Lewis Hamilton

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Will he do it in the final race of the season?

If he does, and continues to progress, he could be the best F1 driver of all time. He's got such an attacking mentality and a fierce desire to win. Not to mention, when he gets his nose in front he's so hard to budge. So long as his car holds, I'm pretty confident he'll do it.

How many other 1st year rookie drivers have been in this position?

 

I agree, Barmy. I think he can do it as long as he finishes in the points. The car has been good all year so I don't think that will be a problem. Let's hope he doesn't buckle under the pressure.

I think Jacques Villeneuve lost the championship on the last race back in 1996. I'm pretty sure it was his first year on the circuit.

 

I think he can do it. He has the mentality and the McLaren is good and I'm pretty sure the team will let him win if it's between him and Alonso. And I know, there is a special steward assigned to monitor a fair fight between those two, but I also know Ron Dennis is nifty enough to find a way around it.

But yeah, he will be world champion; if it isn't this year, it will be another. He is probably already a legend... he can only get bigger from now on. Let's hope the competition doesn't slack off and he is crowned after half a season next year...

As for other first year rookie drivers... Jacques Villeneuve is the first who comes to mind. He scored a pole position in his first race, but did not win it (he did finish on the podium). I think he held the record of most victories in a rookie season. He indeed last the championship that year against Damon Hill in the last race.

 

The championship is his to lose now, he is the clear favorite and should be able to take this one in the bag. He has had an impressive season and obviously is very talented and a fast driver but he needs to show constiency from season to season if he wishes to become one of the greats, so it's way too early to tell. I probably need not remind anyone what happened to Jacques Villineuve after he won his championship.

What talks for Hamilton though is that he has again and again outperformed a two time champion which in itself is a very impressive merit. I expect him to win this one but the true tests of greatness are yet to come.

 

Right now I'm more worried about him losing points for aggressive driving or some such than not getting the necessary points. He's been criticized over that in some races iirc. Anyway, yes - a first-year driver winning the cup is, to put it mildly, impressive.

 

You should be in Spain for a week.
Everything has a plot against Alonso; Hamilton is called cheater (I wonder since when is cheating driving under severe rain behind the safety car); Ron "gives" the best car to Lewis (how so? Alonso is 4 points behind in the championship?!); the FIA is against Alonso (that long pit in Hungary).
I really hope Lewis can make it; he did a great job, even tho people say that he got all setups from Alonso (so what? isn't against the rules and you have to TAKE the car to the finish line no matter what setup); he made just one mistake and that was being to anxious in China, should let Kimi win, he could have been champion already.
He drives like nobody, remember his race in GP2 in Turkey? passing 4 cars in 3 turns? If not, maybe you can remember that he was the only one who passed cars in an aggresive way, like the one to Kimmi and Masa in Italy; people say that these days you don't see too much passing; but put Lewis fourth and he surely will pass the other 3 where you will never imagine.
So from Spain: go Lewis!

 

What can I say. A few people will be very, if they went to their bookmaker first.