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An F1 driver become a legend when he win multiple championships and is never forgotten.
Lewis Hamilton = Modern day Jacque Villeneave.
History will bear this out.
Originally Posted by Pete
Hamilton has NEVER made good decisions on or off track --- nor has his management team. The short term gain from the money will never amount to the long term gain of being a multiple WDC.
....Hamilton goes to a team that has won just 1 race in the past 3 years.
Originally Posted by Pete
My guess is that Perez will have more wins and points than Hamilton next year -- Hamilton will be an afterthought
Originally Posted by Pete
What Hamilton is doing is going from a well funded team to a so so funded team albeit with Ross Brawn, but no Rory Burne, Jean Todt etc.
Originally Posted by Cayman_Sense
Maybe his management team thought they'd each get free Benzo's yo!
Poor ole' Niki got a few lumps..
Originally Posted by ApexComp
So is Niki Lauda an idiot also? It was upon his direction the switch was made.
Originally Posted by 9.5 Degrees
Yes, he is. Lauda gave a personal opinion to LH and after LH signed on with MB, Lauda became a payroll employee. However, Lauda doesn't have any inside knowlegde of what's going on from a technical stand point. He's been out of the loop for years and is a figure head for F1 asking silly questions on the podium and giving his opinions to reporters when asked.
even the girlfriend was thrown under the bus stop chicane...
If Nicole had any influence (at all) in the decision to bolt from McLaren then Lewis should buy her another 20 karat ring.
Originally Posted by Pete
I think he's being influenced a tremendous amount by his pop star girlfriend and her hollywood types including the entertainment management team he now employs. Things could not have worked out better for Sergio Perez.... just saying...
Originally Posted by 968TurboS
Wonder how long his gf will be around when he is finishing out of top 3 consistently....
WINNERS:
Originally Posted by gums
I don't think he's an idiot at all, and I wouldn't be surprised to this partnership thrive.
Originally Posted by morganabowen
I don't think that Lewis is an idiot, and this looks like a good move for him to MBZ. Heck, who better to win a championship with then Ross Brawn
Originally Posted by Phokaioglaukos
Whatever you think of Lewis Hamilton, his move from McLaren to Mercedes worked out very well for him.
Yup... I'll own what I wrote 2 years ago, but at the time things were much different:
1. Button had outscored Hamilton during the 3 years they were together at McLaren.
2. Hamilton was immature and unprofessional.. basically a child that released sacred data on his car to prove that he wasn't slower than his teammate. Right there it shows a deep rooted insecurity.
3. The Mercedes F1 car was not very good.
What has changed?
Well, basically the more important thing is the new rules allow Hamilton to basically race 1 guy instead of the entire field the entire year. The Mercs were Cup cars compared to 944 spec cars with reliability being the only exception. When you have to race 1 teammate rather than all the other WDC on grid due to vehicle superiority, it makes it easier for sure
2. Hamilton has matured greatly after spreading his wings and leaving Ron Dennis -- Niki Lauda being his mentor probably had a lot to do with that. It was impressive to watch him overcome all the mechanical issues he had early in the season and being significantly outqualified by Rosberg, only to come back and win the races he needed to.
3. Part of that maturity over the past couple years was pointed out in the broadcast last night when they said that Hamilton used to be managed by a big entertainment company and basically dropped his dad and others. Lewis himself came back to say that he learned the hard way and dropped that company and is back to the way it was and mended fences with his family. Hamilton's personal issues always affected him in the past. Now that that side of his life was resolved, he could concentrate on his profession as he should.
To these points, I will say that Alonso has also matured. Although I've been a critic of Alonso in the past, he has really matured himself during the 5 years he spent at Ferrari. In the end, LTC was right and said Fernando Alonso will never win a WDC at Ferrari, but he has been very professional and not like he was at Renault and McLaren.
