Current Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton MBE

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"
 
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Road of Bones said:
It should be about the winning, but when you're in Fuller's stable, I suspect that's actually a secondary consideration...
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I think Lewis wants a winning race car... I think Simon wants all (or most of) his commercial rights... if the McLaren restrictions are more severe than the Mercedes restrictions... then I believe that is where he will go... I can see Mercedes digging in their heels about veto rights over certain endorsements (.... no Lewis... you can't do a deal with Porsche)... and wanting to protect their investment in him and their own marketing package... i.e. I can't see Lewis being promoted as a global face of Mercedes when the next two ad's you see him in are for Cristal Vodka (him appearing behind the decks spinning up some tunes)...followed by a Durex ad talking about how late braking isn't always 100% foolproof...

But I can't fault the guy... every driver is only a Kubica moment away from obscurity and a massive financial step backwards... and he is young enough to recover from 2 or 3 seasons of failure if this next deal doesn't deliver success...
 
It's not the money per-say, it's about a recognition of your value to your employer. There are 4 or 5 drivers at the top of the grid who could be considered "Premier League" (to use a football analogy) and Lewis is one. Is his value to the team worth more or less than, say, Fernando Alonso to Ferrari?

I'm pretty sure Lewis wants to be in a winning car and McLaren offer him the best opportunity for this given that most other seats of a similar ilk are filled but there has to be an appropriate recognition of his value. The question for McLaren's management is, I suppose, is he worth more or less than Jenson Button?
 
FB I think that is precisely the point, how much is he worth to McLaren, along with his own perception of value of a winning car. I tried to make the point that whilst some may say that it is just about winning, if that were the case, he would stand a better chance where he is.

Likewise though value is about more than money.

I would question why, unless money is constraint, have McLaren not offered a value that matches lewis teams perception? Unless they have already, which we don't know.
 
The Pits - Remember that Vettel is reported to be being paid considerably less than either Hamilton or Alonso... For him, there is a lot of value to be had from having the best car (Which isn't the best car anymore, but nevermind!)

Few teams can afford both astronomical driver salaries and development of a top car... Ferrari is one, I can't think of any others!
 
You forget that Ferarri don't pay Alonso, his employ and salary are part of their Santander sponsorship deal (or at least the amjority of it is). So actually, any team can spend the money on Alonso and on the car, they just have to line up the right sponsors to do the job.

This is where the sticking point is coming in the McLaren/Hamilton negotiations, or I feel it is anyway. McLaren will be looking at being able to sell Lewis as a comodity to the sponsors in order to bring in new money, Lewis wants to sign his own deals. The amount that the Lewis comodity is worth is what is the issue that seems to get thrown around a lot...
 
Money may be a major drawing point but let's not forget about the team personnel. McLaren have won 1 WDC and 0 WCC in the previous 10 seasons, whereas Ross Brawn's teams have won 4 WDC and 4 WCC. With the new engine regulations in 2014, it may be a better prospect to be at a 'works' team with Ross Brawn at the helm.
 
canis said:
You forget that Ferarri don't pay Alonso, his employ and salary are part of their Santander sponsorship deal (or at least the amjority of it is). So actually, any team can spend the money on Alonso and on the car, they just have to line up the right sponsors to do the job.
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Any team? Including the Spanish 'National Team' (HRT)
 
FB said:
The question for McLaren's management is, I suppose, is he worth more or less than Jenson Button?
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Exactly... the goal of McLaren are WCC's... can they do it with JB and a Di Resta, Hulk or Perez ? ... with a good car... probably...

The current situation I think is a case of the tail wagging the dog (or at least trying very hard too...)

Brand Hamilton (as I am sure Full-er-:censored: has been whispering in his ear) needs to be out there doing his own deals... forging his own path in the world... kicking back 15% to Simo and Co...

The most important facet in this is that Lewis can recover from a mistake...i.e. a non WDC competitive car over the next 2-3 seasons... his talent wont erode...
 
McLaren broke the bank to keep Senna, which according to Ron Dennis meant they had less to spend on the car, which as a result became increasingly uncompetitive, at which point Senna left anyway. As ever there's a balance to be struck, and McLaren will have some idea of their forecast income for the coming seasons, bearing in mind the changing works team/customer relationship with Mercedes and the state of the sponsor market.
 
Perhaps McLaren are again victims of their decision to not have a lead driver. All very laudable in the British fair-play style, but life and neither is professional motorsport. i actually think its pretty likely he'll move to Merc, and Whitmarsh may end up with egg on his face.
 
Lewis and Jenson have scored nearly the identical amount of points since 2010 so I can't see why another driver wouldn't do just as good a job, and I thought that people on here felt that not having a clear number one at McLaren was the thing that was holding the team back...
 

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