I think (as said by others) that if it was purely Lewis's decession he would have signed for Mclaren at the beginning of the year for around 12 million (similiar to Jenson) with performance bonuses etc. I believe whole heartedly that he just wants to win races and WDC and I cant see anywhere better than Mclaren to do that. The problem is his management team want to turn him into a global sports star with massive earnings so they can make money of him rather than for him! If anything, by playing hardball with Mclaren and leaving it this late they have probably cut their nose to spite their face. As Ron insinuated, why go to an unproven team when you have proven race winning team, wanting to sign you?
Agreed! If there's one bloke you don't play hardball with its Ron Dennis! Best thing that could happen to Hamilton is that he sacks the jokers from XIX and goes back to being managed by someone that has his interests at heart and understand the F1 business.. someone like his Dad!! Win x number more WDCs with McLaren and in turn the lucrative money/sponsorship deals will take care of themselves!
This is why I think about this situation and why he could move: -Lewis has fallen out with the team because of his behaviour off the track and he maybe feels not getting enough support from them -Jenson knows he can't beat Lewis on pace so is trying to make Lewis out to be a bad guy by acting like the nice guy to the media and the team. Therefore harming the relationship between Lewis and the team. -Lewis feels it is unfair Jenson is being paid more than him becuase he has carried Mclaren for last 5 years and Jenson has had 1 good season at the team but earns more. -Martin Whitmarsh favours Jenson because of his attitude and his good public image but doesn't acknowledge the fact that he can't carry the team when things are difficult on track like Lewis can. -People say he should stay with Mclaren because he has a better chance of winning a world title yet they have only give him 1 so far and the potential team he could be joining has won more than them in the last 10 years (Under a different name, Brawn). -In 2014 the regulations change, it may benefit Mercedes more than Mclaren. -Norbert Haug who is currently at Mercedes is a great admirer of Lewis after his time at Mclaren with. NO MORE FROM ME ON THE SUBJECT UNTIL A CONTRACT IS SIGNED!
1-Did you watch Spa qualifying by any chance? Or 2011? I'd also argue that with telemetry-gate as the latest evidence, Hamilton doesn't need any help destroying relationships. 2-According to this they are both on the same salary, €16m a year. [Incidently, I can't remember which thread Kovalainen's salary was brought up on, but it's given here as €4m a year, which is 8x what Petrov is on.] 3-To any F1 team, image has to be a consideration! Button has a very good image, whilst Hamilton seems to be spending a lot of time over the last couple of seasons throwing his toys out of the pram.It's unprofessional and won't appeal to sponsors, something Mclaren really have to think about at the moment with the extra expenditure on the horizon and reduced sponsorship from Vodafone. With regards to carrying a team, yes Hamilton seems capable of a result in a poorly handling, badly set-up car, but then he'll moan like hell about it afterwards, which will divide the garage, whilst Button (to me) seems more likely to get the team to rally around him. It's a shame really to see Hamilton in some kind of meltdown the last couple of seasons, I really enjoyed watching him race when he first came on the scene.
On the contract situation I meant the new contract they offered was less money than they offered to Button. I actually agree with you about Lewis and his attitude in the last 2 seasons though. However he could still win the championship this season so you could argue he has had 1 bad season so far but he could also not win the championship because of basic team errors yet again. So you can see why maybe he has had enough.
Sorry, but are you really suggesting Button's not a moaner? Does the phrase "I couldn't get any grip" ring any bells? I'm sick of this Button "nice guy" stuff. Just because he's amiable in public doesn't make him a nice guy. Even Vettel's charming in public, FFS.
I agree, the amount of times I've heard Jenson complaining that he just lost grip in Q3 after a good run in Q2.... Drives me up the wall!
Anyone else think, even with a poor handling car that Lewis would get lapped by Jenson (as was the case in Canada)? Nope, me neither, if setup to his liking he's (Jenson) quick, in a not so well setup car Lewis is still rapid! I like Jenson, great driver but he's not premiership class, only drivers in that league from the current crop are Alonso, Vettel and Hamilton, Schumacher is relegated due to possible retriement and Kimi is pushing for promotion!
He doesn't however rant about it and post **** on twitter. No point trying to take out on Jenson the fact Lewis has created a negitive image around himself.
Anyone else think, even with a poor handling car that Lewis would get lapped by Jenson (as was the case in Canada)? Nope, me neither, if setup to his liking he's (Jenson) quick, in a not so well setup car Lewis is still rapid! I like Jenson, great driver but he's not premiership class, only drivers in that league from the current crop are Alonso, Vettel and Hamilton, Schumacher is relegated due to possible retriement and Kimi is pushing for promotion!
Canada was more than handling. McLaren gambled on setup after Jenson missed practice and the resulting setup didn't have any long run testing and chewed tyres. Perfect example of a race that would have been blamed on the team by most had Hamilton driven it.
Hamilton's pace is not in question, his attitude is. Sometimes you have to determine whether what is necessary to bring out the best in one member of the team is having a detrimental effect on the team as a whole.
I'm not. What I'm saying is that I don't believe all this nice-guy Jenson stuff. If you look back over his career he's been pretty ruthless (as many F1 drivers are).
I don't see how Lewis is "having a detrimental effect on the team as a whole". TBH, I think it's perfectly natural that Button would be closer to Whitmarsh as they are similar men from a similar background with a similar manner. We don't know what the problem is and I think it is wrong to presume that everything is Lewis's fault.
Personally, and I'm not coming down one side or the other on this, I think Whitmarsh made the decision sometime during 2009 that he did not like Hamilton on a personal level but has continued to work with him on a professional one since. Note that the appointment of Button was quite a step up from Kovalainen in that Button actually took Mclaren's "two drivers policy" and ran with it. Turkey 2010 proved that Jenson had succeeded in rattling Lewis. 2011 proved that Hamilton suffers under pressure. The fact that they are offering terms to Lewis suggests that they want to keep him - the problem is that Mclaren is a team in turmoil, having to reduce their annual budget by €15m because they are no longer a works team. Those savings are almost definitely going to have to be found in the team's most significant expenditure - driver salaries. I think Hamilton simply doesn't fit in that environment any more. There's no conspiracy theories, it's a simple case of economics - Whitmarsh has to choose one driver or the other. Then, at the same time, Mercedes will have a bigger budget, Ross Brawn, his mate (allegedly) Rosberg, and from the sounds of it it's his manager's preference too. What's not to like?
I think that's a very good assessment. I'm just not sure that Mercedes are capable of delivering WDCs for Lewis, which I think is what he wants above all else.
He moans about the set-up, which is (normally) constructive, he doesn't moan about the team. I'm also not keen to make this Button vs Hamilton, but when they're in the same team, unfortunately it's the obvious comparison.
