Hamilton... Poster boy for biting the hand that feeds you
07-20-2011, 11:04 AM
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Hamilton... Poster boy for biting the hand that feeds you
Hamilton told: Take a deep breath and chill out!
Former grand prix-winner and McLaren star John Watson tells Lewis Hamilton to 'take a deep breath and chill out' - and to stop hitting out at his team all the time
Lewis Hamilton has been advised to 'take a deep breath and chill out' rather than repeatedly blaming his team for everything that is going wrong in F1 2011 – with John Watson arguing that the McLaren-Mercedes star is letting his 'frustration' get the better of him far too often and that 'his burning desire to win is affecting his equilibrium'.
Hamilton has endured a torrid time of things this season to-date, triumphing just once from the opening nine grands prix and currently trailing runaway world championship leader Sebastian Vettel by a staggering 95 points in the title standings at the halfway stage – meaning his chances of adding to his 2008 drivers' crown look to be slim in the extreme.
The Briton's troubles on-track have been compounded by a number of run-ins with FIA stewards for his overly-aggressive driving – with his contentious collisions with both Felipe Massa and Pastor Maldonado in Monaco a particular nadir – as well as some uncharacteristically outspoken comments in interviews, most notably his distinctly ill-advised 'maybe it's because I'm black' quip and his assertion that he 'doesn't give a toss' about what the likes of three-time F1 World Champion Niki Lauda have to say.
What's more, Hamilton's level of commitment to his team has appeared to oscillate from one race to the next, at one juncture insisting that he is with McLaren for the long haul, and then at the next claiming that 'loyalty has its limits' and being spied in discussions with Christian Horner – team principal of F1 2011 pace-setters Red Bull Racing.
The latest criticism came at Silverstone just over a week ago, when the 26-year-old publicly slated his team on two separate occasions – once after a qualifying session that left him just tenth, having taken to the track on old rubber for his first run in Q3, and then again after the British Grand Prix, in which fuel conservation concerns denied him the possibility of a podium finish in front of his adoring home fans and left him fighting off Ferrari rival Massa right the way to the chequered flag. He went on to state that if he does sign a new contract with the team, there will be strict limitations to his sponsorship commitments.
Five-time grand prix-winner Watson – a former McLaren man himself and team-mate to Lauda back in 1982 and 1983 – is adamant that Hamilton needs to take a step back, get a grip and accept his share of the blame for the Woking-based outfit's present malaise...rather than constantly seeking to pin the responsibility on the team.
“I was really surprised that Lewis chose to blame the team [at Silverstone],” the veteran of 152 grands prix – now a television pundit – told the Daily Express. “The decision whether to go out on new tyres would have been discussed by Lewis and his engineers. If your team-mate and everybody around you is going out on new tyres, then clearly the decision to go out on old tyres was a bad error – but the criticism shows the level of frustration Lewis is feeling at the moment. He is clearly angry that he is not more competitive, but Red Bull have a better car.
“Lewis is a tremendous racer, but his burning desire to win is affecting his equilibrium and he is being too aggressive at times. I want to see drivers attack, but I don't want to see a guy's frustration get the better of his judgement. Lewis vented that frustration with his recent comments, and the way he reacted to Jackie Stewart and Niki Lauda's criticisms of his driving in Monaco and Canada. Motor racing may be different now to when they were racing, but both are three-time world champions.
“Lewis is clearly frustrated, but he needs to take a deep breath and chill out; he needs to say to the team, 'We need to work together to sort things out'. Lewis must sit down with them and say, 'We are in this together – I don't want to divorce you as McLaren runs through me like the writing in a big stick of Bognor Regis rock'.
“I am sure the talk about reducing his workload is part of the contract negotiations. That would give his new management the flexibility to work with companies outside of the team's normal stable – but Lewis has been with McLaren since he was a kid, and I would be very surprised and disappointed if he was not able to negotiate a satisfactory agreement with them.”
Former grand prix-winner and McLaren star John Watson tells Lewis Hamilton to 'take a deep breath and chill out' - and to stop hitting out at his team all the time
Lewis Hamilton has been advised to 'take a deep breath and chill out' rather than repeatedly blaming his team for everything that is going wrong in F1 2011 – with John Watson arguing that the McLaren-Mercedes star is letting his 'frustration' get the better of him far too often and that 'his burning desire to win is affecting his equilibrium'.
Hamilton has endured a torrid time of things this season to-date, triumphing just once from the opening nine grands prix and currently trailing runaway world championship leader Sebastian Vettel by a staggering 95 points in the title standings at the halfway stage – meaning his chances of adding to his 2008 drivers' crown look to be slim in the extreme.
