garagetinkerer wrote:
Haribo wrote:
Johnston wrote:
Haribo wrote:
We have Whitmarsh & Hamilton who say the same about the things back than, independent from each other.
Now Ron comes months later and says different, after all other parties stated the same, After the media & competitors agreed on the opinion Lewis left McL , and therefore MCL is weakened ?
Why not believe Lewis & Whitmarsh ?
Mercedes wanted him since some time IMo they held the door open for Lewis, because they would not have got a better driver, so they waited for his decission- like McLaren did.
Don't think the decission was based on money.
Explained why Whitmarsh and Ron could have different POV earlier.
Whitmarsh is tied by the deal Ron and the board lets him have. Whitmarsh can only do all he can do inside those constraints. When he says "We did everything" he's likely talking about within the guide lines sent down to him from above as far as he is concerned that figure he is given is "everything" if he's told his Max is £10 then £10 is everything. Ron is from above. He would know that there would be something else in the kitty he could give, that wee bit extra MW can't. He knows he could go to £15, Whitmarsh doesn't because that figure wouldn't work it's way down the food chain.
In essence Ron is possibly talking about how much he gave Whitmarsh to play with.
Just because Merc had been talking some time doesn't mean the door would have been open indefinitely. They had been talking to Schui What would have happened if Schui agreed to stay on? And as we know McLaren had been talking to Sergio despite there being "No plan b" . Do you honestly think Merc would have been incompetent enough not to have a plan B of their own in case Lewis decided to stay and Schui retired? I don't think they would have put themselves in a position where they would be left empty handed should Macca have put the deal down Lewis wanted.
Plan B is always only 2nd to plan A.
Hamilton was on both lists Nr1, so they kept the door open
B drivers are enough available. A drivers not, so it was Lewis choice at both teams
It was not as if a driver comparable to Hamilton was available for both teams, both teams knew it,and held the door open.
Do you think Whitmarsh does not know where the limit is, when he is going to make the negotiations?
Whitmarsh, as Johnston said, has a limit dictated to him. He's given the numbers he can play with.
While Lewis is a top level driver, the teams are all running closely to a budget, except RBR(which is ok by itself) and Ferrari(i could be wrong about this ). Given Lewis approached a couple of teams before he did Merc, it should give you an idea that a lot more goes into being hired than just being fast. The driver evaluation is crazy... some years ago a sample was published in F1Racing on various metrics. Who knows what the story is... but ones saying Lewis was passed on is perhaps just as accurate as your opinion. Worse still, he was passed on rather publicly by RBR(although it may have just been a ploy), while Ferrari were quiet on the entire episode. So the only conclusion you can draw is, whether or not by his choice, this move better work out for his own sake.
Neither Ferrari nor RBR are looking for a Nr1 driver, they wanrted a solid Nr2 who is not too much a treat for their Nr1 drivers. Hamilton would have never been a Nr2, to Vettel & Alonso.
Both teams very much know, a nr1 & nr2 ist the most successfull way to win titles.
Of course was Hamiltons move his choice , he could have stayed at McLaren for another multiple years, if he wanted..
IMO, Ron is just pi*ed, McL thought they can sign him for cheap , as they thought,Lewis had nowhere to go, and made the first mistake to talk
publicly about lesser money etc. ..This was the point of no return at the negotiations for a top tier driver like Hamilton. So he told Ron f++ you ( literally) & left. The much improved offer came too late.
Even Bernie talked about Ron & McLaren made a huge mistake, but did not say more
The other thing IMO happened during the summer break, where Hamilton alledgedly stopped negotiations It was at the time where Hamilons aunt was dying, and he stayed with her at hospital during that time. Whitmarsh was asked at F1.com why the negtioations do not get further( it was supposed a decission would be made at this time)
Whitmarsh: We put him under too much pressure at a time/situation where he had an obvious personal issue, it was not appropriate to do this.
2013 however now, Hamilton moved on while Dennis still throws his toys out of the pram.
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. Obviously I am in a minority here, but whilst I loved their albums I didn't enjoy the Live Aid performance visually. And no, I'm not homophobic...
....and i thought he said he had people that were dealing with the contracts,i don't remember him saying he knew nothing about it.