Surtees on Hamilton.

[johnbull]

I have always considered John Surtees to be a very moderate sort of chap. Tries to be neutral and reasonable, if you like.

His comments recently about Lewis Hamilton and the present state of play echo that feeling perfectly. I consider the whole article extremely balanced and fair.

I particularly liked the last part of the article:

He also hopes that the title is decided on track rather than in the courts, with the FIA Court of Appeal due to rule on F1 spy saga next month.

"We have a championship poised with four very competitive drivers and two equally competitive teams, and three of those drivers will still be uncertain of quite who Lewis Hamilton is and what he is capable of. That makes for an interesting rest of the season as they find out.

"All I hope is that the championship is decided by the performance of the cars, teams and drivers on the track and not by court sessions inspired by the greed of what are basically one or two fringe would-be opportunists."

I wonder who he is referring to as the opportunists inspired by greed?

Now let me guess. Briatore? Todt? Montezemolo?

What do you guys think?

[cosworth151]

Good call, JB. I think we all would like to see more on the track and less in the courts.

As for the three you name, I think you're dead on. I can understand Montezemolo and Todt. I don't like it, but I think that it's just the culture at Ferrari. As for Flav, I have no idea why he's even involved. I used to like the guy. The only thing I can think of is that he's trying to set himself up to replace Max Mosley when he retires from the FIA.

[johnbull]

Flav is still very bitter about Ron screwing him up on the mass damper issue last season.

He mentions it in every interview as though he needs to get it off his chest. He wants revenge.

He could actually be the hinge pin on which the FIA hearing will finally be decided.

Pity because in reality he has nothing to do with the case.

As for your comments re Montezemolo and Todt, and the Ferrari cult, all I can say is SPOT ON.

[Chameleon]

I think Surtees is referring to Stepney and Coughlan in that comment - after all, without them, none of this nonsense would have happened.

And I agree that John Surtees is a good man to listen to.  He doesn't often say much but, when he does, he's usually right.  He was the man that I reckoned at least as quick a driver as Jim Clark in the 60s - he rarely had the car to prove it, however.  And he was certainly right to leave Ferrari... 

[raindancer]

I agree with Chammy here. All things considering, we have had quite an interesting season on track and off track. All the best for Hamilton but I think he still has quite a bit to prove and I am sticking my neck out saying that He will not win the WDC this year.

[cosworth151]

I see that Alonso has turned down a "peace conference" aboard Mansour Ojjeh yacht. Team co-founder Ojjeh invited Alonso, Hamilton, Dennis and other team big-wigs to a meeting aboard his 235 ft (72 meter) yacht Kogo off Menorca. Alonso has declined to attend.

In the mean time, Hamilton has been photographed frolicking with Ojjeh's 18-year-old daughter Sara in St. Tropez.

Well, Dare, looks like your Renault team may get 'Nando back next year.

If Alonso's doesn't take the invitation, I'd be glad to go in his place.

Cos

[johnbull]

In the mean time, Hamilton has been photographed frolicking with Ojjeh's 18-year-old daughter Sara in St. Tropez.
Cos

Now that's what I call looking after your sponsor ........ and your contract.

Good thinking again, Hammy.

[Chameleon]

Any excuse for a bit of frolicking, hey, John?   

[Steven Roy]

You can always spot a lifelong motor racing fan by the level of cynicism on any subject.

When I heard about Lewis and Mansour Ojjeh's daughter my reactions were as follows.

1. Did McLaren arrange the publicity to cancel out some of the negative stuff?

2.  Did Mansour Ojjeh do it to divert some attention on to him and take some of the stress of Ron?

3.  Did Lewis do it to further de-stabilise Alonso?

Never crossed my mind that it might just have been a co-incidence that the press were on the same beach.

[raindancer]

  Steven. The cynic in you and me may ask these questions. Wonder what Hamilton's long term Girl friend feels about them or will hamilton brush it off saying that it was all in the line of work.

[rmassart]

Well, those photos don't exactly show any kind of frolicking. Looks like their holding hands but they are not. I mean that photo could be of two any two people on the beach.

Unless there're photos I haven't seen of course...

[Steven Roy]

There were some photos of him holding her round the waist and throwing her up in the air while she was wearing a tiny bikini which the non-cynics would see as convincing of more than a stroll on the beach.

[johnbull]

All I can say is Good on ye, Lewis.

From Lewis point, it's certainly one way of retaining his Mc Laren contract.

From Ojjeh's point, it's certainly one way of retaining Lewis and keeping him away from Ferrari, or anybody for that matter.

From Ferrari's point: Oh sh 1 t, they're even offering him nookie to keep him from us.

Superb bit if PR is all I can say.

[raindancer]

I saw the frolicking pics too in the general press, and to think that she is just 18 years, it is some bait. If I were Alonso, I wouldn't go there under any circumstances.

[The Stig]

Name: John Surtees
Nationality: Great Britain
Date of birth: February 11, 1934 - Tatsfield, Surrey
No man is ever likely to emulate John Surtees' feat of winning World Championships on two wheels and four.

A racer who would be equally at home in the Halls of Fame of both motorcycle and car racing, 'Big John' rarely won the accolades his success deserved, for he was a man who kept his own counsel and ploughed his own furrow. His critics suggested that was his biggest problem, but he himself simply says: 'I suffered perhaps from an excess of enthusiasm, of always wanting to get deeply involved with any project on which I was working.'

Surtees' prowess on motorcycles won him universal respect, and soon after trying out cars for Vanwall and Aston Martin in 1959, he switched full-time to cars in 1960. A victory in Formula 500 for Ken Tyrrell at Goodwood confirmed the wisdom of the move, and he made his F1 debut for Lotus in Monte Carlo. One race later, he finished second at Silverstone in the British GP, before taking pole position in Portugal.

Despite the prodigious speed he showed, this was the point at which Colin Chapman was forging his deep alliance with Jim Clark, and Surtees elected to move to pastures new just as the British team really began to establish itself. After winning the World Championship for Ferrari in a dramatic Mexican Grand Prix in 1964, Surtees quit the Prancing Horse in the middle of the 1966 season after internal pressure became intolerable, and thus left Jack Brabham a clear run to the title. After a dismal 1969 season he left BRM to set up his own team, Surtees Racing Organisation, for 1970, just as BRM started winning again.

In a car, as on a bike, Surtees was a fearless, tough but fair competitor, as quick as the best without being wild. But where most of his rivals contented themselves with riding or driving, he had a deep interest in the workings of his machines. Some said he should have simply concentrated solely on racing, itself difficult enough, but he liked to tinker and probe in an unceasing quest for technical perfection.

Surtees has few regrets, however. Such an approach worked perfectly well as his exploits on motorcycles passed into legend and he took MV Agusta to countless victories and the World Championships in 1956 (500cc class), 1958, '59 and '60 (350 and 500). In that final year he also began the car racing career that would take him to the unique double by the age of 30.

A year after his four-wheel World Championship he was badly injured when his CanAm Lola T70 crashed at Mosport Park in Canada. It was a mark of the man that he astonished doctors with the speed of his recovery. Resilience and determination were always Big John's hallmarks in a career that deserved even greater success.

I think this chap ranks an oppion on what is going on today!
Stig