Apparently Lewis didn’t get soundly beat by Heikki Kovalainen, Robert Kubica, Kimi Raikkonen and Jarno Trulli.
It has now been revealed that Lewis’s water dispenser suffered a malfunction and he was faced with dehydration during the race. That and his wheel-issue that prompted a long pit stop. Here i was just thinking he had an average race with average performance and was soundly beat by his teammate, Jarno and for most of the race; Mark Webber.
Here is the deal. Lewis probably did have a bum deal with temp’s as high as they were and no water. That’s understandable but when Lewis fails to live up to the profound hype, we usually get some excuses coming out of the camp. One thing I learned watching Schumi was that in the later years, he made very few excuses. He just let the result be the result. Perhaps that’s because he had nothing left to prove or justify. Who knows. Most drivers hate to be beat and don’t want poor performance to be the take-away from a bad race. Massa also was hinting at car problems instead of brain-fade. Webber and DC complain but they have a real reason too. But given the opportunity DC and Mark will launch on a diatribe about all the things that were wrong.
In the end, Lewis may be no different than others but…
When the Lewis-hype started, I was offended to be ambushed by the sycophants who were attaching Lewis to all-time great lists and making comparisons…no, actually saying he is better than former multi-champs. Now, as a fan of F1 for a long time and having seen many “real” champions I was very offended. Then I was assured that mentioning his name with greats was totally justified given his performance last year. Now, that being said I am willing to go to the wall with that but here is what I expect in return for all this ballyhoo; perfection! Today’s Grand Prix was not and if I have to endure Lewi-mania and suggestions that he is better than Schumi, Senna or Clark; then by gosh he had better start living up to it and stop making excuses. You asked for the pressure and I am happy to apply it.
I was willing to give Lewis time to show what I think will become a terrific champion in time but the media said I need to recognize that now so if I have to; then I expect few errors, no excuses and Schumi, Senna and Clark-like performances. It starts in Spain Lewis. Let’s see what you have instead of water bottle excuses and not living up to your “prolific” passer reputation. Lewis, in my mind, is an incredible talent and will be a terrific champion in F1. I really don’t doubt that but his media fan-club have become his worst nightmare. The British Media said Schumi had a brand equity problem. He may have had at the hands of the British press but you have created another one for your prodigal son of F1. Let’s all take a breath and let LEwis become the champ I think he is destined to be.
