Haribo wrote:
Fr33m3 wrote:
Were you in any of the meetings between Macca and Hamilton? How do you know that Macca didn't get sick of Hamilton trying to run his fee up and signed Perez, effectively leaving Hamilton "out in the cold"?
People need to drop this nonsense where Hamilton is a god, with everyone having to put him on a pedestal. He's a good racer, yes, but F1 doesn't solely revolve around him. A multi-billion dollar racing company that has been around longer than Lewis Hamilton was but a glint in his father's eye isn't basing their decisions around something as petty as "showing everyone they're fine without him." There's been much better drivers than Lewis Hamilton, there will continue to be much better drivers than Lewis Hamilton, Lewis Hamilton doesn't make F1 go, F1 makes Lewis Hamilton go.
Give it a rest.
Why did they make Hamilton the highest offer of all F1 drivers, if they did not want him?
Why are Whitmarsh & Dennis bitter & hurt about losing Hamilton?
Does not fit with your theory
What do you mean why did they offer him a lot of money? Because he's a race proven driver, where did I say anything otherwise? That doesn't mean he's a god of F1 or that they can't move on without him. They moved on without Hakkinen, Raikonnen, Senna, Prost, Lauda, Hunt, Villenueve, do you really think Hamilton is bigger than Macca to the point that they're going to make rash decisions on a corporate level to "show up" Hamilton? If they really, really wanted him and figured they could never move past him leaving their team, do you not think they would have matched Mercs offer? But they didn't match Mercs offer, otherwise he'd still be with Macca, instead they chose to move on, but now people really think Macca is making their decisions based on "the shadow Hamilton cast"? That's what you really believe?
Where do you get this information about Witmarsh and Dennis being "bitter and hurt" about losing Hamilton? Are you personal friends with them and they told you that after a few pops at the pub? You say it like it's fact. Maybe some of the "press friendly" goodbyes could be interpreted one way or another but the way you say that, it's like you have an inside line into the personal feelings of Ron Dennis. Did you read Ron Dennis's comment about what he thought about Hamilton trying to run up his fee? That sure spoke more to "we're not paying Hamilton what he wants, he can leave if he wants, we'll be fine," than, "oh, boo hoo, please don't leave, we're nothing without you, Lewis Hamilton!" Ron Dennis has seen better drivers than Hamilton leave, I doubt he's losing sleep over Hamilton's departure, and it sure isn't going to influence how he runs his company in the face of the public.
My point, and I'm going to round this out in case you feel the need to bicker about semantics, is that the OP makes it sounds like Macca is doing things based on Hamilton leaving just to "show up" Hamilton. Hamilton is a driver and, as mentioned, he's not the best driver ever, nor will he be the last good driver to come along. The thought that Macca is basing their business decisions out of petty emotion towards a driver, "trying to get out of his shadow", considering they've had some of those drivers classified as "better than Hamilton", is absurd. What threads like this speak to is the insanity of how individual fans put Hamilton on such a pedestal that they actually think Hamilton, the person, is greater than Macca, the team.
If you think Macca makes its decisions based on a single driver, before you respond to anything I just wrote, ask yourself a few things: How many championships has Macca won? How many of those championships were claimed by Hamilton? How many races has Hamilton won in a car other than a Macca? How many races have Macca won without Hamilton? How many years has Hamilton been in F1? How many years has Macca been in F1? If you're going to contend or debate my point (re: Hamilton is not greater than Macca), you should probably consider the history of both entities to get a full argument ready.