Does Loyalty Have Limits?

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El_Bando

El_Bando

Can't remember, where was I?
Forum Moderator
Jan 26, 2011
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Lewis Hamilton has admitted limitations to anyone's loyalty and even he cannot guarantee his long term commitment to the McLaren Formula One team.

Team boss Martin Whitmarsh said recently he would like to keep the 2008 World Champion paired with Jenson Button for the next five years.

But while he was groomed by the Woking based team and has never raced elsewhere in Formula 1, 26 year old Hamilton said in Shanghai that he intends to be in the right place to win more titles.

"I have got only a short period in Formula One and I want to be competitive," British newspapers quote him as saying.

"If you're in a good enough place and you're happy then there's no need to go anywhere," added Hamilton, who recently signed up Simon Fuller as his new manager.

"I've always enjoyed racing here and would like to continue but at the end of the year you have to assess what position you're in and what's happened," he continued.

Asked if he envisages staying with McLaren for the rest of his career, Hamilton answered: "I don't really envisage anything, to be honest."

As for whether staying with one team throughout his career is an attractive option, he added: "Not really. I don't think there is any attraction to it whatsoever."

And when asked if loyalty has limits, Hamilton said: "It definitely does."

Happier to hear about Whitmarsh's comments about the McLaren line-up was 31 year old Button, who joined Hamilton at the team last year.

"He hasn't spoken to me about that yet," said the 2009 champion said. "No one has mentioned it to me. But it's lovely to hear and I'm obviously doing something right.

"I will grill Martin on it," he beamed
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http://www.f1sa.com/index.php?optio...for-ever-not-attractive&catid=1:f1&Itemid=157

Is this a call out to Red Bull? It doesnt sound like he will accept Whitmarshes 'contract for life'. Obviously if Mclaren develop championship winning cars he will stay but im sure hes wondering if it would be easier if he was sat in a Red Bull.
 
I don't think Horner is really that interested in him, I think it's mind games, he's just trying to unsettle him. It's a bit underhand but the Whitmarsh deserves it for the amount of time he spends talking about Red Bull.
 
If I was Lewis stick around until the end of this season, go with Red Bull for 4 years and finish his career with McLaren by coming back to them.
 
I believe he is just jealous of what Vettel is doing now (everyone probably is) so he wants to go to 'the drinks company'
 
In one sense, McLaren bought him up into F1 and he should be very grateful to them.

Having said that, if McLaren cannot provide him with competitive machinery, Hamilton has no reason to show any loyalty. F1 drivers are here to win, not to show loyalty. The bigger question is: where would he go?

Red Bull is his best option, but I don't think Hamilton would go to a team which is building it's future around Vettel.
 
He is right to make the point that McLaren are not setting out to develop properly prior to the season starting - other irons in the fire?

He and JB are rumoured to be given 5 year contracts !!! Madness. JB might go for it - but why should LH.
 
Some good points already mentioned here, particularly those referring to loyalty. In this respect, Hamilton has already paid back any moral obligations he may have had, whilst McLaren have not been providing what he wants.

Let's get this straight: race drivers are ultimately selfish. And in the context of this thread, that is not a negative thing. People get into motor racing (as drivers) because they are individuals and can only fit easily into a team if they are the pinnacle - the 'main focus' of it. They have to be; it's what 'drives' a driver to want to become a driver in the first place.

Hamilton has a new management team (one year overdue) and it is their duty to negotiate the best possible deal. This necessitates keeping all options open, particularly as negotiation time closes in.
 
Exactly Cosi, its called 'options' Hamilton, has what, up to ten years more in F1, if he want more WDCs he will have to be in the right place at the right time.

There is only one person who ultimately looks after Lewis Hamiltons interest, and that's Lewis Hamilton, he simply cannot commit to extending his stay at McLaren if the hardware isn't up to the job.

If McLaren play a blinder and produce a world beating piece of kit then he will stay if not he will move on, the big question is where too, I suggest he follows the likes of Newey, anybody fancy Newey and Hamilton at Ferrari.
 
Bright, no neither do I, but Ferrari have to make step changes within the team if they want to be succesful again, and what better way of buying success, presumably money is no problem.
 
Hamilton will stay at McLaren. Red Bull are just playing mind games, trying to create disharmony at McLaren by unsettling their lead driver. Which is fair enough considering McLaren take any opportunity to discredit Red Bull. Ferrari would be a sideways step for him, I think both teams have a similar capacity for designing winning cars, over the last few years they've always been pretty evenly matched, and ultimately I think Kubica will end up at Ferrari. Mercedes and Renault would be a massive gamble, I think both teams now have a car as quick as the McLaren. I think Renault are better at developing the car and if Kubica was there I think they'd ultimately come out on top, but can you trust these two teams to challenge year in year out like McLaren? I don't think so.

So Hamilton is stuck at McLaren for the foreseeable, whether he likes it or not.
 
I dont think Hamilton will stay at McLaren 'IF' the hardware is not up to the job, most teams would welcome him, he is worth at least 0.5 sec driving anything.
 
BrightLS: I think it's safe to say that so long as Alonso is at Ferrari, Hamilton will not be going there.

Ultimately, I think it likely that he will sign a new contract with McLaren. - But if I were advising him, I'd suggest he keep it short term with options. Bearing in mind Hamilton's ambition and ability, he should restrict any new contracts to a two year term each time.
 
You can't guarantee success, RBR have had the advantage for a year and a half, who took it from brawn, who took it from McLaren, who took it from Renault, who took it from Ferrari, and that's just the last 5 years!! the technological warfare that is F1 is a constantly changing battlefield, McLaren have a completely new design, lost quite a bit of time during testing and are learning the car as the season progresses, I fully expect that by the Mid season McLaren will be the team they're all looking at enviously and it will be up to Hamilton as to whether he becomes WDC or hands it to Button when the pressures on. It seems everyone is going to be copying the 'flexi-wing', whilst RBR are on the back-foot KERS wise.
He's had 4 full seasons at McLaren, and had a WDC winning car for 2 of those 07 & 08, any other team-mate and either Alonso or Hamilton would've been WDC, and tbh I've always suspected that Alonso's spin and lewis powerloss were possibly contrived because of spy-gate. They have been a consistent challenger for the last 30 years, RBR is a gamble tbh, they could just be a slightly longer lived Brawn, a shorter lived Williams, a lot depends on how this season goes for them (McLaren) as to what he does.
 
Miggins said:
You can't guarantee success, RBR have had the advantage for a year and a half, who took it from brawn, who took it from McLaren, who took it from Renault, who took it from Ferrari, and that's just the last 5 years!! the technological warfare that is F1 is a constantly changing battlefield, McLaren have a completely new design, lost quite a bit of time during testing and are learning the car as the season progresses, I fully expect that by the Mid season McLaren will be the team they're all looking at enviously and it will be up to Hamilton as to whether he becomes WDC or hands it to Button when the pressures on. It seems everyone is going to be copying the 'flexi-wing', whilst RBR are on the back-foot KERS wise.…
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This is a very relevant point Miggins. Actually it is part of the logic behind many a driver's ambition to drive for Ferrari. And on a global, long-term scale, McLaren are effectively second only to the red team.

However, it is also the very reason he would be well-advised to keep his options open.
 
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