The Briton's troubles on-track have been compounded by a number of run-ins with FIA stewards for his overly-aggressive driving – with his contentious collisions with both Felipe Massa and Pastor Maldonado in Monaco a particular nadir – as well as some uncharacteristically outspoken comments in interviews, most notably his distinctly ill-advised 'maybe it's because I'm black' quip and his assertion that he 'doesn't give a toss' about what the likes of three-time F1 World Champion Niki Lauda have to say.
What's more, Hamilton's level of commitment to his team has appeared to oscillate from one race to the next, at one juncture insisting that he is with McLaren for the long haul, and then at the next claiming that 'loyalty has its limits' and being spied in discussions with Christian Horner – team principal of F1 2011 pace-setters Red Bull Racing.
The latest criticism came at Silverstone just over a week ago, when the 26-year-old publicly slated his team on two separate occasions – once after a qualifying session that left him just tenth, having taken to the track on old rubber for his first run in Q3, and then again after the British Grand Prix, in which fuel conservation concerns denied him the possibility of a podium finish in front of his adoring home fans and left him fighting off Ferrari rival Massa right the way to the chequered flag. He went on to state that if he does sign a new contract with the team, there will be strict limitations to his sponsorship commitments.
Five-time grand prix-winner Watson – a former McLaren man himself and team-mate to Lauda back in 1982 and 1983 – is adamant that Hamilton needs to take a step back, get a grip and accept his share of the blame for the Woking-based outfit's present malaise...rather than constantly seeking to pin the responsibility on the team.
“I was really surprised that Lewis chose to blame the team [at Silverstone],” the veteran of 152 grands prix – now a television pundit – told the Daily Express. “The decision whether to go out on new tyres would have been discussed by Lewis and his engineers. If your team-mate and everybody around you is going out on new tyres, then clearly the decision to go out on old tyres was a bad error – but the criticism shows the level of frustration Lewis is feeling at the moment. He is clearly angry that he is not more competitive, but Red Bull have a better car.
“Lewis is a tremendous racer, but his burning desire to win is affecting his equilibrium and he is being too aggressive at times. I want to see drivers attack, but I don't want to see a guy's frustration get the better of his judgement. Lewis vented that frustration with his recent comments, and the way he reacted to Jackie Stewart and Niki Lauda's criticisms of his driving in Monaco and Canada. Motor racing may be different now to when they were racing, but both are three-time world champions.
“Lewis is clearly frustrated, but he needs to take a deep breath and chill out; he needs to say to the team, 'We need to work together to sort things out'. Lewis must sit down with them and say, 'We are in this together – I don't want to divorce you as McLaren runs through me like the writing in a big stick of Bognor Regis rock'.
“I am sure the talk about reducing his workload is part of the contract negotiations. That would give his new management the flexibility to work with companies outside of the team's normal stable – but Lewis has been with McLaren since he was a kid, and I would be very surprised and disappointed if he was not able to negotiate a satisfactory agreement with them.”
07-20-2011, 11:09 AM
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McLaren tells Hamilton: There has to be give-and-take
McLaren-Mercedes managing director Jonathan Neale suggests that Lewis Hamilton might like to consider the F1 sponsorship commitments side of things from his team's perspective, too...
McLaren-Mercedes has responded to Lewis Hamilton's warning that his employer will be 'shocked' by some of his demands when it comes to negotiating a new deal beyond the end of next year – by stressing that 'there has to be give-and-take'.
On the eve of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone a week-and-a-half ago, Hamilton admitted that he feared he was in danger of burnout due to McLaren's relentless schedule of sponsorship commitments that was preventing him from taking a proper rest – and he bluntly asserted that 'when I re-sign the contract, they are going to be shocked at how many days they are not going to be able to make me do...I will be doing a lot less work'.
Speaking during a special pre-Nürburgring Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes Phone-In Session, however, the Woking-based outfit's managing director Jonathan Neale revealed that Hamilton has no more such duties than team-mate Jenson Button – who conversely has made no complaint – and that the 2008 F1 World Champion might do well to consider the situation from the team's point-of-view, too.
“We are a commercially-run team, with a fantastic group of partners,” the Englishman underlined. “Vodafone and Mercedes obviously have expectations, and our technical partners all do terrific work, as well. We have long partnerships because they work – Exxon Mobil have been with us since 1995, for example. That's all part of being a well-funded and successful team, and we are renowned for it.
“We do recognise that the drivers are human beings and that there's a finite capacity there, so we try to balance it out as best we can – but we don't have quite the same funding model as Red Bull Racing or Ferrari. There has to be some give-and-take. The same is true behind-the-scenes as on the circuit – we have two number one drivers, with two equal sets of obligations. Lewis and Jenson share that burden of responsibility equally.
