Lewis contract situation

[Tuscan1969]

siffert_fan I agree up to a point ; in all employment negotiations you tend to pay the guy more if he has already got a track record (no pun intended).

But if the young gun is faster and winning races you don't tell him to slow down... that would be like a football (soccer) manager telling his young striker brought up through the reserve team structure not to score goals since the higher paid star signing should be allowed to shoot first....

The management heads are truly up their """"" if their drivers keep knocking each other off the road!

 

[siffert_fan]

Tuscan1969

I agree completely.

My point is that Lewis better acknowledge that his title(s) are due more to the advantage conferred by being on the Mercedes team than by any personal brilliance.

If his demands are as extortionate as they appear,, IMO, Mercedes should pass on rehiring him and let him chance his reputation with the likes of Sauber or Caterham and prove to whose credit the 2014 and 2015 credits REALLY lie (IMO it ISN'T with Hamilton).

 

[Tuscan1969]

Well LH certainly would not have won the WDC last year in a Sauber There is no question it was a Mercedes title; LH only beat Nico everyone else was beaten by Merc.

But realistically, Merc kick him out and hire Who???? LH would get the choice of Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren, Williams etc all of them would be happy to have him (although maybe they could not all afford his wages!). Very embarrassing for Merc if he jumps into a red car and starts beating Merc in 2016. How long do you think Toto would last after explaining that to the Mercedes board?

 

[cider_and_toast]

Just a question siffert_fan, can you name any world champion who stood up at the end of the season and said "nah, anyone could have won it. It was the car really. I did sod all"?

I can't say I've ever seen or heard Jim Clark say that about the Lotus 25, Mario about the 78 or Schui, Our Nige or anyone else for that matter. Why would Hamilton be any different?

As for the contract situation, the key is not the out going driver but who you replace him with. A situation that Frank Williams is all too aware of.

 

[FB]

These discussion do go round don't they? Over the last few years it was "well I could win in the Red Bull" and now we just replace Red Bull with Mercedes. The driver has to be able to extract the maximum from the machinery offered which is what Vettel did at Red Bull and Hamilton is doing with the Merc.

As to the contract situation, I really couldn't give a monkey's. Maybe Lewis will win his third title this year and then go to Manor to prove he is the greatest driver who ever lived when he takes his fourth title with them. Now wouldn't that be nice.

 

[Brogan]

Maybe Lewis will win his third title this year and then go to Manor to prove he is the greatest driver who ever lived when he takes his fourth title with them.

Undoubtedly if he did, it would be due to the car.

Or some other spurious reason intended to denigrate his achievement.

 

[Kewee]

Hamilton won in a totally legal car, that's good enough for me. So far he has been flawless this season, in fact he's been dominant. In relatively recent times one driver has won driving cars that have stretched the regulations to breaking point, sometimes beyond and the team was forced to make technical changes after some of those wins to comply with the intent of the regulations, without receiving any penalties.
I'm happy to sit back and enjoy watching Hamilton at the top of his game, in a superior but legal car. It's like watching an absolute masterclass, I wouldn't miss it for words. When the current era is over some will look back and realise they missed one of the greats, they were too busy criticising instead of appreciating.

 

[Dash Racing]

Wouldn't you be bored if the only painting you ever saw day after day was da Vinci's Mona Lisa, and the only music you ever listened to was Pachelbel's Canon in D? When you experience the same thing over and over and over again to the point that you're tired of it, it's easier to nitpick. Yes, Pachelbel, da Vinci and Hamilton may be masters, but that doesn't mean they don't get really boring - I like some Tchaikovsky, a bit of Dali, anyone else winning a grand prix, just to change it up, so I can enjoy the masters with a fresh mind and a new point of view.

 

[Titch]

I wouldn't rate Hamilton as highly as that.
He's a good F1 driver, for now. But a hundred years down the line ? People will say, "Who ?"

 

[Tuscan1969]

To dream for a moment ... Lewis wins third title in 2015; refuses to sign with Merc and goes off to do WEC because it challenges him and allows comparisons with racing legends of yesteryear. Alonso does the same since he's cheesed off with his lot. So too Kimi since Ferrari want young blood; ditto Jenson (having beaten Alonso in 2015 he has nothing else to prove in F1).

Suddenly you have all these 4 great drivers (plus Webber) fighting each other in the WEC instead of F1 - Tasty.....

Meanwhile Bernie is left with no-one interested in F1 and after a year Vettel quits too and joins the WEC since no-one values his latest F1 WDC.

