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Lewis Hamilton should not be surprised when he is sometimes booed.
That is the view of outspoken 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve. At Hockenheim last weekend, Mercedes' British driver was booed at times during the driver parade.
"Lewis should not be surprised," Villeneuve is quoted by Auto Bild.
"He confuses formula one with Hollywood. Everything he does is staged.
"He portrays himself on social media like he is Jesus. The way he knelt next to his car after his problem in qualifying looked like the suffering of Christ. And what he said afterwards was the Sermon on the Mount.
"Then he gestured so dramatically on the podium that everyone could see who sent the sudden rain," Villeneuve said.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, however, wants Hamilton to remain being himself.
After watching the TV replay of the German grand prix, Hamilton wrote on social media that he thought Sky's ex-driver pundits could not find "a good word to say" about him.
He deleted the Instagram post.
But Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff told the Sun: "I actually encouraged him to leave all that stuff online and speak his mind.
"It is what we need. We need to create stories. We need controversies. We need polarising stances," he added.
Blasphemy! Everyone knows there is but one true second born, and he managed to predict the Red Bull pit stop in Baku 30 seconds before it happened. No, I wont tell you Im the greatest, thats for you to say. :3
So Villeneuve said what most of us were thinking. lol
Hear, hear! For all his outstanding racing qualities, he showcases an annoying public persona which comes across fake and is aimed at being trendy and popular. Stick to racing, lad.
Sometimes you see the real Hamilton shine through, a nice amiable guy full of passion for the sport and knowledgeable about every aspect of racing. Most of the time we see a boring show. As if we don't see through that. Why Toto thinks that this artificial display is a good thing I don't know. But Toto himself is the master of canned and rehearsed statements. If we believe Toto's statements than Hamilton is allowed to say whatever he wants, as if we also believe that Mercedes does not apply team orders. I don't mind the fine orchestration, but please don't bore us with all that flimsy nonsense, we are not completely stupid Toto..
I agree that most of what we see from Lewis on camera is staged and that it is annoying. However, I disagree on Toto. All that Toto cares about is that Lewis drivers the wheels of the Mercedes. In all fairness, he's done that most of the time. Clearly, letting Lewis humiliated himself on social media, or make a martyr out of himself,, or travel way too much... It seems to work. So I agree with Toto on that level. Also on the level that F1 needs characters even (perhaps especially) the ones we love to hate. Jaques, Eddie Irvine, Ayrton, Michael, Alonso, Montoya, Ricciardo, Hakkinen, Button, and others, guys like that always gave us something love or hate. Something to talk about, even when they were not winning. Some radio message, some crazy quote to the press.
Not entirely certain what Toto wants, popularity of the brand needs something more than just driving and winning. If there is no real effort, if there is no real struggle, than it is hard to bring up much admiration. That's why the underdog is always so much more popular. But actually Toto does state what he wants in this article, I just don't think he actually accepts the implications of what that is.
When Toto states that "We need to create stories. We need controversies. We need polarising stances." than I believe he thinks this can be taken from thin air. But stories, controversies, and polarising stances come from people that do real things, that have real opinions, dare to voice them and stand up for them. That is not something Toto implies, and given recent team orders it is clear that he does not allow that on track, so little chance he allows it off track. Toto wants the controversy without the real emotion. That is theater. And most drivers, certainly Lewis Hamilton, are bad actors.
The result? If I take my own example, it doesn't do me much whether Lewis Hamilton wins or not. I hardly ever get the impression I see and hear the real person. As part of his "show" he belittles the competition, as if he does not understand that belittling his opponents only diminishes his own achievement. Not only is that not very sportsman like, it is also a rather selfish if you have just won.
As far is I am concerned it has come to the point that I switch off immediately after the finish. I am not interested anymore in the empty statements after the race (from most drivers: "yes the tires, it was really hard, great car, difficult to follow, not really happy, very happy") that gives little insight on how they experienced the race. Often we only hear days later what really happened in that cockpit. (max verstappen managing his tires resulting in the blistered, more loaded tire to become colder than the less loaded tire for instance.)
Therefore I do agree with you that F1 needs real characters, the ones you mention did/do not present perfect colorless images, they did/do not act, they were real! (Or they were just so much better at it...) But none is driving for Toto Wolf..
Don't know what you want to imply, but evidence seems to prove that Jesus was real:
www.theguardian.co(...)rist-lived-and-died
www.livescience.co(...)-evidence-hold.html
And as far as I am concerned the jury is out on Hamilton. :-)
Vileneuve always feels the need to have a grumble, I can't remember when he said anything positive in the media about F1 or the drivers, I welcome being corrected. Which ever way you cut it Hamilton is a very accomplished driver and the sport is all the better for a variety of characters. And as for staged, it is a stage, why not use it. Between Hamilton and Vettel we have an exciting battle again this year, it could still go either way and that is keeping it very exciting!
Even a broken clock is right twice a day
Hate villeneuve but I hate myself to for agreeing with him today
Can't say that I follow him on social media. However his behaviour when things don't go his way is suspect. Werther the struggles against Rosberg (still going on as far as I can tell) or his stance against SKY pundits.
There is an moment when someone in the public light oversteps the mark and they become too self obsessed.
On the Jesus thing: Not sure if he is trying to emulate Senna which is bit sad. HAM a good F1 driver, not so sure about his other credentials.
I think thats when we see the real Hammy. Not the sugarsweet one after a race win or during the average conference, the bitter, viperlike Hammy we see when he weaponizes media and strikes and anyone he doesnt find okay at that specific instant. Of course, I dont know, just a hunch.
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Danimal5981
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Hear, hear! For all his outstanding racing qualities, he showcases an annoying public persona which comes across fake and is aimed at being trendy and popular. Stick to racing, lad.