Hamilton says Vettel bigger Challenge than Rossberg...

Probably true.

I have the impression that Wolff and Lauda always gave preference to Hamilton because it cost them more to get him in the team.

If you pay Hamilton say $20M a year, and Rosberg only $7M, which investment are you supposed to protect? It may be simplistic, but I suspect that's the way it works.

It will be the same with Bottas, I think, and it's the same in most teams.

I would be surprised if Vettel didn't get preference over Raikkonen.

 

Where else would Kimi get the pay cheque he is currently receiving?. He's not racing to win WDC's that is for sure, he appears to be enjoying the Ferrari lifestyle ... can't blame him, but it is a shame and I wish Ferrari would do like RedBull and hire young guns for the number 2 car.

Ferrari in particular do not care as much about the WCC as other manufacturers (they don't need the relatively small amount of money this brings), so training up a young driver makes more sense. They could still use the young guy strategically to hold up the rest of the field, ala MS days.
Pete

 

I think you are missing the point. Hamilton can afford to say these kind of things because by default, he is in a top car and he has to win it. No excuses. He's no where near the league of other great WDCs, because they have the ability to make crap cars look good, or for the matter, almost win it. MS/Ferrari 1997-1998 says it all.

 

Exactly, that is the problem of Lewis. He always relied to much on his given talent forgetting that F1 (and every other sports) is also work and piscipline. People bash on Rosberg not winning on own merit although Rosberg did absolutely nothing wrong. Despite having some reliability issues Hamilton could have still won the WDC but he lost it partly because of his own mistakes...
Rosberg did exactly what it needed to win and people take credit from him because he did not more than that...All that counting how many points Hamilton lost because of issues forget that Rosberg certainly would have acted different in the last 4 races if needed and that Hamilton not having an engine failure would not necessarily meant that he would have won the WDC. Rosberg beat him before why should he loose all the remaining races if he needed to win as well? So he decided to play it safe and never get into trouble with Lewis and this is not inferior but clever! Lewis on the other hand thought he is clever in he last race when it was obviously to late...

 

Yes peanuts compared to Vettel...but enough to retire after 1 year. I think most of us here would take 16 million for 1 year worth of work .

Sebastian Vettel Ferrari $50 million plus bonuses 3 years (2015-17)
Fernando Alonso McLaren $40 million including bonuses 2 years (2015-17)
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes $31 million plus bonuses 3 years (2015-18
Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari $16 million including bonuses 1 year (2016)
Nico Rosberg Mercedes $15.5 million 3 years (2014-17)

 

I think his salary is less than half that this year no?

Also, just as a comparison there are dozens of NBA basketball players making over 20m a year. I'm one of the few people that think F1 drivers, on average, are actually underpaid.

 

No, it's the NBA basket ball players who are over paid !!!

 

Agreed

 

Sour grapes. Who are you to cap people's salaries? Everyone is still making tons of money.

 

I don't want to cap anyone's salary, but I still think club owners are mad to pay that much.

Nobody is worth that much just to play ball.

 

There are some NBA players that are worth their weight just by their stats and team play, plus sponsorships...plus their character off the court, so I think they are worth every penny.

 

Seems like a lot of billionaires, and hundred-millionaires, disagree with you.

 

I guess everybody has forgotten this bloke called Senna then...if only stats were everything...if only...

 

I'm not sure what this means "if stats were everything . . . ". Senna has the stats. And he was also quite flawed. Witness Suzuka 1990 when he unapologetically slammed into the back of Prost. Schummy had his flaws as well. We don't know if it's the money that clouds their morals or just an overwhelming desire to win.

 

I would say the inability to loose...

 

nevermind the amount of shirts and hats they sell. It's not costing the owners all that much all of a sudden

 

They may well do, and I can live with that ...

 

+100

 

Those players fill the seats and club owners make a mint off it. I'd say they are worth it.

 

I say I have a different opinion on that ...