Hamilton is DONE at Mclaren

Definitely not agreed. In 2007, it was Hamilton who kept his mouth shut and Alonso who was whining about equipment, advantages, and ultimately Alonso who threatened to blackmail the team with revealing the illegal Ferrari info if they didn't give him preferential treatment (illegal info which Alonso was party to, and Hamilton wasn't). Back then, it was Alonso who was tossing the toys. Sure, Alonso grew up in his period back at Renault (where there should be little doubt he was complicit in Crashgate 2009; there's no lack of reasons he's nicknamed "Teflonso", 'cause the ***** never sticks to him), and he's much more controlled now.

 

Alonso has shown that he learns from his mistakes. Lewis hasn't.

 

Lewham was an impetuous prat when he started and he hasn't changed one iota. Shame, waste of real talent.

 

Lewis can drive a golf cart for all I care

 

Yeah, but... compare age/experience. Alonso started in F1 in 2001?, won 2 titles in 05 and 06, and still was a spoiled brat in 2007. By 2010, after 9 years in F1, he finally started to show some real maturity.

Hamilton started in F1 in 2007, so in 2012 he's been in F1 for 6 years... He's not actually behind Alonso in the maturity curve yet! This year is his equivalent of Alonso's 2007...

 

I never was good at the new math.

 

Yeah but who could replace him. I don't see anyone with his talent though he Is a total ******.

 

This is a very insightful comment. I hadn't thought of his temper tantrums like this, but it makes complete sense. And, given his actions---that of a spoiled teenager--your comments are well placed.

 

Anyone remember what a turd Button used to be when he drove for Williams, I do I was there at his 1st race, my friend even has a signed Williams cap. After years at the back of the grid, it helped him mature into the World Champion and I'm happy to see him win even if it's for Mclaren

Lewis has always been given a silver spoon in his racing career, so even tho he acts like a spoiled brat when things don't go his way, he doesn't know any better. The team enables his behaviour they are partly to blame.

I doubt he is done in McLaren. McLaren love him. If he leaves McLaren it's his decision not McLaren.

 

My daughter said you guys need to take a chill pill lol (she's 10, for the record). She was reading the comments over my shoulder and can't understand why you guys " are so worked up over someone who's just trying to win races".

I don't know what Lewis was thinking, though I believe it's not too much of a stretch to say he posted the info because he felt the team gave Jens an advantage even though he's in the WDC race. However, that's just an assumption. He posted it on FB in an innocent enough fashion...nobody assumed he was trying to screw the team, and really it was hard to make much out of it. But I digress

I question the team environment that seems to punish their #1 driver..bad pits, bad strategy, inferior set up/car. What's McLaren doing that's putting the guy at odds with them? (and, yes, I did answer my own question).

Personally, I'd have a hard time keeping silent given the crap he's had to deal with. JB gets world record pit stops for speed...LH gets them for slowness. Perhaps the commonality with the Alonso situation is that McLaren craps on its #1's. LH is showing the same frustration that Alonso did.

 

LH can only drive with what is provided to him-if Hammy has inferior equipment then so be it just keep your mouth shut, drive hard and when an opportunity with a good team comes along he should seize it. If he HAD to leave McLaren-which I don't think he will-he'd do well to take a look at Williams. I think they are on the way up.

 

I think you guys are better than me. I simply wouldn't be able to handle the self-inflicted stuff from the team this year. I think Button getting the better car this weekend when I was in the middle of he battle for the WDC would have driven me though the roof. I know you're correct, but I wouldn't be as passive aggressive as LH.

I would be more like FA though it comes at a big cost.

 

I agree. I couldn't understand why the Speed commentators didn't understand why Lewis was carrying part of his wing back to the pits. Here is a guy with a very good chance to fight for the championship being given inferior equipment to his team mate who has been floundering and who would need a miracle to win the championship (Although eliminating his points deficit is not unthinkable, there are too many people ahead of him that would all need to have things go wrong). Getting the better wing, in this case, counted for way more then just a better starting position.