If we are to go out TODAY'S informational data, one could say that Vettel agreeing to leave RBR and go to Ferrari is career suicide based on the disarray Ferrari is in from a management and vehicle standpoint. But what if the regs are changed and they develop a technology of spliting the turbo like Mercedes did and the car is over 1 sec per lap faster than their closest competitors? What if the management choices the FIAT CEO is implementing are the correct ones and they actually work? Hard to say, but these are similar circumstances that were in place a couple years ago and the roll of the dice to move teams worked in this instance.
Pete,
I agree with what you said about Hamilton. Lauda, And Mansell did a good job of mentoring Hamilton. Plus Mercedes' policy of "have at it boys" produced 2 stronger drivers. I see it in Nico as well as Lewis. There is no #1 driver so they have to grow and get tougher every race which is good for the team. Having a guy who has been there is a plus. I would agree that Alonso has matured some but his stunt with using King Juan Carlos s.hows he has a lot to learn.
Yup... I'll own what I wrote 2 years ago, but at the time things were much different:
1. Button had outscored Hamilton during the 3 years they were together at McLaren.
2. Hamilton was immature and unprofessional.. basically a child that released sacred data on his car to prove that he wasn't slower than his teammate. Right there it shows a deep rooted insecurity.
3. The Mercedes F1 car was not very good.
What has changed?
What has changed? Apparently history since Button outscored Hamilton only one of the three years...... And the only year I believe that Hamilton was outscored by a teammate.
What has changed? Apparently history since Button outscored Hamilton only one of the three years...... And the only year I believe that Hamilton was outscored by a teammate.
Button total points in the 3 years together = 672
Hamilton total points in the 3 years together = 657
This with Button not being considered a "great driver" but a good one and Lewis being the established #1 at McLaren.
Button total points in the 3 years together = 672
Hamilton total points in the 3 years together = 657
This with Button not being considered a "great driver" but a good one and Lewis being the established #1 at McLaren.
Lewis beat Jenson 2 seasons to 1. Which is far more important than who outscored who. Lewis also had more than his share of failures while dominating races, skewing the numbers.
Lets not leave out all of the facts here.
There was plenty of young knucklehead that cost him a lot of points, the change to tire conservation instead of racing, which highly favored the tire manager button. But at no point did anyone think button was legitimately as talented as hamilton.
Lewis has matured greatly. And i think Jenson had a part in it. But hes not on the same level.
Lewis beat Jenson 2 seasons to 1. Which is far more important than who outscored who. Lewis also had more than his share of failures while dominating races, skewing the numbers.
Lets not leave out all of the facts here.
There was plenty of young knucklehead that cost him a lot of points, the change to tire conservation instead of racing, which highly favored the tire manager button. But at no point did anyone think button was legitimately as talented as hamilton.
Lewis has matured greatly. And i think Jenson had a part in it. But hes not on the same level.
The final year with Button the difference was 190 pts vs. 188... basically even. The point being that Lewis has always been a fast driver and a great racer especially in the overtaking department, but his mental game, whether it be his personal life or his poor decisions on track, was so subpar that a good, but not great driver like Button could outscore him.
Also, lets not forget that his year of "coming together" with Massa was as much his poor decisions as it was Massa's.
Fast forward to these past 2 years and the taking care of the mental part of his game has elevated Hamilton to a more complete driver vs. just a fast racer. I don't think many give Rosberg enough credit for how fast he really is. He had the measure of Hamilton quite a bit in 2014 but the fact that Hamilton is simply a better "racer" was all the difference.
If there are no rule changes and the unfreezing of the engine regs, I fully expect both Merc drivers to battle it out to the last race again with Williams right there and of course we don't know what the wild card of McLaren/Honda will produce in 2015
In the final year Lewis had two failures leading late in the race. Would have been a much bigger margin. Hardly a wash. And still more indicative than counting overall points.
Rosberg is underrated but he hardly had the measure of Lewis this season. Lewis was clearly better on track during the race. With two reliable cars i think most would agree that Lewis would have run away with the championship. He won 10 races in spite of.