Sep 28, 2012 4:22:36 PM
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Gnil
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Re: L Hamilton - What's with this guy?
Gnil:
It is now official : LH goes to Mercedes and Perez replaces him at McLaren.
LH takes a chance but maybe it is good for him to change as he has always been at McLaren.
The Perez moove is a surprise. It will be interesting to see him against Button . I would be worried if I would be Button.
Wow,
those are indeed brilliant news. Hamilton can finally prove himself outside of McLaren´s confines. I have no doubt that he will surpass Rosberg who has performed comparatively poor in qualifying this year, much different to Hamilton who is certainly one of the strongest qualifyers. Whether he will be happy at Mercedes remains to be seen.
Perez needs to move to a better team, as good as Sauber has been this year. Not sure how the competitive relationship between him and Button will turn out. Button and Hamilton have certainly shaped a more polarizing team in terms of character, emotional stance and driving attitude. After all, it might´ve been a great move from Mc Laren to sign Perez, certainly one of the upcoming great drivers.
Sep 29, 2012 5:47:18 PM
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Carrageous
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Re: L Hamilton - What's with this guy?
Unless Lewis knows something the rest of the world doesn't (and it would have to be a game-changer, along the lines of Adrian Newey also moving to Mercedes), it seems he's making the decision to go after larger endorsement, business and celebrity opportunities instead of winning championships.
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Sep 30, 2012 9:21:28 AM
- bridggar
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Re: L Hamilton - What's with this guy?
throt:
McLaren will not miss LH. Good luck to Ross, he will need it.
Perez and Button will be a great team, both seem pretty laid back.
Damon Hill says he can't blame LH
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/102969
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Re: L Hamilton - What's with this guy?
Somehow, I can't picture Lewis Hamilton as a good spokesperson for Mercedes-Benz. And how does the corporate personality match the spokesperson's personality? What company would want to associate their corporate image with such a crappy personality? And who is the target audience anyway?
Sep 30, 2012 3:44:14 PM
- Gladstone
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Re: L Hamilton - What's with this guy?
Carrageous:
Unless Lewis knows something the rest of the world doesn't (and it would have to be a game-changer, along the lines of Adrian Newey also moving to Mercedes), it seems he's making the decision to go after larger endorsement, business and celebrity opportunities instead of winning championships.
That "championships" ship set sail without him a while back (except one). He was an over the top McLaren devotee a short time ago. He has now recognized the value of endorsement, business and celebrity opportunities, but just watch for the championship to also go his way (at least one in the three year contract).
Sep 30, 2012 6:07:50 PM
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Carrageous
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Re: L Hamilton - What's with this guy?
KMM:
Somehow, I can't picture Lewis Hamilton as a good spokesperson for Mercedes-Benz. And how does the corporate personality match the spokesperson's personality? What company would want to associate their corporate image with such a crappy personality? And who is the target audience anyway?
The rumor is that Coca-Cola wants their Monster brand on an F! car and apparenty think that LH and Mercedes are the team to go with. Apparently, LH will expand his spokesperson work ala Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods.
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Oct 2, 2012 10:15:07 AM
- Atzporsche
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Re: L Hamilton - What's with this guy?
KMM:
reginos:
LH was a Mercedes spokesperson between 2007 and 2009 when McLaren was co-owned by Mercedes. .
So, Mercedes management would have known of any potential problems.
I'm not wondering about their knowledge. I'm questioning their wisdom.
Haha, I am still unsure what to think of this development.. Certainly it will be interesting to see how Perez does at McLaren.
Re: L Hamilton - What's with this guy?
xander71:
Perez will be one of the fastest....and rumors are saying Kimi back in Ferrari????? can it be true????
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tEiw-7DQ9GY
Blueflame 
Re: L Hamilton - What's with this guy?
If you weren't convinced LH was a bit of a putz after Twittergate and then his move to Mercedes, here's his latest gaff from Twitter a few hours ago. This guy is writing a manual on how to burn every bridge.
Lewis Hamilton @LewisHamilton
Just noticed @jensonbutton unfollowed, thats a shame. After 3 years as teammates, I thought we respected one another but clearly he doesn't.
Lewis Hamilton @LewisHamilton
Funny thing is, we are STILL teammates! All good tho, I plan on giving this team & fans all I got til I cross the finish line in brazil!!!
Lewis Hamilton @LewisHamilton
My bad, just found out Jenson never followed me. Don't blame him! Need to be on Twitter more!
Oct 8, 2012 3:06:21 PM
- Leawood911
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Re: L Hamilton - What's with this guy?
Newsflash I have also not followed Lewis on Twitter!
I have been friends with Kimi on facebook for years though! He is not going back to Ferrari! Certain of that. He may replace Webber and be #1 when SV goes to Ferrari.
