Nico to Ferrari ?

It's debatable whether Hamilton would have made it to F1 without Ron Denis's patronage, I think that Hamilton feels that he owes his career to himself.

 

well that's a lovely hypothesis, and it's nice to rewrite history, but pretty well everyone on here thought it was a ridiculous move and so did most of the commentators. Mercedes had been quite rubbish up to that point.

I, on the other hand, always thought "he must know SOMETHING we don't understand and know"

I'm quite insightful!

 

I remember the threads, the majority of people thought he was nuts.

 

According to the current poll, the (very slight ) majority still do!.......

Cheers,
Ian

 

I'd pay my top engineers big bucks. They are the important ones.....

 

Hamilton was under Ron Denis' patronage. But, the sponsor was Mercedes. They were investing money in order for him to race. Not Mclaren.

 

+1

I think that's pretty much how it works these days.

Sure, the jockeys still make the monster money, same as all the players in the "major" sports.

But the Peter Prodromous (sp?), James Allisons & Ross Brawns (ret) ain't doing badly.

Cheers,
Ian

 

People thought the same of Button when he went to McLaren after BrawnGP

 

When Mercedes bought Brawn, it was to form its own team, and demote McLaren to the rank of customer. Hamilton jumped ship because of that probably, and also after seeing the resources MB was going to dedicate to F1. Paddy Lowe left McLaren for MB for the same reasons.

 

Of course no one thought it was a good move at the time. It sounded crazy but really he had already won a title and was still quite young. He's one of the best on the grid. If the team went nowhere he could have very easily gotten a top ride somewhere else. He was in the position to take that chance and it's paid off well. Nico isn't in that boat. His best chance to win is with Merc. To go to Ferrari would be a bad move for him.

 

I think Hamilton has more chances to really become the new Bond than Nico the next Ferrariman

 

Not all the time, apparently. Qualifying for Italy below.
OTOH his team mate for next year might prove to be a real hand full!

1 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 340.3 1'46.504
2 25 Maverick VIÑALES SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 339.6 1'46.598 0.094 / 0.094
3 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Ducati Team Ducati 347.3 1'46.607 0.103 / 0.009
4 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 341.2 1'46.759 0.255 / 0.152
5 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 340.4 1'46.882 0.378 / 0.123
6 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 339.9 1'47.186 0.682 / 0.304
7 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 341.6 1'47.218 0.714 / 0.032
8 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 338.8 1'47.247 0.743 / 0.029
9 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA OCTO Pramac Yakhnich Ducati 349.4 1'47.261 0.757 / 0.014
10 45 Scott REDDING GBR OCTO Pramac Yakhnich Ducati 345.2 1'47.359 0.855 / 0.098
11 51 Michele PIRRO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 346.4 1'47.361 0.857 / 0.002
12 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Aspar Team MotoGP Ducati 346.0 1'47.436 0.932 / 0.075

 

No, not all the time.

But on average over the last 2 years, Lorenzo has been ahead of Rossi most of the time.

 

Seb doesnt win soon ferrari will want lewis and half the guys on this board will slit their wrists

 

lol.

 

I could see it happening.

 

That would be a complete disaster and may spell the end of the love affair between Ferrari and the tifosi.

 

No...provided that he would win races for the Scuderia, everything will be forgotten.
Don't you remember Michael Schumacher's recruitment? There were placards held by many tifosi at Monza in 1995 saying: "better one Jean Alesi than a thousand Schumacher";
then articles in the press in 1996 saying that the Scuderia was speeding in the wrong direction at full speed due to the trio of "clowns" (Todt, Brawn, Schumacher...) put at its helm.
And then, a few years later, nothing but praise.

It would be exactly the same; under the condition of wins. The next World Champion at the wheel of a Ferrari, whoever it would be (will be ??) would/will never, ever have to pay for a pizza, pasta or coffe anywhere in Italy.

Rgds

 

lololol because hambone crossed over or because seb sucked or both?

 

Nico is as fast and a lot less of a pain in the @rse ... I'd take Nico.

One thing for sure is, Seb is no MS. MS used to perform miracles in the "slow" Ferraris which is why he won over the Tifosi. Seb has looked decidedly ordinary IMO.

As for those that think MS didn't have veto rights over his co-driver ... obviously they did not watch F1 from 96 to 2005. It was MS's team, 100%. Every co-driver was chosen after MS's approval and signed a "Number 2" contract.
Pete

 

And then in 2006 LdM decided that it was definitely too much MS team and signed Kimi...

Rgds

 

I didn't know you'd read the contract. Can I get a copy?

 

I agree, just poke through here and look at posts about Vettel before he went to Ferrari.

 

+2

Everything changes once they're wearing red.

My team, & I'll support whoever they put in the seats.

Cheers,
Ian

 

I have a biography of Eddie Irvine and he states clearly that he signed to be Number 2 to MS.

Pete