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.
It might just be my old memory... But I could have sworn Button had the odd swipe at Brawn when the car went all tits up and he was in the verge of a nervous breakdown.
I don't recall anything about the team. The car certainly though. Barrichello was the one to actively blame the team with his fairly infamous Blah blah blah comments. Maybe Hamilton is actually similar to the former Brawn duo in a way (although on a larger career scale) as the fairytale start petering out a little bit being the cause of frustration and stupid comments. Certainly he would have expected to have won more by now. Cant see Mercedes being the solution to that though.
To be honest it's a load of rubbish when people talk about certain drivers being 'nice guys' and others not, I mean what are we basing this on?, a few token media interviews over the last few years. Granted Lewis mucked up big time with the twitter thing in Belgium, but IMO to suggest that he moans anymore than Jenson when it comes to the car or the team is nonsense, if you look back just to Hungary Jenson criticised the team for putting him on a two stop strategy But of course nowadays everyone seems to think they know each driver and what they are like personally by listening in to a few radio messages and watching an interview after a race...
Well said... Due to our bias towards certain drivers/teams, the fans will always be selective in what they hear, we filter out the fluff and only care to discuss/eulogise the positive sound bites! F1 is politically driven, in order to succeed these drivers/owners need to know when to be nice and when to be a real good back stabber! In front of the camera they’re sugar and spice and all things nice! Behind the camera they’re robbing kids of their candy and not helping old ladies across the road!
But this is exactly the point! What any driver says behind closed doors is largely irrelevant, when it comes to sponsorship, the image you present to the public is much more important. I have no idea if Button is miserable as sin behind closed doors and thinks Mclaren are a bunch of amateurs, it rarely comes across in public, and he usually comes across as the nice guy, so sponsors will like him. Hamilton being much more vocal in public about his concerns reflects poorly on Mclaren, which in turn reflects poorly on the sponsors, so he's not as appealing a driver to sponsors in that sense. At the moment, Mclaren's primary concern is simply surviving in F1 beyond 2014, and they have a huge budget deficit. Employing a driver, irrespective of how fast he is, that wants more money than the team can afford and is less appealing to sponsors isn't going to help them. Granted there is the counter argument that the quicker the driver, the more screen time the sponsors get, so it's a balancing act. To me, Hamilton is currently falling the wrong side of the line on this one at the moment.
Very good post, however I bet you can count on one hand how many times Button and Hammilton when leading Spa and Monza were in frame!
I guess from a sponsorship point of view, the ideal driver is one that is crap in qualifying, putting the car much lower than it could be, but has strong race pace and is an excellent overtaker, so they're on screen a lot as they fight their way back up, ideally to the podium where the sponsors then get shown off again on the drivers race suit.
If news that they want Perez to take over from Hamilton should he leave, they'll be a marketing juggernaut based on DHCanarys thoughts on what makes a good driver from a sponsors perspective!
DHCanary's post: "but this is exactly the point", is very good (and well worth some 'rep'). He is quite right about the public image, and the general feeling expressed by fans, being of paramount importance to sponsors. Most top sport is political these days – but unfortunately, none more so than F1; and public opinion is vitally important to all politics in the western world.
http://www.planetf1.com/driver/18227/8073964/-McLaren-considering-Heikki- Well I'll be! So now McLaren are considering other drivers!
From the above limk According to the report the Finn "remains highly regarded by the McLaren powerbrokers" Could mean that: He's cheap Decent enough to score points often And won't whinge when we back Button has the #1 driver!
I like Hekki but I would rather see somebody like Perez get a run. I would have said Di Resta but he seems to have gone of the boil lately and I think is too much like Button in his persona. Following on from DHcanary and Cosi comments, I dont think it is unreasonable for proffessionalism and commitment of a driver to take priority in order to both secure and protect the interests sponsers and image.
I'm incredibly biased, but I'd love to see Heikki back in a competitive car. Perez would probably be a better option, but I don't know whether his Ferrari Academy links would get in the way and he's got some kind of contract clause giving Ferrari first option. Still, if Ferrari apparently don't think he has enough experience, then it'd be a coup for Mclaren if they could beat them to his signature. I also agree that Di Resta hasn't impressed so much this season, so maybe Heikki would make sense for 1 season, then they can reassess who's about, if Bottas gets a race seat next season and impresses, who knows? They seem to like Finns at Mclaren. Unfortunately, it's the Daily Mail, so I've got my hopes up for nothing.
Considering Di Resta has just split with Hamilton's dad, would be taking Hamilton's seat in a deal that would be brokered by a management company that's partly owned by Button... the conspiracy theorists will have a field day if he moved to McLaren.
More thoughts; http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/news/22058/8071842/Talking-Heads-What-s-going-on-with-Lewis-
