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according to planet f1/sportsmail
if mclaren lose Hamilton they should be ashamed. Muppets.
IF he goes.
its the time of year for wage negotiations innit.
if I were him the worry of the board at merc summarily pulling the plug would be too much.
not like he'd struggle for a drive though.
The worst thing of all is that IF its true it means that Eddie Jordan was correct when he announced this last week and I'm not sure that his his ego needs to get any bigger. 😉
No chance of the Merc board pulling the plug if they manage to lure him away from Mclaren...just think of all the "Benz" they will sell down in the hood with Lewis's face heading their advertising campaigns!
I'm not so sure he'll win another title there although the pundits all say Merc will be a good seat in 2014 when the new engine rules come in...
new engine rules?
new engine rules?
V6 turbo's in 2014
Hamilton is mad to leave McLaren
I suppose if he is more interested in being a celebrity than a racer then its only the pay cheque that matters
It all coes down to Greed
If he is greedy for titles he will stay put on less money
If he is greedy for money he will go.
I reckon the later [ given the multimillionaire is a tax exile]and no titles for at least a few years
if I were him the worry of the board at merc summarily pulling the plug would be too much.
As I understand it, the Mercedes team is (currently) entirely funded by sponsorship, with Mercedes oversee resourcing relative t othe that funding and underwrite any shortfalls/investing further cash as necessary. How they deal with engines to their customer/sponsored teams I don't know.... but Mclaren are going to be paying for their engines (customer or enhanced spec?) next year, os that may influence Hamiltons decision to go to the 'works' team....
some team changes at the top would be good for all and yes I agree 2014 is going to be a great year of change, withe the potential for another Brawn GP style winner
Brawn and Haug have been making noises [obviously to lure him] to the effect that come the new rules in 2014, you'll need to be in a works team to maximise your chances of winning
The problem is if Mclaren can't afford his wages, then they can't afford them. They've only got one pot of money and having to pay for engines is going to massively reduce the amount they can spend in other areas.
Part of the problem is that at Mclaren Hamilton can't even top up his earnings with sponsorships as the contract is too restrictive.
Going to be interesting to see how it pans out.
The new engine rule is a big thing to consider - current figures thrown around are that it will cost around £14m for a customer deal for the 2014 engines. This is a huge chunk for a non-works team to absorb (even McLaren), and that is then taken away from developing the car.
Moving to Merc could be a wise move, not a greedy one.
Silly season ain't it!!
there could also be another insider line here, that Merc will *NOT* supply McLaren with the new engines in 2014 and concentrate on their works team,
McLaren might have to look elsewhere (renault? PURE? FERRARI!!no chance!!!!!) and be in the midpack for a while until the engine regs bed in - there is a chance that another supplier might come on board, or they make their own....
Aren't Maclaren developing their own engine?
PURE?
Have they managed to find the funding to resume development? I wouldn't want to throw my hat in that particular ring if I were Ron Dennis or Jonathan Neale or whoever it is signing off on the spend at McLaren
I thought that when Merc went it alone that McL had a long term contract signed with Merc to ensure engines. Could be remembering wrong of course.
As to Hamilton, I think that McL might be fed up with him - great driver no doubt but his head doesn't seem to be consistently in the right place and much as he should be, I'm not sure that he's an Alonso or to a lesser extent (IMO!) a Vettel. Merc will have huge commercial reasons to sign LH and similarly it suits him in that respect. Finally Braun is a big pull - surely he's got to come up with a (consistently) winning car soon and the engine changes in 14 will help that.
Plus LH will no doubt ensure that there are performance clauses in place meaning that he can leave if Merc don't deliver. Which is a wise move considering Vettel's supposed move to Ferrari which would leave Red Bull with a seat for a top driver.
Tom B - MemberAren't Maclaren developing their own engine?
Seems unlikely - engines are hugely expensive to develop (amost more so than the cars IIRC) and McL don't seem to have the resources for that.
McLaren have the clout to develop an engine. They can do it for road cars it wouldn't be a stretch to make a hundred for racing only.
Ham will stay at McLaren; last weekends result shows the relative performance of Merc and McL.
Lewis prefers being a winner to being a bit more ridiculously wealthy.
Mercedes have already said their customer engines will be the same development spec as their works engines but that the packaging of the engine will lean towards their own car not being neutral.
Perez won't go to McLaren as I suspect there's a Ferrari contract for him in a year or two. I do wonder whether Hamilton is suffering a little from the fact he's been a McLaren driver for most of his actual life and might well be wondering if the grass is greener elsewhere. IT can't help that they've messed up a lot this season and arguably both drivers would be in the top 3-4 without that and Hamilton possibly leading the championship.
I think familiarity has bred contempt in the Mclaren Hamilton relationship. Time for a change me thinks. The Merc seat is certainly an attractive one given they are the only works team other than Ferrari. Despite what people may perceive, McLaren have not been very succesfful in terms of championshis for the last ten years and with the rule changes, they may follow the same pattern as Williams, a slow decline to obscurity.
