Hamiltons Team-mate cold feet

I don't think Hamilton would have much say in who his future team mate would be.

As a team he would be consulted and his opinion sought.

But as a commercial company the decision must be financial, who would deliver the best results for the best price.

McLaren's primary goal is the WCC, secondary is the WDC.

The want both their drivers finishing 1st & 2nd.

If they wanted an excellent No1 and a poor No2 they would have dismissed Lewis and kept Alonso partnered with Piquet Jnr; but they didn't and they don't!!

The drivers who get the most out of their cars on the grid are Lewis, Kimi and Alonso, IMO.

They can't have Lewis/Alonso so Lewis/Kimi would be an ideal pairing for McLarens benefit.
 
I would love to see that pairing as I would expect any fan too.

I was trying to make a point that McLaren, for commercial reasons, would have to make that decision regardless wether Lewis disliked it or not.
 
Absolutely agree, they would definitely poll Lewis' opinion as they could not afford for him to be demotivated as a result. The team will ultimately decide and if they think they can manage Lewis' concerns, he wouldn't get a vote, but if he was running scared and demotivated, I think they would rethink the package. So, I tend to agree that McLaren has spoken to Lewis, and the world didn't drop out of his bottom, so they are pursuing the concept.
 
I also looked forward to the Lewis/Alonso pairing, but that went pear-shaped :o

Could it be the way McLaren handle their drivers, Coulthard once referred to a 'them' and 'us' setup there, or was it just down to Alonso?
 
That's a traditional can or worms. My belief is that it's based around the bakers dozen and it's seven to Alonso halh a dozen to McLaren.

I don't think they were fair on Alonso, but talk about a hissy fit! Whether or not they broke commitments made to him is another matter, but he definitely took way too much emotion out onto the track.
 
GeoffP said:
That's a traditional can or worms. My belief is that it's based around the bakers dozen and it's seven to Alonso halh a dozen to McLaren.
Click to expand

No, I'm putting all the blame squarely on Alonso's shoulders. Coulthard did talk about a "them" and "us" scenario at McLaren, and this may have given Alonso the idea that he was not the ?1 driver. Big deal. Gerhard Berger and David Coulthard were able to cope with a clear ?2 role. It is called professionalism. If you're dissatisfied with the way you're being treated you air your greavences with your boss, you get on with your job to prove you should be ?1, and you absolutely don't start having a public slanging match with your own team.

You can accuse McLaren of being unfair on him all you like, and I don't particularly believe anyone would favour a rookie to the reigning World Champion (and on the evidence of the Monaco GP, they didn't), but for god's sake, Fernando, get on with it! Ron Dennis didn't cause you to spin the car in Canada, nor did he end the race by getting passed by a Super Aguri. Ron Dennis didn't cause you to get passed around the outside by Nick Heidfeld in Bahrain. It is not Ron Dennis' fault you totalled the car in Japan!

He wasn't getting things his own way, he was inexplicably behind an inexperienced team-mate for the whole season and he didn't like it. But it was not only Hamilton in a McLaren who binned a huge lead to Raikkonen!
 
I remember reading about Gerhard Berger when he talked about joining Mclaren to be Senna's team mate. Berger thought he could compete on equal terms with him and soon found out that he couldn't. He became very demoralised and thought about quiting. I can't remember who it was he spoke to (I have a feeling that it may have been Sid Watkins) but whoever it was told him to stop worrying about Senna and concentrate on beating everyone else. Pretty soon Gerhard got his mojo back and with that he did on occasion out qualify and beat Senna. The two became the firmest of friends.

I think the lesson here is that too often drivers worry about what there team mate is up to and not enough worrying about what everyone else is doing. You could say this is what caused Mclaren to chuck the title away in 07 and again what effected Rubens performances in the early half of this season.
 
Also another reason for the Hamiltons stating that they'd like to continue with Heikki as teammate is of course that they're probably pretty good mates as well! Most of F1 is commercial commitments with public appearances, photo calls etc. and that can't be made easier if you don't get on with the person you're doing it with.
Perhaps 2007 was so bad for them that they perceive another top driver in the team as a repeat of that year and that there'll be conflict. We don't really know much about Alonso & Hamilton's personal relationship at the time but I can't imagine it was too good - though good to see things thawing lately.

This was posted on 606 yesterday - made me laugh! (from 5:10 onwards)

 
EL_NANDO said:
The Hamilton clan want someone like Kovalainen or Nakajima. I wonder why.
Click to expand
So now that McLaren have signed the current WDC, what does that say about the ""Hamilton clan"?

It always makes me laugh when the silly stuff that is written about Hamilton comes back to bite them.
 
I'm sure there'll be some explanation, like Hamilton's father has hit Martin Whitmarsh because he hired Button, or Lewis has broken all them panoramic windows in the McLaren team 'van', or Lewis is on the point of throwing a complete strop, giving data to the FIA and buggering off to Renault.

Quite frankly, why would Hamilton be scared of Button. I can't remember Nakajima being mentioned!
 
I still can't figure out why Heikki failed to perform, he was always very quick in everything else. Even when he was in the testing role for Renault, his times stacked up against Fernando's, for consistency and speed. The curious thing is that throughout the past two years Heikki has often referred to the fact that compared to Lewis he has been struggling with tyre wear.

Prior to the Japanese Grand Prix Kovalainen discussed his driving style and the tyre problems in an interview with the Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat, feeling they had now solved the issues. He explained his driving style was now very close to Hamilton's, as well as his car set-up. Hamilton's aggressive driving style seemed to work the best with the McLaren MP4-23, allowing the tyres to last longer. Hamilton hits the brakes harder and turns the car more quickly into the corner, while Kovalainen's softer driving style would be to drive with a longer curve into the corner, going easier on the brakes and accelerating halfway through the corner. Since the McLaren was harder on the tyres than Renault and the Bridgestones weren't quite as robust as the Michelins, that driving style now led to excessive tyre degradation.
Click to expand
http://wapedia.mobi/en/Heikki_Kovalainen

I just struggled with my rear tyres all the way through the race, to be honest. They were going away and I was damaging them excessively. The car control became difficult and I had to slow down. This was the reason I couldn’t keep up. I think it’s a bit of both. It looks like in the low grip conditions I put more load on the tyres. We saw that a little bit in Canada, where I had more tyre wear compared to Lewis again. In the rain when the grip is lower I put a little more load on the rear tyres. It’s probably something I need to look.
Click to expand
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2008/07/09/kovalainen-hamilton-and-tyre-wear/

Perhaps he would have faired better 2010...
 
  • * aggressive driving style
    * hits the brakes harder
    * turns the car more quickly

doesn't seem like a driving style that would look after the tyres.

Maybe Kovi isn't slow, but Lewis is fast?
 
fedupwithuserids said:
  • * aggressive driving style
    * hits the brakes harder
    * turns the car more quickly

doesn't seem like a driving style that would look after the tyres.

Maybe Kovi isn't slow, but Lewis is fast?
Click to expand

Yeah, this has been a thought of mine, simply because...

2007 - Alonso = Hamilton

Now Alonso beat every team-mate he had out of the water. How much of this is Flav and how much Fernando, we don't know! However, Hamilton has had a similar amount of distance between himself and Kovalainen.

So, is it just that we all underestimated Hamilton? What do you think, Jenson...?
 

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