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"

 

[Quintessentially]

Well with Max out there's greater transparency. Bernie is next i guess and rumour has it that he played a part in getting Lewis to Mercedes.

 

[RasputinLives]

Bernie has his network of press releases to hint that he was involved in everything F1 - its how he holds his power. Although I do remember him saying once that it was a shame the top drivers weren't spread even;y across the top teams. He has his wish now.

When the news was announced I have to say I thought Lewis had made a bit of a duff decision but as I kept reflecting on it then it seems a fresh start is probably exactly what Lewis and in actual fact a year in machinary that people don't expect him to challenge for the title with might be exactly what he needs and bring back that care free attitute we saw when he first arrived in the sport.

For some reason the whole Nico Rosberg thing worries me though. Most people see the old buddies being together as a good thing I just can't help but wonder if it might back fire.

Anyway looking forward to seeing Lewis in the silver arrows in 2013

 

[Lewywo4]

I understand what you are saying F1ang-o but it is not fair that a team should allow a driver rail road over young drivers time in an F1 car, they get precious little of it as it is and they desperately need the experience also the team needs to be able to assess them, I believe McLaren did the right thing in that situation and in all honesty it cost Lewis absolutely nothing at all.....

It doesn't seem that Ferrari, when they sent both Alonso and Massa, Red Bull sending Vettel and Webber, and Mercedes sending Schumacher and Rosberg felt that they were rail roading over their young drivers, but a necessity for their race drivers, because of the limited amount of testing available for them.

Mark Webber said, " It was an absolute no-brainer for Sebastian and I to be here, " and " There was never any consideration that the race driver wouldn't come to the test. Mileage is so limited these days that it's good for me to be in the car. Any chance we get to drive the car in the real world, we'll do it." It seems as though all of the top running drivers, which included Lewis felt a necessity to attend the May 1-3 test session, except for Mclaren and Jenson.

Jenson had the chutzpah to speak for Lewis when he said, " From Lewis and my point of view, we wouldn't have learned anything driving around Mugello"........How in the hell could Jenson say, " From Lewis and my point of view ", especially when Lewis let it be known, and felt a necessity to attend the test session......that took some nerve on Jenson's part. .

 

[Brogan]

the only real question is this: why didn't he hang on until 2014, when more competitive seats may have been available?

I doubt McLaren would have offered a 1 year contract.

Or perhaps it was Hamilton who didn't want one?

Who knows...

 

[racecub]

@Road of Bones By moving now Lewis has next year to settle in before the big changes in 2014. Where else would come available thats a better opportunity for him than Mercedes? Ferrari? Red Bull? What would he prove there? If he wins hes only doing what Vettel and maybe by then Alonso has alreay done. The draw for hamilton is to help move up with a team, to help them achieve, to be part of building the success. Feeling unloved and undervalued at McLaren probably started his thoughts in those directions.
His management team will of course have a vested interest in his salary, but an extra few mil now is nothing compared to future earnings if he is successful, IF he is successful. Income from branding will also only materialise as long as Lewis is a top line winning driver, so being in a winning team has to be the priority for both Lewis and his management team to meet both their needs.

 

[Quintessentially]

Lee McKenzie interviewed Hamilton at Spa after the rear wing saga and he said something along the lines of “I want to win races i just need to find the right place to do it”. I'm not sure why this wasn't picked up at the time but it sounded like a very strange thing to say and to me confirmed that he was on his way out of McLaren. Also from Ross Brawn’s interview, it is clear Lewis went to him with very specific needs and there was some emphasis on equality. The problem he has at McLaren is that they are sometimes too preoccupied with establishing parity between both drivers and this hurts him more than Jenson. Silverstone this year was a classic case of handicapping the faster driver for the good of parity. However as unstable as McLaren have been at times this year they are still a level above Mercedes operationally and I think this is where Lewis is going to pay a heavy price. He’s likely to encounter his first errant wheel here. In his favour, he’s capable of competing at the top without being in the fastest car and if Mercedes can sort out their operations I think he’ll do well and relish the greater freedom.

 

[MCLS]

Short term pain for long term gain perhaps?

 

[Mephistopheles]

We can only wait and see if that will be true MCLS

 

[MCLS]

Although if Mercedes' car next year isn't a championship contender (or even a regular race winner) no doubt people will be quick to jump to the conclusion that Hamilton was wrong to move to Mercedes......

 

[racecub]

I think that would be shortsighted.

 

[MCLS]

A brief look on Twitter from some of his 'fans' suggest that they aren't beyond shortsightedness.........

 

[Mephistopheles]

I don't follow twitter but I would look at it as a 3 year plan and not judge it until the 3rd year was well under way, if it doesn't work out, and even then wouldn't blame him for having tried, he has decided to take a chance and I for one respect him for it so good luck to him..

