The weird and wonderful world of Lewis Hamilton

[jimclark]

Bottom post of the previous page:

Who?

Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Hint: You need to bone up on your Star Wars.

[Michael Ferner]

Oh, Star Wars. Blissfully passed me by.

[jimclark]

S'allright. I only saw the first one. I didn't care to see any more (as only the first of the Star Trek movies).

It was just the "Skywalker" that caught my attention (Luke ring a bell?).

Other then that, I wouldna' known either.....

[strad]

That same quote has also been attributed to Adolf Hitler and Iosif Stalin, doesn't make it any cleverer.

And that doesn't make it any less true.

[Michael Ferner]

That's bullshit, of course, but despots and tyrants all over the world are happy that there are people who don't know the difference between authority with accountability and without accountability. You don't need one person who's in charge, but one person who's accountable, and then you can have commitees do the detail work, which is always more effective and efficient. That's how democratic governments function, and they function very well that way. It's a sad sign of the times that people don't understand these essentials any longer, and empower the likes of Trump, Orban and Erdogan who then run roughshod over democratic institutions. We, the people have all the power, but only so long we don't give it away to "a person in charge" - how stupid!

[XcraigX]

All this talk about Bernie and this weekend (Bahrain GP1) it seemed we almost had one of his cockamamie ideas.
Bernie: "What if the cars caught fire during the race?"
Max Mosely:
Bernie: "Don't worry, the track side sprinklers (to wet the track) could quickly put them out. No one would get hurt."

[Everso Biggyballies]

Its SIR Lewis Hamilton ..... *Official*

Cant say I agree with it.... not while he is still actively driving. Anyway, its done and official. At least a decade too early as far as im concerned. Oh well. They give them away to anyone these days. The award certainly means nothing now compared to days gone.

The latest seven-time Formula 1 world champion will now be formally known as ‘Sir Lewis Hamilton’ after he was bestowed a knighthood.

Hamilton’s name was included in the list of the Queen’s New Year Honours, weeks after he officially matched Michael Schumacher’s haul of F1 titles.

In a dominant 2020 campaign, the Briton surpassed another of Schumacher’s records, namely race wins.

Hamilton matched the German’s benchmark of 91 at October’s Eifel Grand Prix, at which time Mick Schumacher presented the Mercedes driver with one of his father’s helmets.

The 35-year-old unofficially sealed the seventh championship three races later with a highly impressive win in Turkey and, by season’s end, had grown his tally to 95 grand prix victories.

He has also been a vocal advocate for a number of social causes, one example being his establishment in June of a commission designed to promote STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) studies and eventual F1 employment for black youth.

New F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, who officially starts in January, “Lewis is a true giant of our sport and his influence is huge both in and out of a car.

“What he has achieved is phenomenal, with still more to come.

“All of us at Formula 1 congratulate him on this well-deserved recognition of his achievements and look forward to seeing more of his brilliance in 2021.”

Hamilton joins Jack Brabham and Jackie Stewart as F1 champions who have received a knighthood, an honour which also went to Stirling Moss.

https://www.speedcafe.com/2020/12/31/ha ... nighthood/

[White six]

An outdated title wrapped up with British empire and all the crimes associated, sounds ideal

[Andy]

Its SIR Lewis Hamilton ..... *Official*
.....

Hamilton joins Jack Brabham and Jackie Stewart as F1 champions who have received a knighthood, an honour which also went to Stirling Moss.

https://www.speedcafe.com/2020/12/31/ha ... nighthood/

John Surtees, anyone?
Oh well, at least they finally managed to recognize John McGuinness.

I'm not British so I don't have to recognize yet another title pulled out of a magic bag blown up with hot air.

[Star]

I don't think they should give these awards to people who choose to live in a tax haven.

Can you imagine the commentary next year

[Michael Ferner]

I don't think they should give these awards to people who choose to live in a tax haven.

Oh, really, they do? How embarrassing!

