Unless the Keystone Cops (his pit crew) continue to perform wonders on 3 out of his 4 wheels and/if there is a serious drop off in performance at McLaren and/if the team continue to balls up qualifying/race strategy, then I can’t see him leaving, agree with comments about at least one top driver being in one of the top teams..
You see, this for me is the worry; http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/99742 Di Resta is now being linked with both Mercedes (which is no suprise) and Ferrari and as we all know Webber is also heavily linked with the Italian outfit. Hammilton was quoted as saying that he will make a decession towards the end of the summer, and rmours have been reported that the financial demands of Lewis are a long way away from Mclarens - it seems lewis is looking for a significant increase on his 15 million PA. The more options the teams like Merc, Ferrari etc have, surley the less Lewis has to negotiate with if his intentions are in fact to stay at Mclaren! I would imagine that Lewis will probably by the key to the driver market, but at some point the teams will want to nail down their driver line ups! If Mclaren either cant or are not prepared to match his financial demands at what point do they have to look at other drivers before all the talent has signed for their competitors? It seems a deadly game of Poker from both sides, at this rate I can see Trulli in the other Mclaren and Lewis in NASCAR!
So....it's either McLaren down the grid, or nothing for Lewis now? Ferrari don't want him and would rather have Perez, RBR don't want him and would rather have a RBR junior, Mercedes want Di Resta to replace Schumacher next year or after, Lotus have got Kimi and Grojsean, the team principle is French and seems to love Kimi. Apart from Williams, McLaren is the only option he has now it looks. If there were rumours about him joining a team like Ferrari or RBR, they would be round by now like the talk of Alonso going to Ferrari a few years back. The only rumours going around is that he is demanding more money and his options to getting out of McLaren are quickly being closed off if not already. What happend to the discussion, "I would take less money if it meant getting into the best team"? He might try a Stoner and land a bombshell that he intends to retire or something! Or Whitmarsh gives him until Silverstone to make up his mind and he signs somebody else behind his back screwing him over, the team comes first and McLaren have won many titles before Lewis was around. And let's be honest do you really think Whitmarsh will allow Lewis to win the WDC and walk away with it when he has got Jenson committing to a 5 year contract? No chance! It's either a McLaren extension and a shot for the WDC, or continue to beat around the bush, start becoming the default number 2, ruin your career and reputation as a guy who likes to cause problems for the team as a whole if you don't get what you want.
Lewis making financial demands to Mclaren?? Is he kidding himself? Not like Mclaren manufactured him into the driver he is today from a young age. Not like they helped him win a WDC or pay him highly already!! No other top team have him in their future plans so i dont think he has much stock to sell.
Thanks mainly due to the fact that the likes of Redbull and Ferrari have Vettel and Alonso and don't wish to rock the boat with the introduction of Hamilton. If those two didn't have their #1s in place and on long term contracts, then they'd be doing everthing they can to get him on board!
Alonso wouldn't of signed an extension if there weren't some forms of priority given to him for the long term even with Perez. Seems like it was resolved very quickly and they agreed terms, Ferrari love him and Alonso loves them. It's the same with Seb like Alonso, though he is very young and still developing. So it would be very stupid of RBR to decide to make life harder for him when he is fulfilling his side of the deal and winning them everything. All you hear from RBR and Marko is that they want Seb longer than 2014 as he hasnt got close to his limit yet, so it's best to have him on their side rather than against them down the line. Newey is also happy which is a big bonus since RBR are by far the most stable team on the grid. It would be team suicide if another high calibre driver was chucked into the mix.
Massa is not doing himself any favours with his form over the last 18months... but wouldn't be surprised if the car, current and going forward is/was tailored to drive the way Alonso likes them.. Maybe to a lesser extent the same could be said for RBR, (Front wing to Vettel when Webber was leading the WDC standings..) EBD that clearly suited Vettel's style more than Webbers.
Seb was leading the WDC ahead of Mark before the GP at Silverstone. Mark never hid the fact he considered that the new wing did nothing for his performance, yet Seb said it did. Worst mistake RBR ever did in my opinion since that's the the point in time when the pressure on Seb tripled and so did that hate with stories being flung about that Mark was getting shafted somehow.
We're both right and wrong.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_British_Grand_Prix It appears Hamilton was leading going into the race (and after the race weekend, I thought it was Webber), however you are correct, Vettel was ahead of Webber before 2010 British GP, so RBRs philosophy that the lead drivers gets the new gear is at the very least consistent, to clarify a point that may have read the wrong way, I don't think RBR would go out of their way to design a car that suited one driver over the other, however that’s not something I would put past Ferrari!
I meant it in the sense that Vettel was the leading RBR driver in the WDC, not the WDC leader in its entirety. I was at that GP to boot.
err, where is this Lewis demanding more money story? It's been mentioned by someone and then jumped on by others, but no proof. Or is this a genji 'unsubstantiated rumour' but I'll post it up anyway? Silver, why would RBR not want him? Never seen them say they woudln't consider him. Red Bull's only history of using RBR juniors is Vettel himself. Other than that they have ditched every other Torro Rosso driver that has driven for them so they hardly have a history of promoting them! Vettel & Hamilton would make one hell of a team.
http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/news/12475/7593426/Horner-doesn-t-want-Hamilton http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2011/...-scotches-lewis-hamilton-to-red-bull-stories/ Cant see how he can be any more clearer than that.
PR bollox. If Hamilton came on the market they would look at him. Since when has that snivelling rat Horner ever uttered a truthful or sincere word or not backtracked? He makes Whitmarsh look honest and accountable! My view is he will stay at McLaren so I think it may be irrelevant anyway
yes it would. I still have a sneeky suspicion that a certain other Red Bull Backed driver is working his way to webbers seat.
http://www.formula1blog.com/2011/06/13/report-hamilton-and-horner-have-private-meeting-in-canada/ http://www.f1sa.com/index.php?optio...-formula-1-team-in-2012&catid=1:f1&Itemid=157 If Webber leaves for Ferrari there's no reason Lewis couldn't take his seat. I don't think Red Bull will take Ricciardo - the only serious candidate - just because he's one of their young drivers. He has to prove he's good enough and if he doesn't Lewis will probably be first in line.
And yet with Alonso the rumours of him going to Ferrari didn't die down until it was confirmed, it was F1's worst kept secret. Lewis going to RBR or Ferrari has died down to just fans making up situations, something of that calibre wouldn't be abled to be contained by the media and it would be at the point of meltdown by now just like it was with Alonso halfway into the 09 season. There's no smoke without fire and the only fire I'm seeing is Vergne or Ricciardo will get that seat before anybody else, let alone Lewis.
Difference with Alonso was he was in a ****e Renault team, everyone knew he wanted out and Ferrari were the logical choice. Difference is here there is the potential for a complete driver merry-go-round. Everyone will want to keep their cards close to their chests. No smoke without fire? Rumours having been smoking in the past, just becuase they're currently smouldering under the surface does not mean the fire is out. allsaintchris c.2012
