lewis hamilton grabs another headline

[ mclaren, montreal, lewis hamilton, formula 1 ]

yeah, another post on lewis hamilton. this guy is really taking the formula 1 circus by storm. it was just a matter of time before he grabbed his first pole, and he did it at montreal - the circuit of the 'wall of champions'. it is also a matter of time before his first win sinks.

what makes this pole more amazing is the fact that lewis has never been to circuit gilles villeneuve. so basically he came, he saw, and he conquered. of course it wasn't really that simple. the montreal track is one that is very demanding on brakes and suspensions; thus car balance has to be perfect.

alonso is definitely pressured now, and he shouldn't deny it. alonso was seen chasing for pole position on the last lap, but couldn't as he made an uncharacteristic mistake at the hairpin (could be the point they radioed in on lewis' pole) and then at the penultimate corner. uncharacteristic is definitely a sign of a person under pressure.

this is an alien situation for alonso right now. having a teammate fast enough to beat him at any given day, or perhaps even having a faster teammate (period), must be a fact difficult for him to swallow. there are so much attentions on lewis, alonso surely feels that his thunder has been stolen. without the media to continuously inflate his ego, he has to work harder to earn it. he cannot afford to mess up, because if he does, his star teammate will be there to benefit from it. lewis hamilton must be alonso's least favourite name in the world.

alonso was asked if he would give lewis advice on starting his first pole, here's how he answered it (rather funny):

Q: (Randy Phillips – The Gazette) Fernando, do you have any advice for your team-mate starting for the first time from pole position?
FA: We will see tomorrow, I think today has been a good qualifying for the team again, a good job by everybody – first and second. The team should be very happy today.

Q: (Randy Phillips – The Gazette) But do you have any particular advice for Lewis?
FA: No advice. Don’t be too aggressive in the first corner and let me go through. (Laughter)

NH: The same for me please.

anyways, p1 and p2 are definitely great results for mclaren. the cars looked fast and flawless during qualifying, with superb downforce that made the cars stick. you wouldn't expect anything lower. many (especially ferrari) were caught surprised by mclaren's pace, as it was believed that mclaren's monaco speed was a one-off. not so it seems, and mclaren is definitely pulling away from the field.

so who is there to stop mclaren? ferrari? i don't think they can. the ferrari magic has disappeared ever since michael's departure. when michael was around, you'd ask yourself, "the situation is bad, but could he pull out a rabbit from his helmet?" you couldn't really doubt him. now you have massa and kimi, but no magic. how about bmw? impressive but not there yet. maybe quick nick has learned some card tricks of his own.

although a mclaren 1-2 is very likely for tomorrow's race, but watch out for some fireworks. a mclaren fireworks.



previous posts:
monaco recap
wonderful video by shell
lewis crash! boom! bang!
are you ready for monaco?
f1 circuit chief sacked for corruption