[Ruslan]

I don't think they should give these awards to people who choose to live in a tax haven.

Isn't that the majority of people awarded a title in recent decades?

[Everso Biggyballies]

I don't think they should give these awards to people who choose to live in a tax haven.

Isn't that the majority of people awarded a title in recent decades?

Sadly Bernie is one of the few British F1glitterati that choose to live in the UK. Other than the British born team principals of UK based teams like Ron Dennis and SFW.
Graham Hill is the last UK Champion that did I think. Oh, and his son Damon. (Something tells me he lived somewhere odd for a while.)
Hamilton obviously, Monaco and Switzerland plus the US for a lot of his time. (He certainly owns property there)
Button lives in Monaco and has done all his career.
Mansell lived in the Isle of Man
Hunt lived in Marbella Spain and other o/s spots.
Stewart always lived in Switzerland.
Even Jim Clark lived the last part of his life in Paris AFAIK
John Surtees I am not sure. I believe he lived in the UK to run his Surtees Race car business.

It is the rare exception for UK or other nationality WDC driver to live in their own country.

[PTRACER]

Its SIR Lewis Hamilton ..... *Official*
.....

Hamilton joins Jack Brabham and Jackie Stewart as F1 champions who have received a knighthood, an honour which also went to Stirling Moss.

https://www.speedcafe.com/2020/12/31/ha ... nighthood/

John Surtees, anyone?
Oh well, at least they finally managed to recognize John McGuinness.

I'm not British so I don't have to recognize yet another title pulled out of a magic bag blown up with hot air.

Honestly I don't think most British people care about the title either. It certainly feels devalued given how many people get it each year these days.

[Everso Biggyballies]

I don't think they should give these awards to people who choose to live in a tax haven.

Isn't that the majority of people awarded a title in recent decades?

Graham Hill is the last UK Champion that did I think. Oh, and his son Damon. (Something tells me he lived somewhere odd for a while.)

It is the rare exception for UK or other nationality WDC driver to live in their own country.

I have just read that Damon Hill was indeed listed during his career as having "Tax residence" in Monaco. I also think he lived in Ireland for a time during his career.
Apparently although Clark lived in Paris his "Tax residence" was Switzerland.

Interestingly. Lewis is listed in the Overseas division of the Honours list. In the same way as an Australian/ Commonwealth citizen might be bestowed an honour.

Doesnt mean I agree with it. Absolute respect for his abilities and achievments but.....
I just hope Croft does over-exaggerate it with repetition of Sir Lewis Hamilton wins.... etc in his commentary. I fear he will. Part of his steady decline in listenability over the years.

I also totally agree that the whole award process nowadays has become a diluted wank. And yes I have for years thought John Surtees should. have got a knighthood. The only person to have ever won world titles on 2 and 4 wheels, an employer of note for many years giving employment both directly and indirectly through suppliers, and an all round good guy who was heavily involved / invested with many charities.

[Star]

I don't think they should give these awards to people who choose to live in a tax haven.

Isn't that the majority of people awarded a title in recent decades?

Sadly Bernie is one of the few British F1glitterati that choose to live in the UK. Other than the British born team principals of UK based teams like Ron Dennis and SFW.
Graham Hill is the last UK Champion that did I think. Oh, and his son Damon. (Something tells me he lived somewhere odd for a while.)
Hamilton obviously, Monaco and Switzerland plus the US for a lot of his time. (He certainly owns property there)
Button lives in Monaco and has done all his career.
Mansell lived in the Isle of Man
Hunt lived in Marbella Spain and other o/s spots.
Stewart always lived in Switzerland.
Even Jim Clark lived the last part of his life in Paris AFAIK
John Surtees I am not sure. I believe he lived in the UK to run his Surtees Race car business.

It is the rare exception for UK or other nationality WDC driver to live in their own country.

I'm going to call you on the Button claim. As far as I knew he lived on the Channel Islands, Guernsey to be specific, though he may also have had a home in Monaco I guess.