There have been rumours for some time about the possibility of Lewis Hamilton moving to Red Bull Racing in 2013. At the same time McLaren is continuing to talk to its protege about extending his deal for another four years. Hamilton may not be the best paid driver in Formula 1 but money is not really the issue in these negotiations (although Red Bull has plenty of it). Hamilton wants to be in the best car and be in a position to win every race. It is very clear that for the last two years Red Bull has had the best car. There is little doubt also that the reason for this is that RBR has managed to put together the right technical team, headed by Adrian Newey. One needs only to look at the statistics to understand why Newey is so valuable. He has won Constructors’ World Championships for Williams (1992-1993-1994-1996-1997) and then for McLaren (1998) and last year added Red Bull to his list. Ross Brawn is the only other engineer to have won titles with three teams (Benetton, Ferrari and Brawn GP). While the cars in 2013 will be completely different to the current models, the chances are that a car designed by Newey is going to be competitive, although it is fair to say that McLaren will undoubtedly be in the fight as well. When it comes to calculating the risks, the choice of Red Bull and Newey is probably the better bet given the statistics in recent years. One can imagine that Red Bull would be more than happy to have Hamilton on board not only because he is highly rated but also because of his marketing value to the parent company, which is after all the primary reason that the drinks firm is involved in the sport. From what we hear Hamilton is looking for shorter-term contracts in the future, rather than tying himself to the same team for lengthy periods of time.
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joeblogsf1 
Lewis will be wise if he weighs his options carefully rather than blindly signing himself up for life with McLaren or any other team. As you said Joe, shorter term contracts are better.
I seem to remember until very recently Lewis Hamilton was claiming that he only ever wanted to drive for McLaren throughout his entire career.
I wish these drivers would think about how hollow such words sound before they utter them.
I think LH leaving McLaren is inevitable, given how their relationship seems to be less-than-comfortable. What is interesting is just who they could get to replace him. Alonso is not at all likely to join McLaren, Vettel would go to Ferrari or stay at Red Bull with LH…who does that leave who could lead McLaren to another championship title?
Unless of course this is all designed to force McLaren to get their car sorted so that he can be a genuine contender in races rather than having to pick up the crumbs left by the Red Bull team. Because if they lose Hamilton, they will be at best a 4th place team behind RB, Ferrari and an ever-improving Mercedes team.
Gary Webster,
I am sure that Lewis meant that when he said it.
Another one year deal for Webber then, to bridge the gap until Lewis arrives?
it’s quite a surprise that Hamilton is not the best paid driver in F1. he is one of the three best (Alonso, Hamilton and vettell) and probably the most marketable globally.
it would be interesting to see who is paid more.
boulay,
Alonso is paid the most. By a long way.
Are these not rumours that Hamilton’s management are putting out to get a better contract? Like Tevez and Rooney when they said they would leave their football club, and at the last minute, signed enormous contracts. Personally, I cannot see him going anywhere, not while he has a team mate he likes (and beats), a team who he has grown up with and one of the most competitive cars on the grid.
thanks joe
i don’t suppose you have a simple “league table” of pay do you?
would be interesting to create a (inevitably subjective) league table showing value for money!
boulay
No.
It’s clear to everyone that Martin Whitmarsh likes Jenson more than Lewis. McLaren is no longer Lewis’s territory. Why would he still be loyal to McLaren then? It would be the same at RB but at least with a better car.
Manuel,
It is not clear to me that this is the case and I think it would news to everyone at McLaren. Still, I am sure that you know best.
It’s a bit like buying stocks based on their past and current performance. Just cause they were good in the past, and good at the moment, doesn’t mean they will be good in the future.
Hamilton may not be paid the most but he has to offset his development costs, so to speak.
@Manuel – can you please share your thoughts on why do you think so ? I politely disagree with you, as far as I’m aware, Lewis is under Mclaren’s protection since he was 6, so …
Actually, what lacks in Mclaren to be a top team capable of challenging Red Bull ? Is it Newey ? I knew he is good, but I wasn’t aware of his achievements. But well, let’s see. I’ve seen rumors linking Rosberg with Red Bull, so who knows. Ferrari want Rosberg, just as well as Kubica. Rubens wants to get out of Williams, Sutil isn’t consistent, Di Resta made a good debut, etc, etc.
Whilst I appreciate Lewis would like the very best car on the grid at all times that isn’t practical or realistic in F1. He has had a World Championship Winning capable car in 3 of his 4 seasons at McLaren (Not sure about this season, the car may come good soon). Whats cost him those addtional championships are primarily driver errors, like expecting Webber to move for him in Malaysia, driving into Massa in Italy, ending up in a gravel trap in China, expending lots of energy fighting Alonso when he wasn’t the real battle etc etc.
Would moving to Red Bull resolve the above? Slightly perhaps yes, but he’d have to compete with Vettel, a guy who has pretty consistently out performed Webber since they were team mates. Given how Button has performed alongside Lewis, and the franky silly talk of Lewis easily beating JB, I question if Hamilton would be able to outperform Vettel? There is no evidence to suggest he would be able to, other than guestimation from various people.
An additional risk is that by the time Hamilton gets to RBR Seb is a double or triple WDC, and going up against someone like that would be very tough. Then there is the car issue, how long will RBR have the best car in F1? How long will it take Ferrari & Alonso to overhaul them?
