From a personal point of view, if I lost a dear aunt of mine only two weeks ago, whilst I may be overjoyed at the win, I’d also think I'd reflect on that a bit and not go OTT in my celebrations! Obviously not on not606 F1 but there’s a lot of amateur body language experts out there that ain’t got a bloody clue what they’re on about!
bottom line is,they want to pay lewis less than button is currently getting.theres no way he should agree to that. also the way MW talks about button,you can tell he has a softer spot for him. last week when jenson won MW was over the moon and heaped praise on button.yesterday MW didnt look anywhere near as happy,and was more interested in talking about button. even after lewis's previous win MW didnt look very happy.this tells me he'd much rather see jenson win than lewis. i think lewis can sense this and so he doesnt feel like he is part of the team.remember last season we were being told that button has got the team more on his side,he was now the new leader in the team,,remember that,,well it still feels that way to lewis.even when he was leading the championship MW was more interested in helping button. and when the press were asking MW if button should now be made the number 2 driver,you could tell he really hated the thought of that.thats one of the reasons why he was so relieved when button won last week,it shut the press up. martin doesnt like it when ppl put down jenson.but when its lewis who gets stick,martin likes to join in and give lewis a few sneaky wacks too. lewis wants to know he has the same backing from MW that jenson gets,if he can convince him of that,then i think lewis will stay at mclaren.
I didn't see him being petulant... It was more the way that the people involved danced around the answer when asked if Hamilton would be at McLaren next year.
I'm unsure whether you are aware of Mclaren's history and whether you have only been a fan of F1 and potentially Lewis since 2007? It is fundementally against Mclarens policy to introduce team orders to any of their drivers past or present, unless its is more or less mathamatically impossible for a given driver to compete for the WDC. As usual your interpretation and facts seemed rather one sided - Whitmarsh was quoted prior to Spa that Jenson may soon be asked to support Lewis moving forward. I also think you are way off claimimg that they want to pay Lewis less than Jenson, that is just pure crazy on all levels - however it is difficult on the flip side to justify paying Lewis double what Jenson recieves given that their joint partnership to date at Mclaren has yielded more or less identical results. However, I do agree with one point that you have made (crazy I know), but it does seem that Lewis doesn't feel as well intergrated within the team! This could be down to numerous things; Jenson is a better team mate than he wants? Lewis thinks he should have No 1 status? Lewis thinks he should be paid more than any other driver? Lewis thinks he shouldn't have to do any Mclaren group promotions? etc..etc..etc.etc..etc..etc.. Or simply it could be that he jas just out grown the team and needs a new environment moving forward! Perception is reallity and all that!
He needs to drop his management team, they have brainwashed him into thinking that money is the important factor in a contract. They don't care about him like he says they do, I never see them at races like his dad used to do.
lewis wants ATLEAST what jenson is paid,mclaren are offering him less. and if some of you cant see how much MW loves jenson,then you are blind. look at what MW said about lewis and jenson after lewis's win in hungary. then look at what he said after jensonswin last week. then look at what he said after lewis's win yesterday. also look at MW body language,lewis does not like MW.
Surely Hamilton would be more emotional given his current situation rather than the current half-subdued robot he seems to be? Lots of Lewis fans before Spa were talking about how he would want to win it for her. There also remains the fact that there is a clear and evident awkwardness with his team, especially Whitmarsh, which cannot be explained away so readily.
Point taken... just saying if I was in his position I may have reacted in a similar way. Also, how many of us like our Managers all the time? I've had a few run-ins with my own boss and during those times I wouldn't pish on the fella if he was on fire!
I have noticed that when Button wins Whitmarsh can't stop smiling and praising him, but when Lewis wins he says it's a good result but then starts talking about Jenson's race. It's clear to see he favours Button much more than Lewis so you can see why he is a little unhappy at the moment. He doesn't get enough credit from the team.
this is one of the things lewis said after the race.look at the final sentence. "I put the flag on my helmet just as a sign of respect. This is a very historic circuit and, when I was driving, I was thinking that all of the greats have won here, so to finally get a win here is just the icing on the cake, and I hope that this is the start of something good in the future. I've not had the best results in the past, so hopefully, in the future, we will have a little bit more support here..." a little bit more support here.thats a indirect way of saying,he wants more support from his team in the future. this is what i mean when i say he feels he isnt getting the same support as button.
I've always thought people who thought this have been a little bit paranoid but I have been noticing it lately. I wonder if Whitmarsh and Hamilton had a falling out a while ago - perhaps after Hamilton failed to defend his title in 2009, or recapture it in 2010 - and Whitmarsh is unhappy with his attitude.
In 2009 he had a **** car and he would have been champion in 2010 but for a puncture with 2 laps to go in Barcelona which to this day still annoys the hell out of me. I noticed aswell that during the team's photoshoot after Lewis' win yesterday that Whitmarsh was smiling and laughing with Button and Lewis was sat there by himself. If they have had a falling out and Lewis leaves then he will suffer the consequences with him being the team boss unless a suitable replacement is found.
I agree 100% that there is definately a divide of something between Whitmarsh and Lewis - I think it would be hard to deny that. However, none of us know what has gone on behind closed doors and i think Ron touched on it in his interview and nobody can suggest that Ron isn't pro Lewis! He suggested that IF Lewis was committed to WINNING then he would stay at Mclaren. It suggest that there are other motivating factors in the negotiations which we are not privy to and lets be honest the main one will be the financial side. It wouldn't be out of this world to suggest that Lewis is trying extort too much money out of Mclaren because he feels he is worth more than he is or Mclaren can simply afford! And FFS guest get it through your head, Mclaren do not want to pay Lewis less than Jenson, bujt it stands to reason that if Mercedes are offering him 20 million a year then that is what he wants from Mclaren - which is double what jenson gets! The fact is that we all assume that Whitmarsh is just a terrible bully to Lewis who doesn't appreciate his talent, but there is a tiny chance that Lewis COULD be a total spoilt brat and very unproffesional behind the scenes! I'm not saying he is but who knows? Whitmarsh looked pretty happy to me when Lewis crossed the line to win and it was Lewis who was awkward with Whitmarsh in the post race celebrations!
most of the interview he spends talking about jenson,eventhough lewis just won the race. he also has a little dig at lewis with the "1 mature driver in the paddock". [video=youtube;HgyibtTSP-A]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgyibtTSP-A[/video]
I know you're beyond convincing on this one, but I really don't see much that could be construed as anti-Hamilton. Whitmarsh answers the questions he's asked. The first question asks about the retirement, but he still says that on balance they'll be celebrating. EJ asks about Hamilton, Whitmarsh answers as honestly as he can, he says he thinks Hamilton enjoys being in the team, but like anyone you can never know for sure. He says that Mclaren have their stance on his situation, and when you look at the other drivers possibly available, there are few comparable options to Hamilton, so logically their stance would be that they want to keep him, assuming his wage demands aren't going to bankrupt them. If they'd reached the point of no return, then negotiations wouldn't be ongoing. Equally, if they wanted Hamilton out, they wouldn't be negotiating with him. At 1:50, DC then asks about Button, so naturally he answers about him. The maturity comment? I personally don't think it's aimed at Hamilton, or indeed anyone other than a complement to Button, and even if it was a dig, is there any way you can possibly argue that Hamilton has demonstrated comparable maturity in the last few seasons?