That is the best best for Kimi. No brainer. Just watch.
Oct 8, 2012 3:23:53 PM
- throt
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Oct 12, 2012 3:20:14 PM
- easy_rider911
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Re: L Hamilton - What's with this guy?
I was quite shocked when I heard this story. Either Hamilton's gamble will pay off or it will turn out to be a big mistake. I think it's the latter.
Clearly, the relationship with McLaren is not what it was. Hamilton has lost too many points this season due to team errors so IMO he blames them for someone of his talent being only a one-time world champion.
IMO this is a mistake. He should blame himself for his underperformance. He has allowed himself to get distracted by all the razzmattazz of F1, the celebrity lifestyle, the pop star girlfriend, hobnobbing with Jay-Z and P-Diddy etc.
His driving approach also carries more risk and he has needlessly got tangled on the track with Massa in 2011 and with Maldonado in 2012. More than ever, not finishing a race in a long season where consistent finishes matter more than winning races, he has allowed too many points to slip through his fingers.
The Twitter scandal where he tweeted the telemetry data for himself and Button was utter stupidity. The recent tweet where he thought Button had unfriended him was immature and idiotic.
He began the 2012 season saying he would be focussed, he would cut out the distractions and he would play a more consistent percentage game. Those good intentions have fallen by the wayside already.
Dropping his dad as manager and replacing him with a faceless management may be great financially but not great in terms of giving him the right guidance to win races. His dad was the right person for that. Paul di Resta has been benefitting from Anthony Hamilton's wisdom rather than his own son.
McLaren has established itself as one of the 2 fastest cars (along with RBR) at this late stage of the 2012 championship. Alonso has been defending a lead that was earned through consistency. But IMO Vettel will win this year since the gap is only 4 points to Alonso and now Vettel has a much faster car for the end stage of this season.
Why Hamilton would gamble that he could win further titles with Mercedes makes no sense to me. He has earned a lot of money already and has stated repeatedly that he is focussed on winning more titles rather than the pay check. IMO McLaren would have been a far better place to achieve that than a move to Mercedes.
Mercedes has certainly underperformed this year. Sure, with Rosberg, they won their first victory as Mercedes (apart from the historic wins they won from decades ago). But deep down this team is really Brawn. They used to win regularly in the first half of the 2009 season when Button became world champion (before RBR became the dominant team of 2010 and 2011). They clearly know what to do but they have been unable to do it despite the better funding being provided by Mercedes.
I think Mercedes will not turn things around, despite the future engine changes planned for subsequent seasons. Customer teams can often put together a better package than the works team. McLaren has consistently outperformed Mercedes with the same Mercedes engine (and Force India has done so too on occasion). RBR has consistently outperformed Lotus (previously Renault) with the same Renault engine. Sometimes, even Sauber has got more out of the Ferrari engine than Ferrari itself.
I suspect that Hamilton moved to Mercedes primarily for financial reasons. I expect that Mercedes is paying him a fortune to replace Schumi. The influence of Hamilton's management team will be on maximising financial gain rather than on winning more titles.
Poor Schumi. He was effectively sidelined before he could even decide upon (and announce) the timing of his 2nd retirement. Events just overtook him. I think he deserved better than that.
Rosberg has said that he is looking forward to Hamilton joining Mercedes. I don't believe that for 1 second. When Mercedes bought the Brawn team, Rosberg signed up without knowing who his team mate would be. He was obviously quite stunned when it turned out to be Schumi. Everyone thought it was such a coup for Mercedes to assemble such a strong all-German line up. And then the team didn't deliver. But crucially, Rosberg did all his talking on the track. In the first 2 seaons of Schumi's comeback, Rosberg consistently outqualified Schumi and outperformed him in nearly every race. Schumi was mostly embarrassing himself in those first 2 seasons of his comeback with avoidable crashes and errors. Schumi has only managed to match Rosberg consistently in 2012.
But my expectation is that Hamilton will prove more than a handful in 2013 for Rsoberg. I don't expect either Hamilton or Rosberg to be challenging the front of the grid (RBR, McLaren, Ferrari etc) but, in the battle between team mates, Rosberg will quickly find himself coming off second best IMHO.
The question is: Hamilton is great at handling cars that do not handle perfectly ... he compensates brilliantly and can do so far better than Button who really needs everything to be just right BUT Hamilton is a moody character who will lose heart if his car is mechanically unreliable. He will lose focus, get distracted and lose impetus if his car is no good. Hamilton will get frustrated at Mercedes and the big pay check will not overcome his disappointment at seeing rivals like Vettel, Alonso or Button far ahead of him each race weekend.
Like I said, unless Mercedes pulls off a blinder, I think this will prove to be a big mistake.
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