Hamilton deserves more respect

I never thought that the failed title challenge was all and only Grosjean's fault, really (Has nothing to do with the fact that I'm French and Grosjean is French - uh well? Is he French indeed? I think he is Swiss, actually).
To me, at the time, and I've not changed my mind since, what Alonso was doing was extraordinary BUT he was operating so much above what the car allowed that he had no margin left for error whatsover.
A bit like the cartoon character walking on thin air above the void and waiting for disaster to happen.
During all that season, I was saying to myself "only the smallest little grain of sand in the works, and this is over". I was hoping against all hope that there would be no grain of sand, but knowing that there would be one...
It was bound to happen, one way or another, Fernando was way to far above the car's possibilities. He was in the hands of fate.

Rgds

 

I looked into it. Romain Grosjean has dual nationality, French and Swiss.
He was Swiss by birth, being born in Geneva, and French by filiation, since his father was French.
He races under a French licence.

 

Convenient. So when he wins he is French, and when he loses he is Swiss.
As he never won in Formula One, he always was Swiss...

Rgds

 

Lololo....

 

Romain tenure had one only purpose in f1....and it was fulfilled.....with a bang!

 

I don’t remember Canada being his fault. Massa did come alive at the end of the season and I was always rooting for him. I don’t blame Ferrari for opening his gearbox to give Alonso a boost, but it did happen.

 

I was at the 2012 Canadian GP. There was nothing about Alonso's drive that I'd consider disgraceful, but maybe I didn't see the full picture.

2010 German GP when Ferrari issued team orders to let Alonso win. Considering it was illegal at the time, that could be look at as a disgrace. Understandable why they did it, since Alonso nearly won the championship that season.

 

He is a very smart guy, and a very good commentator on French tv.
Unfortunately there will be always Spa 2012…

 

And he flies a twin engine plane. Respect

 

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/f1-autosport/1761651/Lewis-Hamilton-spoiled-little-boy-F1-antics-Joan-Villadelprat-Mercedes

 

Now this is a fun 'read' lol

Marko: Turning Mercedes on to Hamilton was 'complete misjudgment'

Helmut Marko says he will forever rue the day he informed his good friend Niki Lauda of Lewis Hamilton's availability, a material piece of information that led to the Briton's move from McLaren to Mercedes at the end of the 2012 season and to a wave of unparalleled success for team and driver.

Hamilton had finished fourth in the Drivers' championship in 2012, winning four races with McLaren but being unable to compete for the title with Red Bull and its then three-time world champion Sebastian Vettel.

Although Hamilton wasn't looking to leave McLaren at the time, his contract with the Woking-based outfit was set to expire at the end of the season.

An initial contact and preliminary conversation between Hamilton and Lauda then opened the Briton up to the idea of leaving McLaren and joining Mercedes.

Marko remembers tipping off Lauda on Hamilton's availability as a tactical move that he hoped would benefit Red Bull, as the Austrian felt that the Briton would be less of a peril to the bulls racing for Mercedes than for McLaren.

"I gave him [Lauda] some information that Lewis would be available," Marko recalled, speaking to Sport Bild.

"Of course, I was not being altruistic. At the time, we thought Lewis would be less of a threat to us at Mercedes than at McLaren, for whom he was driving at the time."

But Marko's mischievous plot failed miserably.

"In retrospect, that was a complete misjudgment, although at the time it was really not foreseeable. But with the knowledge I have today, I would definitely not do that again."

At the time, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was complicit with Marko. Last year, he revealed that Hamilton had actually been "keen" on joining the Milton Keynes-based outfit.

But for the Red Bull chief, pairing Hamilton with Vettel – or bringing together "two alpha drivers" – didn't seem like the most rational move.


https://f1i.com/news/471885-marko-turning-mercedes-on-to-hamilton-was-complete-misjudgment.html

 

Spa is the only reason i like him....

