Will McLaren support Lewis now?

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Originally Posted by ArrowsFA1

If Hamilton said he was going to win the title with Mercedes next year no doubt he'd be called "arrogant" :rolleyes:

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Anyone would be called arrogant for an outright "I'm gonna win ." , Arrows .

How about an "I can't wait to get a hold of that car . They are saying it's developing nicely ."

Or perhaps a "Why not ?" , when asked if he can win next year .

How about a "Now that they know I'm on board , they are working to try to make it suit my style , and that should help a lot when I get in the car and start working on a suitable set-up ."



I get what he is trying to say , that it will be tough for him next year , in a new team , with a car designed with less of his style imposed upon it .
The way he said it , though , could be easily mis-interpretted , and no driver can afford to rock the boat before he boards it , not even Lewis .

He's on the outside now , but he's been in the number one("We're racing Fernando.") position as well .

Many slips like this and Nico will have the smiley side of the garage .

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Originally Posted by jens

I think you have 2001 in mind. :) Yes, that was a pretty terrible season for Mika, including the legendary last-lap retirement in Spain...


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That was a terrible season for Mclaren in many ways. Mika was poor form most of the races, Mclaren had many retirements from mechanical issues and they were beggining to fall way behind Ferrari on pass and were even past by Williams.

That Mika retirement in Spain was unreal. Made worse by the fact Ferrari had major issues in Schumachers car.

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Originally Posted by aki13

That Mika retirement in Spain was unreal. Made worse by the fact Ferrari had major issues in Schumachers car.

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Yes. The worst end to a Grand Prix I have watched. Only the end of the 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix is equally horrible.

It's silly to think that McLaren would sabotage Hamilton just because he's leaving next year... that they would throw a WDC for spite... I think the show just got too deep inside some people's head. This is not a telenovela :laugh:

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Originally Posted by Big Ben

It's silly to think that McLaren would sabotage Hamilton just because he's leaving next year...

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Absolutely. McLaren is fighting for P2 in the WCC and I am sure they are very interested in the extra money that would come with a higher WCC position. Especially as they are likely to lose sponsors going by recent developments.

As for any kind of sabotage theories. All I can tell to people is to think about the following: after you have spent many days, weeks, even months building a house, suffered from exhaustion and overworking, would you destroy it after completing it? Probably not, because that would be pure insanity considering the effort you have put in to complete the task.

Same applies to F1 teams. It is unimaginable, how much effort, time and money is invested to design, build and develop those cars to be fast and as competitive as possible. And to undo the whole work and effort by sabotaging is just absolutely unthinkable. You have to think from their perspective. It doesn't make any sense after you have spent the whole year working hard to make the car competitive. You wouldn't destroy your own professional work, would you? This applies to all those hundreds of employees in the team.

I agree with Jens.

No reason they shouldn't go all out to finish as high in the WCC as possible, after that extra money increases their chances of being able to design a better car next season.

Reason Button was way behind Hamilton, is because he is not as fast when Lewis is at his best. The team know that and Jenson nows that, but they will push hard to design a car for next season which will give Button & Perez there best chance, while Lewis will start the challenge of bringing Mercedes to the front.

Lets hope both happen and we see a good season in 2013

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Originally Posted by henners88

McLaren don't need to support Lewis for any meaningful gain this season now and its basically a cruise and collect situation. I think his performance in Abu Dhabi must have been tough for McLaren to watch. Jenson struggling with no real explanation as to why he lacked pace and Lewis storming at the front only to be let down by unreliability. Watching Perez make a silly error must have been concerning too. There's no doubt Lewis will leave a void at McLaren in the immediate future and I have no doubt Lewis is looking forward to next season more than the team.

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Yeah, and Lewis has really come alive this season. He has had incredibly bad luck and, in my opinion, he would have been WDC this year were it not for McLaren errors. I can see next season being a really tough one for McLaren but we may be pleasantly surprised. I really don't understand their decision to sign Perez. Hulk or DiResta, either, would have been a much better choice.

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Originally Posted by The Black Knight

He has had incredibly bad luck and, in my opinion, he would have been WDC this year were it not for McLaren errors.

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Very likely, but you take the good and the bad - he benefited from the pace McLaren had in some races and in the same time suffered from their problems.

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Originally Posted by henners88

It sounds like you think he should just smile and accept his team haven't delivered. The problem Lewis has is he has experienced just how fast the car can be, but has seen that other teams have been more consistent. These guys are racing to win and Hamilton has had arguably one of his best seasons performance wise, only to lose out greatly through unreliability and team cock ups. The moment Lewis hints at being slightly frustrated, he's lynched by the fans of rival teams and drivers. Its a situation where he can do very little but hide his true feelings. He walked away from his stricken car in the race on Sunday smiling and to me that suggested he has just come to accept his time with the team ending can't come soon enough. I don't think he feels anger towards the team but you can't blame him for wanting a new challenge elsewhere. Its been a poor year for McLaren. I think 2012 for Lewis will be remembered for him doing everything right but lacking with the vital package.

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Actually, I've looked back recently at his 07 and 08 seasons and he has made less mistakes this year than those years. This has actually been his best season to date from a driving perspective, it's just that McLaren haven't delivered him the package. Having pace in the odd race here and there is no good if you have multiple bad pit stops, two races with suspension issues, under fueled in qualifying and 5 DNF's which were out of your control. It's just a shame the results don't reflect the huge effort he has put in for himself and the team.

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Originally Posted by henners88

It sounds like you think he should just smile and accept his team haven't delivered.

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No. I just think that McLaren gave him a car, which allowed him to shine. But not to win - and in this they have truly failed. But in the same time Mercedes gave Michael a car which allowed him neither to win, nor even to shine - except in Monaco.