OK apology accepted, I didn't see my comments as a joke as you stated and would have said the same thing about any driver regardless of the team. Whether you like it or not these drivers are extremely priviliged and lucky to be doing what they are doing. Enjoy the rest of the week.
To be honest I think that sometimes F1 drivers can lose touch with reality a bit due to their privileged job. Your John Doe work nine till five, five days a week, I am not privy to driver's schedules in regards to their sponsorship commitments but do their weeks contain 40 hours of work? I doubt it. Yes I know the travel must become a bit of a strain but they are getting paid millions and millions of pounds so I do not think they have much of a leg to stand on to complain about any of it really. That said, I do not really give a crap what drivers do away from the track so long as they turn up and drive as best they can.
Like you say Mifune, they get paid for it, if they don't want to do it then there are plenty of drivers that should be given a chance to. The reason I got on my high horse is that I have personal experience of flogging my guts out in crap jobs at all times of the day and night as do so many other people, these drivers are treated as gods wherever they go, so to turn round and start complaining shows they have lost touch a bit with reality. Like I said I didn't know if this was a true story or not so checked it out and it does seem to have some basis in truth so I was commenting on that, not agreeing with whoever might be trolling on the thread, which is not my style at all, and I got lumped in with that guy, which I took offence to.
Poor Poor Pitiful Lewis. Such a hard life. People crashing into him ' on purpose ' in Monaco. Apparently no dash readout in Canada, the team not giving him information at Silverstone and now on top of that he has to do PR work!!! Quite honestly £75M for a five year contract is simply not enough. I'm not an admirer of the way some things are done at Mclaren. In the days of Ron Dennis, there were some key individuals whose contribution to the team was conveniently overlooked when the next best thing came along and lest we forget it was Dennis who paved the way for Hamilton who indeed has enjoyed all the support the team could ever have given anyone. So Hamilton should be mindful who had helped him get to where he is. If you really don't like the Mclaren way Lewis, then take the highway and mind the door doesn't hit your behind on the way out.......it might have just been done on purpose.
I just wonder how many of you would moan about having to do extra work that was not related to your primary job but would almost definatly effect your performance in it. A job in which more than 2 dozen of your counter parts have lost their lives, and where everyone is critical of your performance and have the means to make their feelings known in a world wide medium. It was only 2 seasons ago with Massa that we were reminded just how dangerous this sport is and what can happen to a driver while they entertain us. True, we have had 17 years without a drivers death, but anyone who thinks these drivers don't earn their money only needs to search for Tom Pryce on YouTube to see what can happen.
That's a hard balance to strike Bando, but of all the teams I'd expect McLaren to have one of the healthier income streams compared teams a little further down the grid. Money you can always find, but success is something that takes a lot more. As Toyota found out.
I really didnt write this as a wum posting, just ageneral observation that there is good and bad in all jobs, but surely being Lewis Hamilton the good parts of being a Mclaren driver, ie a £75 million pound contract must out weigh the bad parts, ie the large amount of time he has to commit to sponsers etc. I really think if Lewis just got on and did what hes best at, racing he would gain a lot more respect from many more people.
It's a good thread Schuey, but what you just said is contradictory. You're critisising him for wanting to cut down on his PR schedule, but also state you just want him to get on and race which is essentially what Lewis is asking to do. Either way I'm enjoying this thread.
I'd bet that if you offered to pay most drivers minimum wage they would still drive in F1. They hardly do it for the money, a fair few this year are actually paying to be in their seat. Schumacher himself is a good example that money isn't everything, he is there because he wants to drive. If £75M is on the table for doing a job you love then you would be a fool not to take it. However when aspects of your job start to get in the way of the part you love you would find yourself questioning your happiness. I doubt Hamilton or Button expect the same salary and less PR work. Both team and driver agents will be busy working out revised pay deals and PR schedules. Driver salaries are quite easy to find on the internet, it would be good if their PR schedules were as easy to come across, especially Alonso who's yearly pay is currently 3 times that of Jensen or Lewis. I'd be interested in how much PR work Ferrari push him in to. Personally if I were Fernando I'd have quite after that Fiat 500 advert!
Yeah, what the hell is up with that advert. He can speak perfect english, why the hell did they need to dub it?
I thought it was a Leerdammer cheese advert to start with. If I'd been on the board that came up with it I'd just of had Alonso in a Fiat 500, and underneath "The Fiat 500 is faster than you........do you understand?"
