F1 - La prensa inglesa se rinde ante el gran triunfo de Lewis Hamilton en Silverstone

Mientras Ecclestone lo compara con Senna y Hunt. La prensa inglesa cataloga a Hamilton como un piloto super clase y su conducción en Silverstone, de joya maestra. A continuación, la nota en ingles junto a la nota de Ecclestone.

What The Papers Say About Hamilton's Masterclass

Fleet Street's finest struggle to find superlatives that adequately describe the mastery of Lewis Hamilton's performance in the British GP...

'Although the modern world of formula one is not inclined to spend too much time contemplating the past, history was on many minds yesterday as Hamilton guided his McLaren-Mercedes between the puddles and through the spray. He has always looked at ease in these treacherous conditions, where a driver needs a combination of extreme sensitivity to momentary changes in adhesion and the confidence to cope with such reduced visibility, but yesterday he went a step further and officially joined the ranks of the rainmasters, the most exclusive club in motor racing.

'Asked to rank Hamilton's effort among the team's greatest wins, Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren's chief operating officer, gently hedged his bets. "In the euphoria of the moment," he said, "you can be disrespectful to the great achievements of the past."

'The rest of us need not be so circumspect. Hamilton's drive yesterday was a masterpiece' - Richard Williams,
The Guardian.

'How's that for over-driving? The second-best navigator around Lake Silverstone yesterday, Nick Heidfeld, finished 68 seconds behind. The torrents turned the field on its head. Only four drivers did not spin in conditions that rivalled Fuji 2007 for booby traps. One was runner-up; another was Lewis Hamilton, winner of the British Grand Prix.

'So, another revision is forced upon the naysayers who claimed a crisis was building, that commercial considerations were being given greater weight, that Billy Big-Time was taking over the asylum. Hamilton should roll out Nelson Mandela before every grand prix' - Kevin Eason,
The Daily Telegraph.

'Hamilton has shown us his mastery in the wet before, but around Silverstone's mix of fast, sweeping corners and tight, twisty turns, he was breathtaking. A fine touch combined with a rare instinct for the state of his car at every second of every lap kept him on the tarmac all afternoon while his rivals were spinning all around him.
He ended up thrashing the lot as he circled faster and more assuredly than anyone in a drive that Martin Whitmarsh, the McLaren chief executive, was to describe afterwards as one of the classics of the genre' - Edward Gorman,
The Times.

'The fantail of water from Lewis Hamilton' s McLaren swept past the grandstand for the 60th and final lap of a dazzling British Grand Prix. The chequered flag was waved, the fans stood and cheered.

'Then, they waited. And waited some more for the next car to appear. Meanwhile, the triumphant Hamilton saluted the worshipping throng from the cockpit of his seemingly amphibious machine after regaining the championship lead.

'Those bare facts suggest that Hamilton was in a race - and a class - of his own. And, on a slippery Silverstone with its confection of fast and slow corners, he made it seem as easy as a sunny Sunday spin with a picnic in the boot. Finally, the others turned around Woodcote and into the pit straight, led by runner-up Nick Heidfeld's BMW.

'He was merely 1min 8sec behind. Rubens Barrichello's Honda was a further 14sec adrift. The other 10 survivors from a starting grid of 20 were simply lapped.

'Those bare facts suggest that Hamilton was in a race - and a class - of his own. And, on a slippery Silverstone with its confection of fast and slow corners, he made it seem as easy as a sunny Sunday spin with a picnic in the boot' - Jonathan McEvoy,
The Daily Mail.

'He came, he saw, and boy did he need to conquer. Even the most ardent of Lewis Hamilton's legion of fans knew he had a mountain to climb. In just under an hour and 40 minutes' work, he eradicated memories of his pit lane gaffe in Montreal, and his misfortune in Magny-Cours. In one mighty, sodden leap, he jumped right back into the lead of the world championship.

'On an afternoon when his rivals Felipe Massa and Robert Kubica failed to score, and Kimi Raikkonen struggled to a distant fourth, Hamilton made everyone else look like also-rans as he won by just over a minute' - David Tremayne,
The Independent.

Ecclestone compara a Hamilton con Senna y Hunt



La victoria de Hamilton en su país no sólo le ha sentado bien al hasta ahora tan despotricado piloto de McLaren. Las infinitas pifias de Lewis en lo que llevamos de mundial habían hecho perder las esperanzas de mucha gente.

Ahora, con su épica victoria bajo la lluvia, hasta Bernard Ecclestone se rinde a sus pies: "Siempre hubo caracteres en los viejos tiempos, y Lewis se está convirtiendo en uno, lo cual es fantástico. Hay mucha gente que desea un piloto como Lewis para promocionar el deporte de la manera en que lo está haciendo".

Ese carácter que explica Bernard es el que, asegura, le ha permitido que el aficionado viva más apasionadamente las carreras. Ni corto ni perezoso se atreve a compararlo con los grandes del pasado: "La mayoría de esos tipos de los 70 y 80 fueron buenos tiempos que podían entusiasmar el deporte. Eran caracteres como James Hunt y Ayrton Senna. Ellos ayudaron a promocionar todo".

En contraposición, una descripción que parece casi una crítica a Kimi Räikkönen, aunque en ningún momento Eccclestone monbra a nadie: "Los pilotos pueden ser muy robóticos y no muestran lo que realmente son. Sería bueno si ellos fueran más como Lewis".