 

i still haven't heard that the wing change on Hamilton's car was intentional to slow him down, in is own statement, they "tried it" and didn't work out well as they thought ...that tells me they were trying for some other advantage, and it didn't work as they hoped
as for the rest, it's really hard to imagine with the huge $ stakes and iron fist RD runs mclaren, that they would sabotage thier own leading points driver IMO

 

When you link all of the misfortune and foul-ups this season with him getting telemetry this morning showing JB's car had a .6 sec advantage on the straights with the new wing...I can see him feeling he's being "Mark Webbered" by McLaren...

 

Hambone keeps his old wing while JB tries a new one, nothing new in that, all been done b4, then when the new one turns out faster, cry like a little girl...........

What if the old one had of turned out faster, would he not have claimed some sort god like status, oh look at me I am mr. big shot f1 driver with my fast wing.......

Hambone, like a large number of f1 drivers is being a big girly girl and will now sulk til he wins another race.

 

Great, insightful take....

 

It would be interesting to know if the problems around Hamilton are caused by his character/the team/any external factor or by his 'grooming' as a potential star right from the start.
If it turned out that working your way up through the smaller teams would generally be beneficiary or even necessary to become a complete driver, this might have implications for the top teams' junior programs.

 

Meh, most drivers started racing with small teams and still most of them are as*holes.

Alonso himself was a jerk not so many years ago. Only the wisdom that comes with the years and the difficult times made him to learn how to keep his mouth shut.

 

Heck don't go down this path, some will have heartattacks .

DeSoto, Alonso as far as I am aware was only a jerk when he was at McLaren. I think to be fair to all involved, including LH, we were not there and we do not know the full story of what was going on. The only thing we do know is that a 2 x WDC accepted a drive expecting to be treated like a WDC.

Lets face it you are MORE likely to experience those difficult times with lesser teams, after all if LH thinks his McLaren is a piece of junk and the team too slow at making improvements, why doesn't he go and drive the Caterham or HRT for a few race meetings? . He would come running back to McLaren on his knees.
Pete

 

I don't get this line of reasoning, though oft repeated. LH won the WDC...why should he go to Caterham? Did Alonso go to Minardi after his fallout with McLaren?

Really, the mentality here seems to be " in the face of actions by McLaren which seem unsupportive of Hamilton's WDC drive, he should just shut up and feel lucky he's on a team". Mind you, we're not talking about mechanical reliability issues, we're talking about a series of concentrated, avoidable human errors. To me, I'd say screw that...if I'm a serious competitor/challenger, these types of foibles are simply unacceptable. I'm thinking it would be such for most of you as well. Who rises to the top only to be undermined by your own organization?

I just don't buy that you guys would get punked consistently and be okay with it...as you are requiring LH to be.

 

We are saying that LH would be better able to deal with these current team problems if he had experienced a less effective team before.

Well I'm saying he should be working within the team to resolve these issues, not running off to Twitter or the press and having a whinge.

Did you watch MS in 1994 to 1998 (I think) at Ferrari. The number of complete and utter fnck ups that were made by Ferrari back then make these current McLaren issues pale in comparison. MS once left the pits to drive around to form up on the grid and one of his axles failed. But MS never once publically blamed the team, instead he simply said we all have a lot of work to do. What this did is build a team of extremely loyal team mates around him. I doubt whether all the McLaren staff that work on LH's car think highly of him.

MS made a team work for him, LH is trying hard to disengage from a team that needs to work together to be successful. I can guarantee if LH came into the pits, had to get out and change his own tyres he will not win the race. I can also guarantee if LH tried to design his own aero improvements he will not win the race, thus why play the "bite the hand that he so desperately needs game"?

Have a wobble by all means, but not to the press, with the team in private. Instead LH is trying to motivate the team by telling the press how useless his team is. That is not going to work.
Pete

 

My thinking as well. If LH didn't like the new wing and chose to drive with the old wing and base his setup around that, he must admit responsibility IMO.

I'm sure that, after 5 weeks of development, they would have had more than 1 wing ready, and that since LH was most likely to be a threat in the WDC would have the option of first refusal in any case.

 

I'm not sure... A good test driver is not necessary to be the fastest,... but to repeat laps precisely the same over and over,... thus allowing the team to judge incremental changes.

JB's smooth driving style may be better for testing than LH's... If that is the case,... the team may prefer to give JB new bits first.