 

And this is what happens when you think you're the smartest guy in the room, wouldn't you agree, Helmut?

 

One wily Austrian outwits another. Hamilton would likely be a one time WDC without Lauda.
RtR!

 

"Oh God, please protect me from my friends; as for my enemies, I'll take care of them"
("Mon Dieu, gardez-moi de mes amis. Quant à mes ennemis, je m'en charge"; usually attributed to Voltaire, but some sources had it from as far as Antigonos II, King of Macédonia")
(Never was a fan of Marko...but to think that he tried to outwit Niki only to find himself out-witted in the end is nice)

Rgds

 

Sure
But kudos to Lewis for taking this chance.That times I clearly thought it was a completely dumb move !

 

to the outside, yes...but Mclaren was Mercedes' factory team. It was made very clear that in the situation that was unfolding, Mclaren would not receive the support anymore. Couple that with the salary reduction offer for the new contract seeing as how button was performing, it kinda became a no brainer.

 

100%
Lauda told Ham what he would have from 2014.

Ham had to be patient for an entire 12 months.

 

Lauda, who had intimate knowledge of both teams, must have explained to Hamilton that Mercedes had simply more potential than McLaren.
Mercedes-AMG was a factory team, backed by a large motor manufacturer with a R&D department and plenty of resources behind, McLaren was going back to "garagist" status after Mercedes sold their 40% shares.

 

Button and others expressed that they didn't think it was the right decision. Hamilton and his father struggled with it. To say it was a "no brainer" is laughable. No matter what Hamilton was told, to go from a championship winning team to a new team that has'nt been winning is no way a confidence builder. Vasseur can tell Max Ferrari will have the upper hand, come to Ferrari. Vasseur can talk till he's blue in the face. Still it will be a pressure decision for Max.

 

Correct - to move was to have potential for a winning car more so that Mclaren - he had given Mclaren enough time. As did FA at Ferrari. Again those who think LH deserves not so much respect clearly at odds with Lauda lol. LH took this move on, took a car capable of winning and won. Thats the job. Period. What he does for fashion or music or anything else does not matter.

Most drivers would hope to have his results. Max whined about how easy it all was for LH.

Shoe meets other foot now and Max is doing EXACTLY the same. Winning in a car CAPABLE of winning - no other deflections matter at all.

 

The team that Mercedes bought won a title more recently than Mclaren did.

Vasseur telling Max that they'll have the upper hand is vastly different; for starters Ferrari isn't taking anything away from Red Bull, whereas mercedes was (money, factory support). Unless Ferrari (or rather, Newey) tells Max that they'll have Newey at the team for 2026 and a whole lot of other smart boys from Red Bull, it really isn't anything like the same as Mercedes quite literally degrading Mclaren from factory status to customer only team.

Laugh at it all you like, but fact of the matter is once you follow the money it becomes pretty damn obvious. The talent Mercedes acquired in those years, all to building the 2014 vision. 3 cars in development in 2012 (2012 car, 2013 and 2014) shows how serious they where about success. Hamilton not having an easy time with Button, being offered a much higher salary at Mercedes with his (now former) best friend besides him.

It's more similar to the Ricciardo move from Red Bull. Ricciardo being offered a huge salary when the RBR-Renault relationship was destroyed, the incoming Honda engine being a total turd still at the time...would Ricci stay and be beaten by Max again, or take the gamble at a factory team, which in performance at the time, was very similar and stood as much chance of success at the time as Red Bull - Honda, with a teammate that he would beat. Yes there was a gamble in it all, but it was a pretty good gamble.

 

We will have to disagree on this one. As I and other F1 insiders have said, its not much confidence in a championship hope in that move. Maybe a front team but not championship team. Do you think it was a no brainer for Schumacher to go to Ferrari? A team with bigger budget and won in the past?

 

You cannot compare Mercedes(Lewis) with Schumacher moving to Ferrari. There's a huge difference.

 

Yeah, of course it is.