“We have been able to use, very successfully, Pedro de la Rosa, Gary Paffett and occasionally also Oliver Turvey to lift the commercial burden, and we are putting more capacity in the system to match our partners' expectations. Yes, it's a balance, but when you have two world champions in the team and the partners that we have, everybody is going to be clamouring to see them. We've got to be mindful of that.”
One development that arguably would not lighten Hamilton's mood any would be a return to limited in-season testing – a topic that is currently being debated amongst F1's teams and powers-that-be, after test teams were banned back in 2009 under the terms of the Resource Restriction Agreement (RRA).
Neale concedes that he is 'cautiously' in favour of the idea and that there are 'a number of benefits' to it in terms of being able to try out young drivers, mechanics and engineers – but he echoes Mercedes Grand Prix team principal Ross Brawn in opining that 'breaking-point' is being reached with regard to workload in the sport, reasoning: “If we get back into unbridled tyre-testing development and runaway costs, it will be counter-productive to all the work we've done so far.”
McLaren-Mercedes managing director Jonathan Neale suggests that Lewis Hamilton might like to consider the F1 sponsorship commitments side of things from his team's perspective, too...
McLaren-Mercedes has responded to Lewis Hamilton's warning that his employer will be 'shocked' by some of his demands when it comes to negotiating a new deal beyond the end of next year – by stressing that 'there has to be give-and-take'.
On the eve of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone a week-and-a-half ago, Hamilton admitted that he feared he was in danger of burnout due to McLaren's relentless schedule of sponsorship commitments that was preventing him from taking a proper rest – and he bluntly asserted that 'when I re-sign the contract, they are going to be shocked at how many days they are not going to be able to make me do...I will be doing a lot less work'.
Speaking during a special pre-Nürburgring Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes Phone-In Session, however, the Woking-based outfit's managing director Jonathan Neale revealed that Hamilton has no more such duties than team-mate Jenson Button – who conversely has made no complaint – and that the 2008 F1 World Champion might do well to consider the situation from the team's point-of-view, too.
“We are a commercially-run team, with a fantastic group of partners,” the Englishman underlined. “Vodafone and Mercedes obviously have expectations, and our technical partners all do terrific work, as well. We have long partnerships because they work – Exxon Mobil have been with us since 1995, for example. That's all part of being a well-funded and successful team, and we are renowned for it.
“We do recognise that the drivers are human beings and that there's a finite capacity there, so we try to balance it out as best we can – but we don't have quite the same funding model as Red Bull Racing or Ferrari. There has to be some give-and-take. The same is true behind-the-scenes as on the circuit – we have two number one drivers, with two equal sets of obligations. Lewis and Jenson share that burden of responsibility equally.
“We have been able to use, very successfully, Pedro de la Rosa, Gary Paffett and occasionally also Oliver Turvey to lift the commercial burden, and we are putting more capacity in the system to match our partners' expectations. Yes, it's a balance, but when you have two world champions in the team and the partners that we have, everybody is going to be clamouring to see them. We've got to be mindful of that.”
One development that arguably would not lighten Hamilton's mood any would be a return to limited in-season testing – a topic that is currently being debated amongst F1's teams and powers-that-be, after test teams were banned back in 2009 under the terms of the Resource Restriction Agreement (RRA).
Neale concedes that he is 'cautiously' in favour of the idea and that there are 'a number of benefits' to it in terms of being able to try out young drivers, mechanics and engineers – but he echoes Mercedes Grand Prix team principal Ross Brawn in opining that 'breaking-point' is being reached with regard to workload in the sport, reasoning: “If we get back into unbridled tyre-testing development and runaway costs, it will be counter-productive to all the work we've done so far.”
07-20-2011, 11:15 AM
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Mansell: Hamilton should act like a Champion
19 July 2011Nigel Mansell has responded to Lewis Hamilton, with the latter having advised former drivers to keep opinions to themselves. The comments from Hamilton came after fellow title winner Niki Lauda criticised both his driving style and post-race interviews at the Monaco Grand Prix, labelling rivals and the FIA race stewards as ‘stupid’.
In a reply to the comments from Lauda and Mansell - who said the Stevenage driver should not move teams - Hamilton claimed that any feelings from former drivers should be kept behind closed doors, prompting Mansell to retort.
Nigel Mansell, 1992 World Champion for Williams“Lewis is not mature and he's not got a head on him,” Mansell is quoted as saying by F1 Racing magazine.
“I think he needs to settle himself down because the recent episode at Monaco was unnecessary and unflattering both for himself and Formula 1. I thought his driving style was very poor because he had no respect for anyone else - because where is anyone going to go?
“To say that overtaking is impossible at Monaco, well...I've done it coming out of the tunnel several times...but then to say what he said about the stewards was appalling. I was very disappointed and he's got to remember that he has been a World Champion so he should act accordingly and appropriately at all times.”
