Hamilton: Maybe it's because I'm black

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Originally Posted by Ari

I saw him say it live and although he was clearly joking I question whether there was any truth to it...

You know, some people say what they mean as a joke.

Well, my thoughts. I think he'd have done well with a hot shower and a meal before talking to the media... I guess the drivers are not afforded that luxury though! ;)

I love Hami and have grown to respect him when I did not at the start of his career. Yesterday was a bad, bad day for him. One ill forgive if he can put this behind him and carry forward in a better way.

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I disagree with what he said but there have been times in the past where I felt he was racially discriminated against. If there's ever a penalty to be handed out then Hamilton is the one to receive it. I still regard Spa 2008 as one of the most blatant and disgraceful attempts to sabotage another drivers championship by the governing body any sport that we have ever seen. It was a disgrace and if anything Hamilton should have spoken up then if he felt he was being racially targeted. He chose the wrong time to do so now but yesterday I saw a man that was sick of being picked on.

Anyway, he has cleared the air with the FIA and said it was a joke. I'm sure there was more to it than that and he may believe there is more to it but the matter is cleared for now anyway. If the FIA give him any sort of ban for his comments now after him clearing the air with them then they are only giving substance to his claim in the first place. The stewards and the FIA will not want to make this into a race issue and giving him a ban of any sort now would definitely do that.

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Originally Posted by gloomyDAY

I can't believe this. Hamilton gets hit from behind, due to the fact that he needs to slow down for Sutil, and people are placing the blame on Lewis. A car on three wheels is pretty unpredictable and even more so at Monaco.

I could go on, but it's Memorial Day tomorrow and I'm grilling burgers with my Pop's. Have a good night everyone and I'll see you guys at the next race.

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There are always going to be a few that choose to blame a driver because they don't like him or it just generates amusement for their own benefit. It's obvious even to the least bright of the dumb dumbs that Hamilton was not to blame for the SC incident.

He obviously said it as a joke.

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Originally Posted by ArrowsFA1

No surprise to see Hamilton's comments generating a thread like this. From the moment the interview began you could tell this was one unhappy and frustrated driver. I did wince a bit at his comments, but do we want to see 'corporate speak' or drivers speaking their minds?

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It doesn't matter whether he was joking, he effectively accused the stewards of racism. That's not something to be laughed at considerng how seriously racism is treated. I have a feeling that Whitmarsh had a word to the boy, hence the apology. Frusrated or not, he shouldn't have said it.

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Originally Posted by The Black Knight

I disagree with what he said but there have been times in the past where I felt he was racially discriminated against. If there's ever a penalty to be handed out then Hamilton is the one to receive it.

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Racially discriminated or merely discriminated based on his team - just because someone is personally targeted does not mean that race is going to be the underlying reason. There has been NOTHING to ever suggest that there is a racial component to any of the times Lewis has been targeted (be it fairly or not) and to come out w/ a stupid throw away line like he did certainly doesn't do anything for those fighting to remove the last vestiges for racism which remain in parts of the world.

I was a huge LHfan when he first came through and thought that he needed to pull his head in a bit over the last 12mths but onaco yesterday and his attitude of expecting ppl to part like the Red Sea and allow him to sail on by without properly pulling off a passing move (since when did the driver leading have to yield to the car behind - I notice that there were a few on here saying LH was in the clear who 12mths ago ripped into Vettel for sticking his nose up the inside of one MW).

Yesterday LH did not drive like a former World Champion but rather a petulent little brat; and his comments post race about how 'friggen ridiculous' it was to be brought up on his latest indiscretion shows that he is completely out of touch - thankfully he has apologised but what he said to the media following his meeting w/ the stewards to say sorry seemed very much a 'i'm sorry that i'm having to apologise for what i said'

I'd like to see Ben Edwards commenting his moves - the attack on Massa was "classic Matt Neal" :D

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Originally Posted by Tumbo

Racially discriminated or merely discriminated based on his team - just because someone is personally targeted does not mean that race is going to be the underlying reason. There has been NOTHING to ever suggest that there is a racial component to any of the times Lewis has been targeted (be it fairly or not) and to come out w/ a stupid throw away line like he did certainly doesn't do anything for those fighting to remove the last vestiges for racism which remain in parts of the world.

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Originally Posted by Tumbo

I was a huge LHfan when he first came through and thought that he needed to pull his head in a bit over the last 12mths but onaco yesterday and his attitude of expecting ppl to part like the Red Sea and allow him to sail on by without properly pulling off a passing move (since when did the driver leading have to yield to the car behind - I notice that there were a few on here saying LH was in the clear who 12mths ago ripped into Vettel for sticking his nose up the inside of one MW).

[size=100][font=Times New Roman]Yesterday LH did not drive like a former World Champion but rather a petulent little brat; and his comments post race about how 'friggen ridiculous' it was to be brought up on his latest indiscretion shows that he is completely out of touch - thankfully he has apologised but what he said to the media following his meeting w/ the stewards to say sorry seemed very much a 'i'm sorry that i'm having to apologise for what i said'

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Expecting people to part like the Red Sea? Rubbish. He was trying to race. Would you have preferred seen him sit back and play with his dick for 78 laps of the race like Massa and most others were willing to do? It is very clear he made an error Massa into Loews Hairpin but so did Massa. Other than that he didn’t do anything else wrong in the race. The SC incident was a racing incident and that is clearly obvious to anyone with half a brain. The incident into St Devote with Maldonado was Maldonado’s fault as he turned in on Hamilton. Where he expects Hamilton to go at that stage is beyond me but certainly Hamilton should not have received a penalty for what happened there. I also believe if the stewards were fully convinced he was at fault they would have given him a penalty that would have affected his finishing position, so clearly they weren’t 100% convinced themselves either but felt that they had to be seen to be doing something.

Hamilton has been personally targeted in the past. If you can give me a good reason other than race why that would be the case then I shall accept that but other than that he clearly has been targeted. Race is the only obvious reason that I can think of; can you think of any other ones?

Comments like what Hamilton said are a result of being targeted, remove him being targeted and you remove the need for him to say such things. That will help those fighting to remove racism, which, by the way, is very much still alive in most of the world unfortunately.

This thread is a proof that F1 drivers should strictly just do PR interviews, say the right things, no matter how boring they are, and everybody is happy. The moment someone says feck all and says what he wants to, it becomes fodder for his haters to jump on the bandwagon and rip into him.

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Originally Posted by ioan

C'mon this is a thing of past nothing to do with 21st century in the civilized world.

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:laugh:

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/...16_468x286.jpg

This was in 2008, Spain. Very much 21st century, no?

This and as another poster mentioned, some jackasses yelling monkey at races, and I don't blame Lewis for being a tad too emotional about this all. Not only this, the whole fuss about him being the first black driver in F1 was created by the media, as he said in an interview, I don't know if I quote him correctly, "I don't even think about it unless I'm asked that question by the media."

There has been more overtaking in the last 6 races than in the last 6 years... even in the Monaco GP there was plenty of overtaking up and down the grid yet only one driver stood out as being gung ho... The fans want to see overtaking and they have seen overtaking... they do not wish to see dangerous moves by a driver who was obviously not in the right frame of mind to be in that car yesterday.


He should take the next two weeks to look at his attitude and try and calm down or he is going to self-destruct and in F1 that can mean someone might get hurt.

I'm not a big fan of McLaren but frustratingly I like both their drivers and I hope to see them win again, but Lewis is making it hard to like him at the moment.

I never thought I would ever sy this but maybe they need to bring back Ron Dennis, I doubt his comments would never have been made had Ron still been in charge.