Current Lewis Hamilton

A place to put all the posts from all the other threads primarily but love him or hate him, and even for the indifferent amongst us this is the place to discuss the marmite that is Lewis Hamilton, to learn a thing or two about his rise, talk about those controversial, genius or mad moments and something that i am bemused by, the recent articles that suggest something quite different to my perception of what's going on. Any experiences of meeting LH?

Brundle had to write a Lewis Hamilton article recently and in my tweets (which were probably ignored) I asked him to talk about LH the driver not LH the personality. It seems that you can't have one without the other.

So as a starter for ten, here is a fairly recent LH article. Posts should not be limited to this link but it can get some discussion going. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula_one/13755883.stm

The only banned topic as it is clearly ridiculous involves these four things "Glock" "2008" "Brazil" "conspiracy"

 

[Greenlantern101]

£100 million deal reported on sky. I hear wedding bells.

http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/news/12433/7777299/

 

[Brogan]

Here's Brundle's take on Hamilton's options: http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/news/12433/7786236/

 

[The Pits]

So Martin's view is that Lewis could stay at McLaren, or move somewhere else.

Controversial!!

 

[Brogan]

If Vettel and Alonso stay where they are, I can't see Ferrari or Red Bull being an option for him.

McLaren have the upper hand in the negotiations IMO.

 

[The Pits]

I have a feeling that all the relevant deals have been done, at least in principle, and we are seeing the results of people knowing what the future holds.

I think the interesting thing this season is how many competitive teams there are, although Lewis will need to be consistently competitive, which may have been made more difficult due to this year's form book!

 

[Bill Boddy]

So McLaren have been ruining Hamilton's races on purpose. Where have I heard this before?

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Sky are reporting £20m per year worth a total of £100m.

I heard this from someone on the inside over the weekend. I won't tell you who as I don't think they will apreciate me turning their private comments into an unofficial press-statement.

 

[FB]

Ninja and Nicole. Sitting in a tree, K I S S I N G...

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Shhhhhh

 

[Cookinflatsix]

If Vettel and Alonso stay where they are, I can't see Ferrari or Red Bull being an option for him.

McLaren have the upper hand in the negotiations IMO.

I dont agree that Mclaren have the upper hand. To lose Lewis and his marketing as well as his obvious driving ability, without a ready made replacement would be suicidal. The team would have to rely on Button to drive them forward and with his recent return to traditional patchy form, I reckon the team are panicking, hence the talk of 100 mill etc etc.

Red Bull would move heaven and earth to get him on board no matter what they say because business comes first. They are a perfect match for Lewis and his managements future strategy.

 

[Lewywo4]

McLaren have the upper hand in the negotiations IMO.

They could take that position if Lewis was totally being outperformed by Jenson, but that doesn't seem to be the case right now.

 

[siffert_fan]

CFS

Red Bull have Vettell on board, so I hardly see them being willing to "move heaven and earth" to acquire Lewis. To me, his more likely prospects would be Mercedes and Williams.

 

[Cookinflatsix]

Lewis brings more potential income from the English speaking and global audience than anyone else, we have discussed this already in this thread. Even Santandar changed their minds about moving their backing totally to Alonso and decided they needed a couple of Brits to help sell (resell) Abbey to the man on the street in the UK
You don't let that walk away without a replacement
Merc and Williams both good however with F1 teams linking up with Premier league teams etc, access to the mainstream audience is where it's at and I reckon LHs management will be choosy
We don't even have to do any market research to work out if Lewis is what sells and gets people talking

 

[The Artist.....]

Is Lewis Hamilton really that marketable any more? When he came into F1, he was definitely the most marketable property out there. However, since 2008, his career has been floating around 3/4/5 in the championship, and hasn't really set the sport alight! When he was the underdog, I would agree that he was a marketing man's dream. However, I wouldn't say that he is necessarily the lynch-pin for Santander and McLaren any more!

 

[Cookinflatsix]

Who is the lynch pin instead, Button?

can't have a void, artist

Was Beckham the best player?
Did he sell most shirts?

I realise that I have made Lewis out to be the ultimate pay driver

you gotta love the irony there!

Welcome to the brave new world of F1, pls leave your anoraks at the door!

 

[Viscount]

The Artist..... Look at how much Hamilton is discussed on forums and in the press compared to any other F1 driver, I'd still say he's easily the most marketable driver in F1. You don't just have to win to be marketable just the potential of it can sometimes be enough. Take Tiger Woods for example, he hasn't won much in years and had all the bad publicity after cheating on his wife yet last year he was the highest paid sportsman in the world.

 

[siffert_fan]

If marketability were a team's primary concern, they would hire Danica Patrick!

If having LH and SV on the Red Bull team would risk upsetting the team's chemistry , I can't see them making the move.

 

[Fenderman]

Unfortunately, there are some folk's on both sides of the street who have busily convinced themselves, through staunch defense of their own positions, that they have embedded themselves in the wood and can no longer see the trees. There are now six race winners this season and an "underdog" who is unlikely to end the season without a win. Any Hollywood film producer will tell you who the story will be about.

​

His team screwed up, his competition took him out, even his casual fans turned their backs.​

The champion who fell from grace, struggled to win a race but fought back against all the odds.​

Who knew?​

Watch out for film preview in ROOTERSPORT at the end of the season.​

​

 

[The Artist.....]

Cookinflatsix
Viscount

The question is, is it the man or the team that Santander are sponsoring? Like it or not, McLaren are being seen as the British team - and that may be what influences Santander... However, it will soon be a moot point since it is highly unlikely that Santander will be able to stick around in F1 for too much longer - look at RBS.....

 

[Cookinflatsix]

siffert_fan If having LH onboard would add x% to Red Bulls publicity machine or generate an extra y% in revenue I cant see Horner saying to his bosses 'i want harmony, I can't handle two top drivers'