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"

 

[Titch]

I'll bet it's a superstition thing.

 

[The Pits]

To be fair, I dont think it is even a thing.

How many times in the past has this even been an option for a driver? This is certainly the first time I can recall it being an option.

I am sure that there will be those who will use this as a chance for either extreme of denegration or adulation.

Personally, for me, it made me do the internal equivalent of a slightly positive "Mmmmm" much like I would if I got a voucher for £5 off in Pizza Express.

It makes sense, particularly from a promotional and marketing point of view.

 

[Brogan]

How many times in the past has this even been an option for a driver? This is certainly the first time I can recall it being an option

I believe Vettel had the choice for the 2014 season?

I am sure that there will be those who will use this as a chance for either extreme of denegration or adulation.

Undoubtedly.

 

[The Pits]

I believe Vettel had the choice for the 2014 season?

Smartypants!!

Vettel had not run with his own number at that point though, so no marketing etc to worry about.

 

[cider_and_toast]

My initial reaction of it being a shame, for reasons of tradition, has given way to "whatever".

 

[Lewywo4]

From what I understand he asked the team if they would mind that he retained the #44 on his car, and obviously they didn't. I personally would liked to have seen him use #1 on his car, yes because of tradition, but as C&T said......."whatever".

 

[FB]

I'm no fan of the drivers getting to choose their own numbers as it's just another silly gimmick and I think it's a shame the World Champion isn't going to carry the number 1 but given the gimmicky nature of F1 these days I'm not surprised.

 

[no-FIAt-please]

I'm for drivers choosing a number. People say the drivers need to express themselves more out of the cockpit. I'm aware that choosing a number isn't the best way to do this, but nonetheless it still shows character.

Who knows, maybe years down the line we'll look back and think Hamilton - 44. Much like Ferrari and number 27 were synonymous back in the day, or Mansell - Red 5.

Never even watched a lot of F1 from that era, but the fact that I know that goes to show that these sort of things stick.

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

I'm totally nonplussed by the number thing. The three-letter abbreviation for each driver's name is more useful to me.

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

Personally, I quite like Hamilton retaining the number 44, which he has used right since his young karting days.

I'm in favour generally of a driver being associated with the same number throughout their career; a bit like NFL football where 16 for me always conjures up my all-time hero quarterback Joe Montana, or 80 wide receiver Jerry Rice.

Anyway, who (of a certain age) doesn't think of 'Red 5' Nigel Mansell, or 27 Gilles Villeneuve?

 

[FB]

27 is always Alan Jones' Championship number to me, Gilles only drove with it for 1 1/2 seasons. But still, it's a minor point and if Lewis doesn't want to use the No. 1 that's up to him.

 

[cider_and_toast]

I always find it funny that one of the reasons Mansell is so well known for "Red Five" is because it took him so long to get "Number 1" and when he finally did, he got the hump with the choice of team mate and buggered off to the US.

 

[Greenlantern101]

Lewis new deal is rumoured to be for 3 years at £20 million Euro per year.
1 mill bonus for a race win and 5 mill bonus for a championship.

That be a whole lot of money.

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mercedes-to-offer-hamilton-new-three-year-deal-report

 

[Lewywo4]

Greenlantern101.......Hope that it happens....

 

[cider_and_toast]

According to various sources on line, Hamilton is paid between 28 and 31 Million dollars depending on if you look at pure salary or salary plus endorsements. At the current exchange rate, that would amount to a salary of around 24 million dollars per year plus the various bonus payments.

I'm not sure if the internet quoted rich lists are reliable (I would assume the Forbes one at 28 million US plus 3 Million in personal endorsements is reasonably accurate), and also, I'm not sure if the salary rate quoted includes things like Win bonuses etc.

While currently Hamilton is listed as the highest paid driver in F1 and indeed the 14th highest paid sportsman in the world. I'm not sure if that figure represents a huge pay rise.

Either way, it's a hell of lot of money. Almost enough to run a whole F1 team in it's own right.

 

[RasputinLives]

He could pay off Caterhams debt and get them back on the grid. He won't. But he could.

As for the not running the number 1 thing its a bit dissapointing that the 'honour' of carrying the number 1 has gone out of the thing but I guess things change.

 

[Greenlantern101]

Getting a bonus for a race win does rather make the team orders thing a farce. So if he is ordered to pull over and let Rosberg win he looses 1 million euro.

TW- Lewis you have already won the championship, how about letting Rosberg take a win today.
LH- Erm no.

 

[FB]

Pit to car contract negotiations during the closing laps of a race will be quite interesting.

 

[Kewee]

I thought team orders during a GP were outlawed.

 

[Greenlantern101]

Nope, came back in a few years ago. Team orders are legal.