 times he eas taken out by Mercedes
Well it is what it is , we all know that Masi ,influenced the race win and the WC . #Masi&MaxWC
We all know that Lewis won a race in Bahrain thanks to Masi #Masi&LawisGrandPixBarhain
Wrong. Lewis won because he was in front and Max couldn't get past.
Yeah because he gained 6 seconds over 29 laps and preserved the tires for 30 laps while Max stayed inside the track limits. The rule was ‘cars not allowed to leave turn 4 if that gains them lasting advantage’ and leaving that turn was a gain of 0.200 and that is lasting advantage, so majority of the teams thought it wasn’t allowed but Mercedes’ miraculously knew the ‘true’ meaning . FIA was supposed to have clear rules there, either you can or you can’t, and the worst thing is that Masi said this when asked why he changed rules mid race: “Nothing changed at all,” he said. “We had two people that were looking in that area at every car, every lap and pretty much every car bar one was doing the right thing within what we expected in a general sequence. “There was the occasional car that had a bit of a moment and went out there or whatever it was but it wasn’t a constant thing.” And we remembered the race when it popped up on screen ‘cars not allowed to leave turn 4’ It’s just unbelievable mate that you keep defending what can’t be defended
What and where did a say a racist thing ?? Typical Lewis fan , accusing everyone of being racist, my god what a weak thing to do. I’m waiting for your copy paste
Where did that BS come from? Shut up Daniel, he wasn't being racist or prejudiced at all.
All false mate , Max and RB though it was illegal, because rules stated ‘cars not allowed to exceed track limits if that gains them lasting advantage’ Actually I found a video where Joylon is talking about it but if course he sugarcoated it for Lewis as he missed the point that RB and other teams thought it was illegal as lasting advantage is any advantage on lap time. Also he confirmed is 0.100 at least, I’ve heard it was 0.200 from other interviews and drivers talking about it but even if it’s 0.100 it’s a fooking lasting advantage. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N1zR74ijo7U
I can't speak for Masi and the stewards as to why this or why that. You can feel free to speculate all you want. Where does the '0.2s per lap' come from?? Max was probably warned after Red Bull whinged about Lewis. If they were losing out to Lewis it would make sense for Red Bull to whinge as they normally do. Alpha Tauri you say? The sister team to Red Bull? Well what a coincidence. :) "Max did copy Lewis as soon as they found out he was leaving the track but they didn’t know for 29 laps they don’t have cameras everywhere " Well firstly they did have a TV camera for that corner. We saw them racing there many times on TV. Also Max was right behind Lewis. He was in prime positon to spot it and either call it in or copy Lewis. Didn't help though did it? Lewis has Max covered either way.
You keep defending it by saying false things, like a kid who is defending something that’s not right by being stubborn and repeating same thing like a mantra. I’ll answer still even though it’s pointless 1 yeah exactly how ? When Max got a warning after few laps from 30th to 33rd somewhere there. Why Max got a warning then ? Why Masi said they never changed the rules and all cars were in bounds with turn 4?? But even if they didn’t do all that ‘cars not allowed to leave turn 4 if that gains them advantage ‘ isn’t 0.200 of better lap time the advantage ? Shouldn’t FIA have clear rules there like ‘turn 4 the cars got to be inside the kerb’ and that’s it and not something that can be interpreted two ways. 2 Max did copy Lewis as soon as they found out he was leaving the track but they didn’t know for 29 laps they don’t have cameras everywhere and it was one of the Alpha Tauri cars who reported it. I ask you why Max started doing that immediately ? Because they knew the gain from going wide on turn 4. If Lewis was incorrect, dude that has nothing to do with Lewis he gained that time and used the opportunity that FIA gave him, it’s about FIA having messed up rules which can damage one guy race in this case Max. And finally if Lewis gained that time good for him, I say the same for Max. If Max benefited from safety car on the last lap in Abu Dhabi good for him.
Probably not the best time to bring up Lewis getting a 'gift from the FIA' after what happened in Abu Dhabi.
