silly rumours...

[giodap]

nothing major but just thought it was worth a read. mike lawrence article on pitpass with his view on all the speculation over available seats for next year. i dont like the bloke but for once i think he actually makes a lot of sense

http://www.pitpass.com/47310-Sillier-and-Sillier

[mirafiori]

nothing major but just thought it was worth a read. mike lawrence article on pitpass with his view on all the speculation over available seats for next year. i dont like the bloke but for once i think he actually makes a lot of sense

http://www.pitpass.com/47310-Sillier-and-Sillier

if you are going to start a new thread make it interesting.

[Suzie]

if you are going to start a new thread make it interesting.

If you don't find it interesting, it's perhaps politer to keep that to yourself

[vcs316]

Love the title - Sillier and Sillier!!

[vcs316]

Driver negotiations

September 17, 2012 by Joe Saward

I have been reading some wild and wacky stories about Lewis Hamilton’s future, including my favourite which is that the McLaren driver will be paid $97 million for a three-year deal with the Mercedes factory team. This would be more than Fernando Alonso is being paid by Ferrari and completely out of sync with the current trends in F1 of bringing down the costs. If Mercedes have made such an offer then they obviously have more money than sense. In fact I would argue that in such a circumstance they need new management rather than Lewis Hamilton. Winning in F1 is not just about having the fastest driver. No-one doubts that Lewis is fast but he is not famed for his set-up skills. What Mercedes-Benz needs right now is someone to fix the car and made it work, rather than someone who will drive the socks of a second-rate piece of machinery.

The more intelligent way to deal with the problem is to get some good drivers who know how cars work and to get them to develop a car until it is winning – and then hire a Hamilton to make the most of the potential that has been created. The aim of every Grand Prix team is to win, but the real aim of a manufacturer team is to sell more road cars by showing your engineering prowess. Good engineering must come first. The added benefit of this is that when you have a winning car, the cost of the drivers is considerably less because they all want to join a winning team. Thus it would be wiser for Mercedes to hire a Pedro de la Rosa rather than a Lewis Hamilton, if they are not satisfied with the job that Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg are doing. The people running Mercedes-Benz have been around the F1 block a few times and they know all this sort of stuff which is why I doubt that such huge sums are being bandied about. I continue to believe that the whole Mercedes thing is just an attempt to push McLaren to increase its offer.

Similarly, I tend to think that the rumours that McLaren has approached Sergio Perez are a message to Hamilton that he is not the only game in town and he needs to be careful not to end up getting a hefty elbow from McLaren for being silly. Hamilton does not need money. He needs to win and the team that offers him the best chance of a victory is fairly obvious.

If you want any clues go back to the start of Lewis’s F1 career in 2007 and work out which teams have won what McLaren has won 32 races; Red Bull Racing 30; Ferrari 27 and the only other serious multiple winner was Brawn GP, which you could argue as being Mercedes, which won eight races in 2009 and one this year. It is not rocket science to suggest that if Lewis cannot join Red Bull Racing or Ferrari, then his choice is limited to McLaren. The team will pay him what it believes he is worth given his current results and the current economic climate.

One is led to conclude that the advantage of NOT being at McLaren is solely financial and if a driver makes a decision based on money alone then he pay the price for that decision in other ways. If Lewis really does conclude that Mercedes is the way to go, then I admire his optimism. The team has yet to prove that it can really hack it with the big boys, except in 2009 when it had a gizmo that no-one else had. Such advantages will win you one title, but look at the numbers again and see who will win you more than one.

It is there in black and white.

[Ken]

In total agreement with you Vics on this.

Its a pity those who should know have lost the plot ie Eddie Jordan.

Its is shameful that those who dont know are playing silly games with a drivers career ie XIX

[racingbradley]

if you are going to start a new thread make it interesting.

Hmm I must look out for your riveting posts

[giodap]

Hmm I must look out for your riveting posts

haha, its my dad taking the micky out of my thread! but yeah your right, we should look out for his great posts!!

[mirafiori]

If you don't find it interesting, it's perhaps politer to keep that to yourself

Hello suzie, i was just winding up my son giodap. predection for sunday alonso to win.

[eugene22n]

Heard on SpeedTV that there is a rumor that after Monza, Vettel signed a pre-contract agreement with Ferrari for 2014.

Anybody else heard more on this matter?

[ferrari1.8t]

Shouldn't this be posted in the "silly rumors" thread? LOL

[FerrariF60]

Shouldn't this be posted in the "silly rumors" thread? LOL

i think that's what exactly is...a SILLY rumor.....LOL

[Giallo 550]

I wouldn't blame him if he wanted to after his car quit on him!

[REDARMYSOJA]

Shouldn't this be posted in the "silly rumors" thread? LOL

Threads merged.

[Agron]

McLaren has won 32 races; Red Bull Racing 30; Ferrari 27 and the only other serious multiple winner was Brawn GP

That's a pretty hard fact, but on the other side, we must take into account what drivers they had when they achieved those victories. If Mercedes, Lotus, Sauber or Williams had Hamilton they may have won several races this season, while McLaren may have won less if they had Button as their strongest driver. RB would probably still mantain those numbers, but McLaren would have half that number of wins, and Ferrari about 5 less if they didn't have drivers like Hamilton and Alonso driving for them.
Indeed, the driver is a small part of the performance of the car, but when times are close among the top teams -and they often are-, a great driver is the difference between victories and championship contention, and 0 trophies over a season.

So Hamilton going to Mercedes doesn't mean he won't win another race in years, at the level he is driving this year he might even compete for the championship while the McLarens underperform under less talented drivers, but statistically he shouldn't expect to dominate or enjoy car advantage over his closest rivals.

[Nova]

I heard the 2014 Vettel to Ferrari rumors on Speed also...I mean, why not?