Hamilton portrays himself as Jesus - Villeneuve

No, he's not.

Who’s not wrong, Jaques or Toto?

@RogerF1 I don't know about Jacques, but Toto is certainly wrong.

I want a couple of what you are on, and ten of what Jacques is on .... Safe to do with my beer?

Dunno what it is, me and Jack'o V got um from Hammy and ever since the three of us has these epiphanies about being god's secondborn. Lost my skin to boot! ;)

LOL, nice one Calle. Personally LH is mildly annoying with his persona but linking it God’s work is off the mark IMO. Seems to have forgotten the humility bit. I’m sure God has a lot more on his mind than protecting LH’s £80M

Oh yes, Im not really fond of that particular trait of his.

For all the nonsense Villeneuve otherwise spit out, he has to say something with a point every now and then.

I agree that most of what we see from Lewis on camera is staged and that it is annoying. However, I disagree on Toto. All that Toto cares about is that Lewis drivers the wheels of the Mercedes. In all fairness, he's done that most of the time. Clearly, letting Lewis humiliated himself on social media, or make a martyr out of himself,, or travel way too much... It seems to work. So I agree with Toto on that level. Also on the level that F1 needs characters even (perhaps especially) the ones we love to hate. Jaques, Eddie Irvine, Ayrton, Michael, Alonso, Montoya, Ricciardo, Hakkinen, Button, and others, guys like that always gave us something love or hate. Something to talk about, even when they were not winning. Some radio message, some crazy quote to the press.

Not entirely certain what Toto wants, popularity of the brand needs something more than just driving and winning. If there is no real effort, if there is no real struggle, than it is hard to bring up much admiration. That's why the underdog is always so much more popular. But actually Toto does state what he wants in this article, I just don't think he actually accepts the implications of what that is.

When Toto states that "We need to create stories. We need controversies. We need polarising stances." than I believe he thinks this can be taken from thin air. But stories, controversies, and polarising stances come from people that do real things, that have real opinions, dare to voice them and stand up for them. That is not something Toto implies, and given recent team orders it is clear that he does not allow that on track, so little chance he allows it off track. Toto wants the controversy without the real emotion. That is theater. And most drivers, certainly Lewis Hamilton, are bad actors.

The result? If I take my own example, it doesn't do me much whether Lewis Hamilton wins or not. I hardly ever get the impression I see and hear the real person. As part of his "show" he belittles the competition, as if he does not understand that belittling his opponents only diminishes his own achievement. Not only is that not very sportsman like, it is also a rather selfish if you have just won.

As far is I am concerned it has come to the point that I switch off immediately after the finish. I am not interested anymore in the empty statements after the race (from most drivers: "yes the tires, it was really hard, great car, difficult to follow, not really happy, very happy") that gives little insight on how they experienced the race. Often we only hear days later what really happened in that cockpit. (max verstappen managing his tires resulting in the blistered, more loaded tire to become colder than the less loaded tire for instance.)

Therefore I do agree with you that F1 needs real characters, the ones you mention did/do not present perfect colorless images, they did/do not act, they were real! (Or they were just so much better at it...) But none is driving for Toto Wolf..

Don't know what you want to imply, but evidence seems to prove that Jesus was real:

www.theguardian.co(...)rist-lived-and-died
www.livescience.co(...)-evidence-hold.html

And as far as I am concerned the jury is out on Hamilton. :-)

Nah, its okay, Im agreeing with him aswell, so either that makes us two despicable beings, or we just happen to be correct! ;)

I think thats when we see the real Hammy. Not the sugarsweet one after a race win or during the average conference, the bitter, viperlike Hammy we see when he weaponizes media and strikes and anyone he doesnt find okay at that specific instant. Of course, I dont know, just a hunch.