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"

 

[F1ang-o]

So, if LH has problems at Mercedes with unreliability, or any problems with pitstops, or any such thing, then presumably you'll be calling for Ross Brawn's head as well?

Short answer....No..........
I don't think Ross behaves like Whitmarsh...If you read some of the above links quoting Ross, he has a different approach..
I do agree Macca pit stops were not good.. ...not now though ....Ok....
Unreliability...can't all be the team principal fault..........shirley
"Any such thing".......likeTeam strategy has has been discussed many times.....JB always got the best deal, whether he had track position or not...
Last year at Japan ....Q3 terrible how LH was let down...............
Let's not get in front of ourselves...saying I'll be calling for Ross' head............I've never tried brawn/don't want to either!......
I hope it all goes well for all concerned..........

 

[Senna's_right_foot]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/102991

Brawn admitted it was "pleasant" that Hamilton just wanted the same chances as the German driver when he joins next year.

"Lewis never asked for any priority at all, he just asked for equality," Brawn told AUTOSPORT.

"He was pleasant in that he had no desires to have any special treatment or any unique facilities. Lewis just expects to have an equal opportunity in the team, as we would like to do as well.

"The conversation was relatively short in that area and I was impressed that he was positive enough to take that view and not attempt to protect some sort of position which would have been quite difficult for the team to accept.

"We never got into a discussion because Lewis didn't raise it. And if he had raised it, we probably wouldn't have wanted to do it."

 

[Porceliamone]

Reading some of the posts here lead me to believe that if LH had decided to drive for HRT next year it would have been a great move for him, y'know, the right thing to do and so on. Sheeesh! Get a grip!

Why anyone would not want to drive for one of the top 3 teams is beyond me excepting this situation - it’s pretty obvious a number of things converged and his position at the team became unworkable. The fact that he's going to be paid more and have greater commercial freedom at Mercedes only helped things along a little in offsetting the enormous cut XiX take - rumoured to be as much as 50%!!

Blimey, some serious poop must have hit a rather large fan for Ron Dennis to basically ostracise Lewis as reported on some sites. RD takes shit from no-one. No-one is bigger than McLaren. If you don't like it there's the door...and LH stepped out of it.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Reading some of the posts here lead me to believe that if LH had decided to drive for HRT next year it would have been a great move for him, y'know, the right thing to do and so on. Sheeesh! Get a grip!

I can understand your disproportionate response. I think that it is down to your embellished interpretation of the thing you are responding to.

Nobody thinks that. Some people think that Mercedes have the potential to be a good team and that Lewis' appointment adds to that potential.

McLaren may win more races than anybody else, but they are piss-poor at winning championships.

Let's try and keep things sensible and in perspective.

 

[F1Yorkshire]

Good point Porceliamone. If you look at the ego's Ron Dennis has dealt with over the years it's easy to see how he has reacted to a drivers demands. McLaren's policies may not be the best, especially in terms of keeping the drivers trophies but it's his company. You can either play his way or go find someone else who wants to pamper to your demands.

Only time will tell if this is a good career move or not but I feel Hamilton underestimated who he was dealing with.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Perhaps it was McLaren who underestimated who they were dealing with. After all, it was reportedly them trying to entice him with larger and larger offer after he reportedly turned down their smaller offer. The decision reportedly was Hamilton's to leave and not McLaren's. McLaren reportedly would have kept him, out of choice, and reportedly tried their best to.

 

[The Pits]

ExtremeNinja most of which is conjecture. The negotiations seemed to be rather similar to the Button/Mercedes negotiations, especially in terms of the offers increasing.

We do not know when lewis signed, when he told anyone, I have seen more numbers than I can recall, and little about win bonuses, points bonuses, performance clauses, etc, so it is very difficult to work out exactly what is what.

I personally think that what lewis wanted was not something McLaren could really offer, and have Lewis really believe it. That is not a slight on anyone, simply that the environment at McLaren and the length of time he had been there meant that the most needed thing was change. from there on, it seems like a matter of to where and sorting the details.

 

[F1Yorkshire]

I think a lot of the deal came down to commercial rights, obviously XiX care about results but their main interest is marketability of the Hamilton brand.
McLaren are right in the fact that no driver is bigger than the team, as for Hamiltons decision, how much of it was his own or his management company?
I doubt we will ever see the details of the contract packages from either team so it's purely speculation on our part but if money wasn't an issue I'm sure Hamilton would still be at McLaren.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

I was responding to F1Yorkshire.

I'm fed up of hearing this fashionable phrase of "conjecture". I don't claim to know these things. People seem to use this "conjecture" argument now as the default response to anything anyone says that quotes public opinion, public "knowledge" or any other source other than a signed statement from an involved party. It is a horrible habit that some people on this forum seem to have adopted and it's spreading like wildfire.

I agree with your opinion on Lewis' motivations completely.

 

[The Pits]

ExtremeNinja I was using the term conjecture to refer to those points in your post which are conjecture. They may not be your conjecture, but they are not referring to details which openly exist in the public domain. They may well be true, they may not be.

If you are fed up with hearing the phrase, then please feel free to ignore it. If you want to let me know why it is not conjecture, please feel free to respond.

 

[Brogan]

All we know for a fact is Hamilton has left McLaren for Mercedes.

Anything concerning salary, bonuses, endorsements, reasons, or anything else is unsubstantiated rumour, conjecture or personal opinion, unless stated by anyone who was deeply involved in the negotiations.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Absolutely. Which is why I am tired of it being pointed out. I don't think anyone here claims to know first-hand what any of the dealings are or have been and so the whole "conjecture" argument is defunct. I don't need to be told that something that I have read in the media may not necessarily be true. We discuss things we know and things we are led to believe. Sorry. My last word on the matter. I promise to get back on-topic now.

 

[The Pits]

After all, it was reportedly them trying to entice him with larger and larger offer after he turned down their smaller offer. the decision was Hamilton's to leave and not McLaren's. McLaren would reportedly kept him, out of choice, and reportedly tried their best to.

Fixed that for you

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Fair play!

 

[F1Yorkshire]

I have to say without rumour and conjecture internet forums would be a dull old place.

 

[The Pits]

Absolutely true F1Yorkshire

Careful with the conjecture word though, we don't want to set ExtremeNinja off again!

 

[The Pits]

Anyhoo, I think that the move was going to happen from the moment Lewis had it in his mind that he wanted to move. Not sure there is a team on the grid who, given the right circumstances would say no.

I think that despite anything, having been with the same team from young teenage is likely to lead to the need to fly the nest, even if there were no other real issues. Being able to do so to a developing team is a bonus.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

If McLaren were able to convince Lewis that they could provide the best environment in which to achieve then it is my opinion that he would have stayed. For a multitude of reported reasons, they were unable to do this. It seems, to me, that Lewis simply didn't have faith that staying with McLaren was in his best interests as a racing driver who wants to build a legacy and stamp his name all over the history books (for the right reasons). Having observed Lewis and McLaren's journey together with great interest, I would say that I completely agree with his decisions and perceived reasoning.

 

[downforce]

McLaren may win more races than anybody else, but they are piss-poor at winning championships.

Really sums McLaren up.

 

[Speshal]

We will probably never know all that has gone on, but I think Lewis has always behaved with good manners & never bears a grudge.

I'm willing to bet that we will when Lewis' autobiography comes out