What I’m saying is that it’s a huge huge gamble for LH to go with such a move, especially given their must be some sort of resentment in higher management of his ‘They’re just a drinks company’ comments.
not surprising that alonso , out of the top ranking drivers , earns the most
take the santander money out and it would be a different story , he would be top rated , but not like now
I personally place credence in the story that big mac want to keep both hamilton and button , but the suggestion that button is the chou chou [ joe will explain ]has me ROFLMAO [ any geek will explain ]
colin grayson,
Can you pit me in contact with a geek please
“Manuel
It’s clear to everyone that Martin Whitmarsh likes Jenson more than Lewis.”
???? Are you having a laugh?
@Colin Grayson
French and Geek Acronyms all in one post? ! Good effort sir!
Looking for a geek, Joe? I suspect most of your readers fit into that category 🙂
Rolling on the floor laughing my … You should be able to work out the last two.
Now, if only we could work out why read the manual is RTFM…
Helmut Marko doesn’t want Hamilton in Red Bull.
He knows Vettel can do the job and prefers home grown talent like Ricciardo as back up.
Jefe,
Marko does not sign the cheques.
I know three quarters of this would be guestimation, & teams like Red Bull pay more on performance than basic salary, but a league table giving estimates and best rumours of driver pay would be *utterly fantastic* Joe. Maybe also where the money is from. EG the reason Teflonso gets so much cash, is the Espanols have no big interest in F1. They are *all* huge fans of the man Teflonso tho. Getting him in a nice shiny red car probably is worth that much to Santander, in terms of extra customers etc. Would I bank Santander because of Lewis & Jenson. No. They over-charged me, I left. I do have a vodafone sim tho. 🙂
I think Lewis Hamilton should sometimes engage brain before mouth .
Sure Hamilton is a good peddler, but, he does some pretty silly things sometimes, and it has cost him and the team dearly in points. Perhaps, one day, McLaren may just say” OK ..GO ! ”
Joe, surely you know what ROFLMOA means ? Even this 60+ guy knows that 🙂
No, this 50- person does not know what it means and I have not bothered to invest the time to try to guess
I love McLaren and I rate Hamilton ammong the best there are out there nowadays. I’d be very sad to see him leave the team, but the guys at Woking really need to up their games to keep him there. It’s been a while since they’ve made a car that hit the ground running and they never made a car the enjoyed the supremacy Red Bull have had since mid 2009 or even Ferrari had through 2007 and 2008.
Could Hulkenberg suddenly go to Force India in 2012 and then McLaren in 2013 (if Mercedes becomes committed to Nico and Paul) to pair Button?
@Kiril Varbanov and **Paul**
It’s “well known” amongst Hamilton fanboys that Button is favoured, after all why does McLaren deliberately slow Hamilton down to make Button look fast. 😉
Couldn’t possibly be because in the real world the rest of us live in Button is only a few tenths slower than Hamilton.
well , I have to admit to being a jenson fan , but frankly lewis is , imho , the best driver I have seen since jimmy clark …..who was about the age lewis is now when he started in F1
regarding the red bull dominance , this is the 3rd season with a dominant car [ except when they thought the DD illegal ] ;
last time this happened was when ferrari had an ace designer AND the best engineering team that followed schu to the team
you don’t think hoi polloi need to know what chou chou is joe
? and the last part of the geeky acronym is a rude british way of telling you to go away
I wonder how much in total Lewis has cost McLaren in terms of his pay and perks, plus all the years of training and support, versus the amount of inward sponsorship cash he has generated for the team.
@Terry
Cheers for explaining that, it’s put some laughter into my Friday afternoon and I agree with your real world assessment.
If he’s that good, then the several top teams should all be interested.
One sure indicator of worth. He’d be cheaper than many, too!
I commented on this a couple of weeks back when this kind of comment from him first started.
I think Lewis’s sudden change in level of commitment is largely down to his new agent and looming contract talks. After all if you know someone is going to stay, you’re not going to negotiate much. I’m guessing Simon Fuller will be pushing hard to make Lewis the highest paid driver in F1 (regardless of where you think he stands in the talent rankings its certainly possible)
Remember the uproar when Shrek Rooney suggested he could leave Manchester United. It was always very unlikely but just threatening it for a few weeks and creating frustration amongst fans earned a very nice payrise.
This is not a matter of friendship or relationship. Teams dispose of drivers every time. Lewis has deliver his best with good & bad cars trough all seasons with McLaren.
If he’s on the position to get in a better car, good for him. ( lots of UK fans will get disappointed…though)
I wonder how he would look with wings instead of silver ?
As long as Vettel is at Red bull Hambone would play second fiddle. Maybe a good life lesson for him to realize how Alonso felt when paired with himself at McLaren.
It would make for some interesting battles on track and no doubt in print.
If Lewis leaves McLaren now it will confirm the impression I now have that his ego is out of control. He is just a young man getting an awful lot of what he wants, yet it isn’t enough. Where I come from great sportsmen sometimes never win anything. It doesn’t diminish the respect paid by the fans. Of course, sportsmanship doesn’t count these days, does it Failonso?
Biggus Jimmus,
I think you are entirely wrong.
Never said Jenson is favoured over Lewis but Martin Whitmarsh seems to like Jenson more. The same way i think Ron Dennis liked and wanted Lewis to win in 2007 that doens’t mean they weren’t treated equally. Martin Whitmarsh couldn’t even smile when Lewis won in China but when Jenson does well he looks so happy. My opinion is based on their body language.
Sorry Joe, you mean about Lewis’s ego being out of control?
Biggus,
Yes, I think he’s fine
Personally I think this is the usual posturing that forms part of contract negotiations. Lewis should look at how successful Fernando has been moving round teams compared to sticking with a proven championship contender.