Hamiltons Team-mate cold feet

EL_NANDO

Rookie
Hamilton seems afraid of being team mates with Raikkonen (according to Martin Brundle), however Alonso is fine being team mates with Massa. Massa has shown he is better than Raikkonen over the last 2 seasons. There is really no doubt about this.

So why do people keep insisting Alonso is "scared" of having a competitive team mate? Surely it is Hamilton! Perhaps this is why Alonso was forced out of McLaren in the first place.

The Hamilton clan want someone like Kovalainen or Nakajima. I wonder why.

All opinions welcome.
 
People keep insisting that Massa may cause problems for Alonso because we only have a singular sample (single season) of Alonso having a competative teammate in his career, this is all we have to go by.

Now by 'competative teammate' of course that is a relative statement, Lewis, still a wet behind the ears rookie at that point was too competative for Alonso, so i dont think it is stretching credulity to consider a seasoned professional like Massa, who knows how to win races and who has competed in a title race to cause Alonso concern.

Given that, as can been seen in the official FIA documentation of the time, Alonso's reaction to the idea of equal status was to go off the deep end, all in all i think this perception people have gained shows merit.

As for Hamilton not wanting Kimi, i'm sure its true for all drivers that the less competative their teammate, the happier the driver will be, just as both Hamilton and Alonso were both respectively happier when they parted ways, then both in a position of having entirely uncompetative teammates.

It all depends whether you rate Kimi more highly than you do Alonso. When looking at this from the perspective of results, we can see the Lewis handled himself very well in beating a 2x WDC (or equalling if one wishes to ignore track-back). People can bang on about team biases all they like, but you just have to look at the likes of kovy, piquet, grosjean, fisi, luca to know that a driver has to have talent to give the team something to work with in the first place - in any event, again going by a single sample, one would conclude that Lewis knows what to expect.

If however Alonso is considered much the superior to Kimi, then one would assume this wont be a challenge for Lewis.
 
Oh, there's my and my limited cranium again, you see, I read that as Hamilton wanting to keep Kovi as his team mate. Being dumb I didn't understand the implied fact that he was afraid of being teammates with Kimi.

Back to school for me :crazy:
 
I don't know about quotes to support the op's theory about Hamilton's percieved fear of Kimi, but there is this quote from the Telegraph on 28/09/09.

"Hamilton’s thoughts on the matter are unknown. The world champion, who roared to a commanding victory in the Singapore Grand Prix, enjoyed a prickly relationship with Alonso in 2007, with neither driver prepared to back down.

He has not had to work nearly so hard to assert himself over Heikki Kovalainen and the return of another A-list driver will be intriguing. "
I can't argue that, if Kimi does go to McLaren, it will be very interesting to see how both Lewis & Kimi race/work together in the same team. Lewis may prefer to keep Heiki, but that doesn't equate to him fearing Kimi though...
 
This is all well and fine if one believes that it is commonplace for the otherside of the garage to say 'yeah get rid of him!' in a situation where the teammates in question have a good personal relationship.

But as usual this is the standard case of wanting the cake and eating it, some may wish to imply that Lewis wont be able to handle Kimi, but dont want to admit Lewis could hand Alonso because that means Kimi > Alonso. They want to say Massa wont be a problem for Alonso, but dont want to admit Lewis' abilities was a problem for Alonso.

And my all time favorite - wanting to say team bias to help Lewis gave him the advantage, so if there is team bias, surely Hamilton is chilled out no matter who comes in no? Oh noes!, ok um, lets ignore that one then, because if Lewis genuinely has something to fear about a teammates skill, that means no bias exists...what a tangled web we weave...
 
I doubt that Hamilton has any say in it. Only last week Whitmarsh was quoted repeating the Dennis line, that McLaren always aim to employ the two best drivers available. Kimi seems pretty clearly the best driver still available, Kubica apparently now tied into Renault, so I would certainly expect him to get the drive.

And then we'll be able to compare them properly.
 
GordonMurray said:
And then we'll be able to compare them properly.
Indeed.
Kimi and Lewis at the same team next year would probably be the pairing of the season for me.

It would be like 2007 all over again, but hopefully without the off (and on) track shenanigans.
 
If McLaren finish in their current Constructors' Championship position they'll be 4th. This will mean that they will get the numbers 7 & 8 for 2010, with a British driver in #7 and a Finn in #8.

It'll be just like 1998!

What is it with the Finn/Britain combo at McLaren, eh?
 
Found this quote which may explain the "love affair" between Ron Dennis McLaren and Finnish drivers:

It has been suggested that Team Boss, Ron Dennis, has favored Finnish drivers due to their cool and calm demeanor, hence Räikkonen's nick name, “Iceman”. Their ability to deflect pressure and control anger are very attractive characteristics as a driver and team member.

I'm sure Heikki is cool and calm, unfortunately he's not very fast. Kimi is a different fish.

Has any other team, apart from pseudo "national" teams like Renault in the 80's, had such a penchant for drivers of one nationality? I can't think of one.
 
Lewis was not scared of joining Mclaren with Alonso as team mate.

Raikkonen is a lot better then he gets the credit for, but again I can't see Lewis being that scared!

Surely the point of a 'wingman' is to protect you.

Lewis has not had the help of a fast team mate this season or last.

If Raikkonen is quicker, than so be it Lewis can be his 'wingman'.
 
I believe the last time it happened was Senna and Prost at Mclaren in 1989.

It really hasn't happenend all that often in F1 to the best of my knowledge. I think before that you have to go back to Denny Hulme and Emerson Fittipaldi at Mclaren in 1974.
 
It is going to make it interesting, as both will (rightfully) feel that they deserve the best chance at the WDC.
 
I think it could be said that the difference between 2007 and 2010 if Hamilton & Raikkonen are paired up is that Raikkonen will be really well tuned into the team, and will know the score, so is less likely to mouthe off about favouritism just because he's being beat! Essentially, McLaren will have two drivers really in tune with their culture, having both grown up with the team.

NB. Apologies to EL_NANDO, we've hijacked this thread and decided to talk sense. Sorry!
 
It just seems like projection to me. In the saga that is Kimi's drive for next season, IMO one man's fear of teaming up with Kimi has played a part in the proceeding. I have little doubt in my mind that had Ferrari insisted on keeping Kimi and were open to losing Massa instead, Alonso would have still been driving in the Renault colours next season, having turned down the contract.
 
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