Thought ferrari were after Vettel in 2 yrs, so Perez going there would only be a stop gap Massa replacement?
I'd have put di Resta down as taking Hamilton's seat, and Perez to take Webber's. In fact there's potential for Red Bull needing 2 replacement drivers at once (this time next year).
I think familiarity has bred contempt in the Mclaren Hamilton relationship.
Yes, and whilst I agree, I don't see either Ron Dennis or Lewis Hamilton breaking what has already been a 15 or so year partnership between both parties. There's been too much invested by both parties into the relationship, not to see out a lull in performance. The setup at McLaren is too much based around Lewis too, if he went elsewhere, he'd suddenly feel out of his depth a bit I think and it would show.
Lewis just needs to stop being a playboy for a bit, and get his head back on the road. Ironic really that despite the testing times in their relationship, he was much better when his Dad was there the whole time with him... And Anthony Hamilton hasn't exactly had a bad time of it himself since his Son told him to sod off either!
As for affording Hamilton? McLaren are the biggest player in F1 and have been so for a loooooooong time. McLaren can afford whatever they want to afford, now they're such a big player in the Supercar market again, the F1 side of the business is pretty much just a tax write off anyway. Jensen drove almost for free when at Brawn, his move to McLaren the following year saw his wage increase by about 20 fold!
And as for engines... Well I wouldn't be surprised if McLaren did get into the game for 2014 with their own engines. Look at how the new engine rules have been changed for instance... No in line 4's any more, gone to 1.6 litre V6's and an extension to 2014 from 2013. This will suit McLaren to an absolute T if they're to make an engine themselves, they've got good experience now with small high revving turbo'd V8 engines in their road car, it would not be difficult to essentially lop 2 cylinders off, de-stroke it, repackage it slightly for the F1 car. McLaren when questioned about the decision on a "small" capacity turbo'd V8 in the MP4-12C even stated they see F1 going down the route of small, efficient turbo charged engines again and so they wanted to get a step in the right direction.
By my calculations, the current M838T engine in the MP4-12C could easily provide important donor parts for a 1.6litre turbocharged V6 expected to rev to 15,000 rpm. The 93mm pistons would be ideal with a sub 40mm stroke (echoing bore/stroke ratios currently used, and also used by Honda's back in previous turbo era) and the 3.8L V8 is very light for a road car engine at 199kg including all ancillaries. Strip it of all the crap it doesn't need for a F1 car, and you're probably down to a 130kg or less 3.8L V8, then drop 2 cylinders, and refine it, and you'd be down at a fighting fit weight for the new 1.6L turbo category no doubt!
Ron Dennis was almost certainly delighted, if not the main person behind, the movement that led to the new engine category coming in in 2014 I'd bet... [url] http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews/2011/7/12241.html [/url]
Going back a few weeks now LH was reportedly saying that not being able to keep the original race win trophies was becoming more important to him as his career moves on and it would be a deal breaker.
Can't remember where I read it though, maybe James Allen.
McL have - in the past - said they won't budge on it
My first reaction is that Lewis would be mad to leave Mclaren
However, on reflection, Mercedes have one of the best possible men at the helm with Ross Brawn - a very successful team manager who has won at Benetton, Ferrari and Brawn
Mercedes have the budget, their new engine (engine changes always upset the pecking order) and a hell of a technical team - just remember - they won their first GP this year
Yes, maybe a gamble - but Mclaren don't appear to build a game changers very often - thats been Red Bull, Brawn, Renualt or Ferrari for the last 10 years
Good luck to him - and lets hope that when he gets there that there are at least 3 strong teams to make the season more exciting!
Going back a few weeks now LH was reportedly saying that not being able to keep the original race win trophies was becoming more important to him as his career moves on and it would be a deal breaker.
He'll be disappoint going to Merc then: they also keep all the original trophies, and the driver pays for a replica.
When i went they still had jensen's monaco trophy among other on display in the reception.
We'll see what deal he gets where, he may have to compromise
found the quote ...........
[i]“The team have all the trophies in the cabinet and the drivers get replicas. In a lot of other teams the drivers get theirs.
“As a racing driver, what you want to take home is your helmet and your trophy. They are the two things that are the most valuable.
“I don’t care if they don’t give me a car, but those two things are what you put your blood and sweat into.
“So whatever contract I’m having next, that is going to be a push point. For me, those things are priceless.”[/i]
If he is greedy for money he will go.
It seems to me jettisoning his dad for 19 entertainment was a bad move, they're your typical bunch of greedy entertainment corporate whores, maximising their profit & making fools of their clients
kudos mboy, one of them most sensible and well informed posts of seen on here for a while.
I hope Mclaren do produce their own engine.
Jo Ramirez states in his autobiog that at McLaren he had a replica trophy made of every win. He then told Ron Dennis and the driver that each had the original. That's team management!
Can we see your calculations please mmmmboy?