Mansell went on to compare Hamilton with McLaren team-mate Jenson Button:
“Both Lewis and Jenson were both great World Champions at the time (2008 and 2009, respectively) and it's absolutely fantastic to have them both in the same team but Jenson, for me, carries with him just that little bit more maturity.”
19 July 2011Nigel Mansell has responded to Lewis Hamilton, with the latter having advised former drivers to keep opinions to themselves. The comments from Hamilton came after fellow title winner Niki Lauda criticised both his driving style and post-race interviews at the Monaco Grand Prix, labelling rivals and the FIA race stewards as ‘stupid’.
In a reply to the comments from Lauda and Mansell - who said the Stevenage driver should not move teams - Hamilton claimed that any feelings from former drivers should be kept behind closed doors, prompting Mansell to retort.
Nigel Mansell, 1992 World Champion for Williams“Lewis is not mature and he's not got a head on him,” Mansell is quoted as saying by F1 Racing magazine.
“I think he needs to settle himself down because the recent episode at Monaco was unnecessary and unflattering both for himself and Formula 1. I thought his driving style was very poor because he had no respect for anyone else - because where is anyone going to go?
“To say that overtaking is impossible at Monaco, well...I've done it coming out of the tunnel several times...but then to say what he said about the stewards was appalling. I was very disappointed and he's got to remember that he has been a World Champion so he should act accordingly and appropriately at all times.”
Mansell went on to compare Hamilton with McLaren team-mate Jenson Button:
“Both Lewis and Jenson were both great World Champions at the time (2008 and 2009, respectively) and it's absolutely fantastic to have them both in the same team but Jenson, for me, carries with him just that little bit more maturity.”
07-20-2011, 11:19 AM
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Hamilton's response:
"You have to make changes," he claimed, "When I re-sign the contract with McLaren, they are going to be shocked at how many days they are not going to be able to make me do. I will be doing a lot less work - and I definitely won't be doing the whole period of time before the Silverstone grand prix, that's for sure. I will have at least five days to prepare in the future."
"You have to make changes," he claimed, "When I re-sign the contract with McLaren, they are going to be shocked at how many days they are not going to be able to make me do. I will be doing a lot less work - and I definitely won't be doing the whole period of time before the Silverstone grand prix, that's for sure. I will have at least five days to prepare in the future."
07-20-2011, 11:36 AM
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I hope he gets the boot and he sits on a stool for a year. Probably wont happen but I bet (hope) McLaren aint going to to put up with a lot more crapola from him. If he doesnt like it where he is let him walk. There are plenty of drivers. McLaren made Hamilton not the other way around.
07-20-2011, 11:44 AM
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Hamilton's response:
"You have to make changes," he claimed, "When I re-sign the contract with McLaren, they are going to be shocked at how many days they are not going to be able to make me do. I will be doing a lot less work - and I definitely won't be doing the whole period of time before the Silverstone grand prix, that's for sure. I will have at least five days to prepare in the future."
"You have to make changes," he claimed, "When I re-sign the contract with McLaren, they are going to be shocked at how many days they are not going to be able to make me do. I will be doing a lot less work - and I definitely won't be doing the whole period of time before the Silverstone grand prix, that's for sure. I will have at least five days to prepare in the future."
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07-20-2011, 12:46 PM
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07-20-2011, 01:30 PM
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Hamilton's response:
"You have to make changes," he claimed, "When I re-sign the contract with McLaren, they are going to be shocked at how many days they are not going to be able to make me do. I will be doing a lot less work - and I definitely won't be doing the whole period of time before the Silverstone grand prix, that's for sure. I will have at least five days to prepare in the future."
"You have to make changes," he claimed, "When I re-sign the contract with McLaren, they are going to be shocked at how many days they are not going to be able to make me do. I will be doing a lot less work - and I definitely won't be doing the whole period of time before the Silverstone grand prix, that's for sure. I will have at least five days to prepare in the future."
Fly around the world.
Stay in first class accomodations.
Spend a few hours addressing crowds of people who pay for me to race and hang on my every word.
07-20-2011, 02:05 PM
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I don't want to play devil's advocate, but the reason Hamilton isn't beating vettel is because his car isn't on the same level, right? No amount of whining is going to make the car faster, but that is the problem, isn't it?
07-20-2011, 02:13 PM
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Dear Lord, do not send this toolbag to Red Bull as he doesn't fit the feel of that team...well hell most any team. Send him to HRT or Virgin...
07-20-2011, 02:14 PM
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Maybe Vettel is just a better driver.
07-20-2011, 03:12 PM
#14
Maybe Vettel is just a better driver.
Would be very interesting to see what Vettel and Hamilton's times would be in the same car