Piquet jr says Hamilton nothing special

[Dare]

Am I alone or do others think Nelson jr should learn to keep his trap closed

Nelson Piquet Jr has downplayed Lewis Hamilton's success this season, saying any rookie driving a McLaren MP4-22 could have achieved the same results.


Hamilton has wowed the F1 fraternity in the opening seven races of this season, finishing each and every grand prix on the podium, including two victories.


The 22-year-old British rookie has also already clinched two pole positions.


However, Piquet Jr, doesn't believes there's anything special about Hamilton.


"If Lewis was in Heikki's position he would be doing the same, making a mistake here and there," the Renault test driver told O Globo newspaper.


"He would be in a car that's not the quickest and he would have to push more to obtain results.


"It is a lot easier to drive a car that's already fast and that allows you to grab pole or finish second."


Piquet Jr also believes a large part of Hamilton's success is down to the reliability of McLaren's MP4-22.


"Consistency is achieved through the car. He has never broken down in a race, he has never had problems, and his car is always one of the quickest. Then he doesn't need to do much," he continued.


"If he continues working the same way, he is going to finish on the podium in every race. The McLaren is half a second quicker than the rest of the teams

[johnbull]

I reckon he should keep it well shut!

[Chameleon]

It's important to keep your name in the news these days or you just get overlooked (is ADHD taking over the world?).  It's been a while since anyone noticed Nelsinho so, by saying something controversial,  he makes sure that all the journos get their copy on him.

Having said which, he ought to know.  All these guys have raced each other in lower formulae and have a pretty good idea of how they stand against each other.

[Dare]

Lewis pretty much burned their britches in GP2

[Chameleon]

Lewis also made quite a few mistakes in GP2, which he doesn't seem to be doing this year.  I guess Nelsinho thinks they will all come later... 

[romephius]

I admit I know nothing of Lewis before this year......but Piquet Jr should notice one un-deniable fact.......Lewis has a race seat and he doesn't.......so therefore, Lewis must be something special....otherwise Lewis would be a test driver the same as Piquet Jr.......and DeLa Rosa would have a race seat.....

It's that simple in my humble opinion

Rom

[Dare]

Think your right Romephius.Piquet's gonna have many
a year to figure out how special Lewis is

Maybe that saying genius skips a generation
will apply to nelson jr

[Willy]

Seems like a bit of sour grapes, if you ask me.

But as has been said, Jr would know of what he speaks about Lewis.
But just because you can, do you think you should?

[Steven Roy]

Sounds like Nelsinho has inherited his father's ability to speak without engaging his brain.  Presumably if he gets a drive next year and makes a few mistakes in the first seven races the team should dump him and make no allowance for him being a rookie.

There was a very famous Scottish football manager called Bill Shankly who built Liverpool up from a very average team in the second division into a team that dominated europe.  He was one of the great psychologists of the game.  He would often tell people about this great team they had played in a previous match and about all the wonderful things they had done.  When he was eventually asked the score he would say we beat them 4-0.  The inference being that the other team were so good my team must be something special. 

If Lewis is nothing special and he beat Nelsinho last year then by definition Nelsinho is less than nothing special.

[Ian]

I just said on another string, just because your elder sibling or your father was the biz, does'nt mean that you are

[Chameleon]

Hehehe, it's so easy to get you guys going. 

Okay, you're right, Nelsinho should have thought before opening his mouth.  But what the heck, it gives us something to talk about...   

[raindancer]

Why don't we all for a moment forget Hamilton and see if Nelson is saying something which most drivers know and that is "if only they were in the Mclaren" Guess Jenson Button would love to drive the car.
Hypothetically if Button was driving instead of Lewis what would be the Championship situation ? Would he have had more success than Lewis in the Mclaren ?

[romephius]

In my insane opinion...(plus i don't like Jenson, I think he is arrogant)....Jenson doesn't have the same driving talent as Lewis....I certainly think he would be doing very well, but, he wouldn't be leading the championship.  Having said that, I do believe that jenson is FAR better than some of the other drivers, it's his attitude that lets him down every time....

Of course I could be wrong

Rom

[Chameleon]

I like Jenson - haven't noticed any arrogance in him.  But I have always had a slight doubt as to his talent.  It seems to me that he's never had the car to make a really big impression and so the only way to judge him has been against other drivers struggling to make their mark.  Sometimes he looks very good and at others he looks ordinary - but is it the car?

And it's for that very reason that I'd like to see him in this year's McLaren - to settle the question once and for all.  Of course, it isn't going to happen...   

[Cam]

It is an arrogant statement but these are highly talented, fearless, competitive young men, full of testosterone and adranelin who are already near or at the pinnacle of motorsport.  It doesnt really surprise me that Piquet Jnr can say such a thing with a straight face, and correct me if I am wrong but he probably knows Lewis a lot better than most of us. 

So I might have said fair enough, however Lewis is besting a double world champion teammate, now that's special.