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"

 

[Lewywo4]

Mind you it amuses me when people completely underestimate Jenson...

I don't at all underestimate Jenson, but I happen to agee with Alonso when he said regarding Lewis... " I have said he is the only one capeable of winning without the best car. The others win if the car is good, and when it is not good, they do not win. "


http://blogs.bettor.com/Fernando-Al...on-for-leaving-McLaren-Formula-1-news-a187786

 

[ExtremeNinja]

WDC with McLaren this year followed by WDC with Mercedes next year. You heard it here first.

 

[Lewywo4]

Apparently Mclaren are offering Hamilton two thirds of what Button's currently getting, which they surely know he won't stand for.

I truly believe that the Crown Prince of Bahrain who own's 50% of Mclaren, would question any attempt by Dennis to offer Lewis 2/3's of what Button is getting, especially when you compare the performances of the two this season.

 

[Mezzer]

I've been wondering for a few days how Whitmarsh would feel if Lewis did win the WDC, somehow "Wow I could have had 1 and 2 on my cars next season" doesn't seem that appealing.

 

[Mephistopheles]

The teams priority is the WCC the WDC is a secondary consideration, what number is on the car next season is of little consequence..

 

[Viscount]

If they are offering Hamilton less than Button, wouldn't that just be down to Hamilton wanting more control of his own sponsors as part of his brand, doing less PR for the team's sponsors and therefore making the money on his own that he would've made through the team as a part of his salary?

 

[The Pits]

I think the salaries, both of Jenson and whatever Lewis has been offered are currently conjecture.

I cannot realistically see that lewis is worth less than Jenson unless:

McLaren do not want him, for reasons known to McLaren.
Lewis has held them to ransom over salary
McLaren feel other aspects of the offer are significant.

Jensons contract was only made last year, so the same economic climate was in play, including mclarens engine. I would just wonder other than on the track, what does each driver bring to the table?

 

[teabagyokel]

Or, to think about it another way, The Pits, is Hamilton asking for more than a salary?

We've heard the stuff about his trophies!

 

[The Artist.....]

teabagyokel - we've also heard a lot about Hamilton not wanting to do as much for the sponsors as he had previously....

 

[The Pits]

I think the other stuff would be what gets discussed when all the main pieces are sorted. I cannot believe a driver would take a big salary hit in order to keep trophies.

 

[Mephistopheles]

But surely if Lewis "The Brand." (Christ that term so lame when it is applied to a person, it reminds me of that dick head from The Apprentice Stuart Baggs "The Brand.") wants to make money from his own sponsors then he will have to do even more PR work not less the sponsors are going to want their pound of flesh they are not just going to pop millions of euros into his bank account just for sitting in a Formula One car.........

 

[The Pits]

Mephistopheles that would depend on the sponsors requirements. I can see how he would be pissed off with having to do what McLaren tell him in order to keep the sponsors sweet.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I still don't like "The Brand." tag line though is his management company mental or something?

 

[The Pits]

I think the tag brand tag is something which has been given rather than anything else, I only recall the use of the word once, and I am not sure about that, from Lewis or his team.

But yes, I hate the term too.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I vote we stop using it....

 

[Brogan]

I've never used it

 

[EvilWhippet]

As I mentioned earlier the overall the points tally isn't the different and like you said EvilWhippet Whitmarsh does seem to gel better with Button and also Jenson is more sponsor friendly.

I have heard nothing about the two thirds of Jenson contract though....

The points difference isn't huge but is a fair chunk, especially considering Button's only real moment of misfortune was Monza, whereas Hamilton's lost out on several big results through no fault of his own. Barcelona (really should've been a win) Valencia (should've been a third) and Spa (who knows..) stick out among a few other pit stop botch races.

My point is, based on recent history it wouldn't make much sense to shoe out Hamilton for the sake of making Button numero uno.

 

[EvilWhippet]

By the way, the two thirds thing is quoting conjecture.

 

[Mezzer]

The teams priority is the WCC the WDC is a secondary consideration, what number is on the car next season is of little consequence..

I think that's pretty naive, yes the WCC is the team's primary goal, but the numbers are important on all kinds of branding.

 

[FB]

If we could keep this on topic please, it is the Lewis Hamilton thread after all

Cheers

FB