We get great racing, Bernie gets shafted and after the collapse of F1 viewing figures the money men sell out to Dave Richards of Prodrive who re-invigorates F1 and the WRC by twinning races and selling a huge "free to Air" TV package across the globe.

The catalyst LH not signing for Merc; come on Lewis you can do it!

 

[Lewywo4]

Nothing would be better for Hamilton's reputation and place in F1 as one of the sports true greats than to win with Ferrari and become the only driver other than Fangio to win the title in three different makes of car, especially if he beat Vettel to achieve it.

Lewis doesn't have to drive for Ferrari to enhance his reputation, in order to be in the future considered one of the greats. Senna as you well know, won all of his three championships driving for McLaren, and that fact hasn't hurt is greatness in any manner.

 

[Tuscan1969]

Just a question siffert_fan, can you name any world champion who stood up at the end of the season and said "nah, anyone could have won it. It was the car really. I did sod all"?
.

cider_and_toast siffert_fan ; off topic a bit so I apologise but I reckon Jenson Button got nearest to saying its the car that won it in 2009 ; http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2009/jun/07/jenson-button-brawn-turkey

 

[Lewywo4]

As to the contract situation, I really couldn't give a monkey's. Maybe Lewis will win his third title this year and then go to Manor to prove he is the greatest driver who ever lived when he takes his fourth title with them. Now wouldn't that be nice.

...........not really!

 

[Kewee]

Lewis doesn't have to drive for Ferrari to enhance his reputation, in order to be in the future considered one of the greats. Senna as you well know, won all of his three championships driving for McLaren, and that fact hasn't hurt is greatness in any manner.

I'm not being critical. Of course he doesn't have to but if he did win a title with Ferrari it would elevate him above every other driver in the sports history with the exception of Fangio.

 

[siffert_fan]

Just a question siffert_fan, can you name any world champion who stood up at the end of the season and said "nah, anyone could have won it. It was the car really. I did sod all"?

I can't say I've ever seen or heard Jim Clark say that about the Lotus 25, Mario about the 78 or Schui, Our Nige or anyone else for that matter. Why would Hamilton be any different?

As for the contract situation, the key is not the out going driver but who you replace him with. A situation that Frank Williams is all too aware of.

No, I haven't heard any of them say that. I have never heard of any of them making contract demands such as Hamilton is rumoured to making either, and that is the entire point. If, as is rumoured, he expects a salary of $40-50 million dollars per season, plus being allowed to keep the trophies, plus being given his car (which would probably have a collector value of over $25 million), that means that he is asking to be paid over $75 million for one season's driving.

You don't find that the least bit excessive?

 

[Mephistopheles]

Over the last few years it was "well I could win in the Red Bull

I couldn't win in any of those cars cuz I am shit even with the best car you have to have a degree of talent, armchair pundits screaming at the telly that they could do better are just kidding themselves, I've heard the same crap spouted during football matches.

Drivers get to drive in the best cars because of what they have shown in the past Lewis got the drive at Merc because of his talent and I know that some peps on here will disagree but Jenson got the drive and keep his seat at McLaren because of his talent even though the car is at present shit McLaren is still a top team that drivers aspire to be in..

 

[Mephistopheles]

You don't find that the least bit excessive?

Of course it is excessive if it is true, but who knows if it is or not?

 

[Tuscan1969]

Of course it is excessive if it is true, but who knows if it is or not?

Well if you don't ask you don't get....its called a negotiation because each side tends to ask for something unreasonable then gravitate towards the center.

Merc are a big grown-up business and will not agree if they don't think its fair.

But just consider it this way ; is the delta between say Nico's salary package and Lewis's demands reflected in their results, the newspaper and TV coverage of Lewis wins, the "advertising" that Merc and their sponsors get off the back of it and of course a few extra sales of sporty (i.e. expensive) Merc models to people who may have otherwise bought BMW, or Jag or Audi?????

Not sure how accurate this link below is but Alonso seems to be getting paid an awful lot to run around at the back of the field.... so how do we decide if he's worth that compared to Button or indeed Lewis or Seb???

http://www.totalsportek.com/f1/formula-1-driver-salaries/

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

Lewis isn't allowed to earn as much as the other top drivers as he's not good enough according to some people here.

 

[Bill Boddy]

I can't help feeling Tuscan1969 that Ricciardo isn't likely to get too many win bonuses this season.