 

[Kewee]

I have mixed feelings regarding Lewis Hamiltons move. On one hand it appears to be a huge mistake when you consider the two teams drivers strive to be a part of, especially during the peak of their career, are McLaren and Ferrari. Maybe Mercedes will be thought of the same way at some stage in the future, but I can't help but feel they've got some way to go yet. It's interesting to note Button left Mercedes, a team he knew intimately, to join McLaren, Hamilton is leaving McLaren to go to Mercedes, a team he has yet to find his feet in. One of these two drivers made a very good decision, my belief is that driver was Button.
Having said that Hamilton's move is likely to be the making of him for reasons that have very little to do with racing and results. He was never going to get the opportunity to grow up as long as he stayed at McLaren, now I think we'll see a major change in him though I think everyone should cut him a little slack and appreciate watching someone grow up in the public eye is not always pretty. With a little luck he's old enough to mature graciously. Sadly McLaren don't have a very good track record with the handling of their drivers, not on track but nurturing the emotions involved with two highly competitive teammates. They have openly admitted they handled the Alonso period badly. It appears to be openly accepted that Hamilton can be difficult, high maintenance some have called it. Alonso may well have been one of the first to witness this in 2007. Clearly Hamilton's behavior and comments at various stages this season backs this up and it's possible, in fact probably likely, the twitter episode caused significant damage to his relationship with his teammate and no doubt others in the garage. I'm not hard on Whitmarsh here, he did all he could to try to smooth the problem over. At the end of all this I'm not sure Lewis was able to repair the damage he had done, particularly with Jenson, or even if he knew how. The end result from where I view it, was he left himself nothing to do but leave, and Mercedes was the only realistic seat for him to take. I don't think his move has anything at all to do with chasing titles, but instead, walking away from an irreparable breakdown in personalities, relationships he needed to stay with McLaren, a breakdown that was largely his own doing. I hope in the long term it works out for him, though we shouldn't forget the team he's gone to started out as BAR, then became Honda, then Brawn, and now Mercedes. It was only as Brawn the team had any success due to being the first to utilize the double diffuser. We should also remember another German team, BMW gave it their all then walked away without the success they hoped for. For any fan of this sport the next few years will be amazing to watch but may not bring the results Lewis is looking for.

 

[The Artist.....]

Now, I've just read Norbert Haug's interview about Lewis Hamilton joining Mercedes on autosport...
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/103008

One particular sentence jumps out at me:

"All his Formula 1 victories were with Mercedes engines. And we have been paying for his retainer with McLaren. That's common knowledge from the past.

What does he mean by "We've been paying for his retainer with McLaren" - Does that mean that essentially during his F1 career, Mercedes were paying for his salary? - or is he talking about prior to 2007 where Hamilton was 50/50 funded by McLaren and Mercedes... I'm confused...

 

[Hamberg]

Bless you Kewee, you managed to get Alonso in a couple of times

It appears Hamilton is fairly accepting that 2013 is unlikely to produce him the car he needs, but Mercedes have been very clear of their 2014 targets and they have a good team behind them. That's the year he's gunning for and it seems Mercedes are willing to allow him more involvement in the engineering area. As someone else has mentioned, short term aim for what may be long term gain.

Alonso (just for Kewee) has shown being happy in a crapper team (second time around at Renault) can do wonders for your career!

 

[racecub]

Maybe the free engines were a form of funding for Hamilton? Dunno, just a guess.
Kewee I agree with much of what you say. But regarding the twitter,by that time I think the relationship had already broken down to an unworkable state. I'd hazzard the tweets were a result of the broken relationshiop and not a cause of it.Mclaren still tried to retain Hamilton by matching the Mercedes offer after the Tweets so they still wanted him, but Lewis didnt want them. I definately cant agree that the breakdown was largely Lewis' doing.
On Brawn, Im not sure he did fight to keep Button when he left for McLaren. And yes the Mercedes car has appeared under many guises, but thats how new teams come about these days, they dont start from scratch they get bought and change hands. Its only been Mercedes for 3 years, so its very young.I think the challenge will be great for Lewis and Mercedes together, and Lewis will feel a part of it.

 

[Viscount]

The Artist..... As he's speaking about F1 when he mentions it, I believe he means they were paying part of his salary with McLaren during his F1 career, though whether that was just prior to Mercedes splitting from McLaren or Lewis' entire time at McLaren I have no idea.

 

[The Artist.....]

Viscount - it is an interesting question though! - And opens all sorts of speculation - was it down to Mercedes that McLaren signed Hamilton up for a five year contract at the back-end of 2007? But that way madness lies!

 

[Viscount]

The Artist..... It is indeed. Also, as racecub mentioned about the Mercedes engines and McLaren having to start paying for them, it does make you wonder if perhaps all Ron's talk about Hamilton's contract being signed in a different economic climate was actually partly due to Mercedes no longer contributing to Hamilton's salary as well as no longer offering McLaren free engines.

 

[Quintessentially]

I thought when Ron mentioned a different economic climate he simply meant times were good. We are now in a recession and it’s an open secret that McLaren are trying to cut costs.