Yeah he couldn’t because he pushed to hard to close the gap that Lewis had as a gift from FIA. By the time he caught him tires were gone. You keep missing the point guys I’m not surprised at all
Super fresh tires hahaha ? It’s so funny that you post completely wrong thing and then you end up with Period. ! How many laps Max had those tires ? and what do you consider super fresh ?? And why do you think Max said after giving place back to Lewis that his tires were gone and he just settled for 2nd place if he had super fresh tires ? You gotta watch it again mate you misunderstood the whole race mate
Your explanation was pure Max fanboy fanatical hogwash! The thing is Max was within striking distance in the end and still failed to make the pass stick despite being on super fresh tyres. Period!
That's not the same at all. Max couldn't pass Lewis in Bahrain, period. Regardless of turn 4 or not. When Lewis was told not to do it any more, Max still couldn't pass. Same same.
Right after I explained why that happened you answer with this. Brilliant, that’s like me saying at the end of the day Max was a second in front of Lewis in Abu Dhabi. That’s what happened there
At the end of the day, Max was less than a second behind Hamilton on fresh tyres, but failed to make a pass. Thats what happened in Bahrain.
If it can't be defended then how am I defending it? In F1 if you go over track limits 2-3 times, you're already getting warnings on the radio from your team because stewards have warned the team. So how does Lewis manage it 29 times without a warning? How does RB not complain after a few laps? Why did it take 29?? Why didn't Max copy Lewis if he thought he was losing that much time. I question whether it was 0.2 per lap though. Maybe Red Bulls car wasn't so compliant on the kerbs as the Merc. If Lewis was incorrect then why did it take 29 laps (45-50mins?) to correct it? And finally if Lewis gained 6s from it (which again, I question), then good for him.
Your mother do a very bad job by giving birth to you and teach u to hate another because of skin colour. She done a very bad job
like I say it still hurts, well it's going to hurt longer, get used to it
Yip being cheated out of an epic 8th WC of course it hurts.
He can leave, he can stay and he can destroy all 2022 competition by support Russell to a WDC win.
Am DUTCH I don’t can’t we cheat everyday here in Holland we love Netflix champion orange minions
F1, where races are run 6-9 seconds slower than a qualifying lap (due to purposely poorly constructed tyres and limited fuel), is now a race of efficiency rather than performance. The single-seater weighs 95-97% of the results, the driver 3-5%, if that's OK. Strategies are made by the engineers in the pits with telemetry, and the drivers are the executors, who only have to ask permission to overtake, or to push to the maximum. If Mercedes got the F1 2022 car wrong, not even driven by god on earth could win, but if they got it right, any decent driver could win. It's all fake, or almost.
"If Mercedes got the F1 2022 car wrong, not even driven by god on earth could win, but if they got it right, any decent driver could win." And the same can be said about the 2022 Red Bull. As for your F1 assessment, I totally agree with you. Running races when conserving fuel and tyres is the name of the game just doesn't seem.... pure.
Certainly, the same thing applies to RedBull and any other car. A complete levelling out between the cars is obviously impossible, and not even desirable, but when driver skill mattered, a number of drivers with suitcases (full of dollars) who were not up to scratch were immediately ejected for manifest inability. Now, any driver with a minimum of ability can get into an F1 car, because, apart from a few rare exceptions, GPs are run at a relatively mild pace, far from the limit, and if he is lucky enough to have a competitive single-seater and a good engineer driving it, he will also make a good impression.
Clarkson said it before (f... Hamilton, f... Mercedes - make it competitive again), and the US comedian Bill Burr went so far to call it a non-sport. In sport there is competition, if you have this best car scenario, its not a sport anymore, How can 18 out of 20 drivers compete for 3rd place, knowing they won't come close to the first 2 guys.
Let's add that with the freezing of technical developments of the engine during the season, and astronomical costs for the hybrid that absorb the budgets of the teams, especially those who have to buy the engines, among bans and lack of funds, after three GPs it is already clear who is in front and who is behind, and we also know that this will be the case throughout the season, unless they change the rules in the process (ban on RB's already homologated wing and change of tyre structure since Silverstone, race directors who favour one team or another, or driver, to try to keep the focus on F1). The source of all F1's ills lies in the choice of a frighteningly expensive engine, which does not even have the DNA for pure performance racing. In an attempt to hide this horribly wrong choice, they have tried to mix things up with DRS, with tyres with poor performance in races and with the absurd obligation to run GPs with two different compounds, instead of the best one (for that particular car). The US soul of Liberty Media is then doing the rest, i.e. trying to interfere in order for F1 to be pure spectacle.